LAVA Selected For Lloyd'S Of London E-Commerce Initiative

Toronto, ON - 1998-03-17 - When Lloyd's of London needed a product on which to base the proof of concept for its ground-breaking Market Information Repository, they chose to review a range of leading electronic document management (EDM) products. LAVA Systems (TSE:LVA) emerged as Lloyd's lead product and partner on the project, from the shortlist of leading suppliers required to jointly build the repository with Lloyd's.

Insurance staff at a cross section of major London Market organizations have been given access to the Market Information Repository as part of the London Insurance Market Network (LIMNET) sponsored Trading Chain Pilot (TCP). The TCP is being used to explore the business opportunities that emerge when all participants in the insurance process are given secure, easy-to-use access to a shared copy of any relevant business documents.

LAVA's Internet-based solution runs on Microsoft® BackOffice® products, including Microsoft Transaction Server, designed to ensure that the pilot is capable of being scaled up to accommodate the 5,000-plus users that will access the full system.

David Betts, Manager, Lloyd's Insurance Systems Technology Group, is pleased with the success of the pilot, which has involved representatives from 19 London Market companies, for the last few months. "This is a major project for Lloyd's. The Information Repository represents our first development delivering application functionality using component-based Internet technology. The LAVA architecture fits particularly well with this approach. The Repository is designed to serve the needs of a marketplace so it is vital to support integration with legacy systems and client-server applications. The LAVA product set incorporating the LAVA Enabler technology offers genuine advantages in this environment."

Robert Terry, Chief Operating Officer of LAVA Systems, views the success of the pilot as the prelude to a number of other opportunities. "Information Repository Services are strategically important to our future, which we see as supplying solutions for the Information Enabled Enterprise. Having helped develop this important facility for Lloyd's of London, we are progressing similar Information Repositories for the legal and banking sectors. To this end we are negotiating a partnership agreement with a world-wide telecommunications company to provide the infrastructure that will be central to the service that we are developing. Together with our Internet-based product set, we have a winning combination."

The Market Information Repository is one of the core enabling services defined as being key to the successful establishment of e-commerce with the London and global insurance markets. Other core services include Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) security standards and X.500-based directory services. LAVA offers the flexibility to interface with third-party products in these areas. Entrust Technology were involved from the beginning to advise on the security implications of e-commerce.

David Betts will be presenting to the Brokers and Reinsurance Markets Association (BRMA) Conference in New York City, USA, on March 18th and 19th, 1998.

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