AIR integrates third-party data and models
Catastrophe modelling firm AIR Worldwide has begun integrating third-party catastrophe data and models within its Touchstone risk modelling software platform.
According to AIR, following the widespread market adoption of Touchstone, a large number of third-party suppliers have decided to provide access to their services through the platform. The suppliers include Ambiental, ERN, EuroTempest, IHS, KatRisk, Met Office, PERILS, and SSBN.
The integration will allow users to assess and manage risk across a wide range of perils including flood, terrorism, earthquake and tropical cyclone among others.
Ming Lee, president and chief executive officer of AIR, said: “Touchstone was designed to be an open platform, allowing clients to import third-party hazard layers or run multiple alternative models on a single platform for a more complete view of risk. Because we have not adopted a ‘usage fee’ or ‘pay-per-click’ pricing model for Touchstone, availability of third-party models and hazard layers will encourage our clients to run more analyses, not fewer, to explore and compare alternative views and truly own their risk. Having those models and hazard layers available from within a single platform will also significantly improve workflow and productivity.”
Guy Morrow, cofounder of KatRisk, said: “We are very pleased that AIR is enabling integration of our many flood hazard maps through its Touchstone platform. This will help deliver new sources of data to a much broader audience, which is particularly important for a complex peril such as flood. We hope that companies using our data through Touchstone will be able to achieve a much broader view of risk.”
Eduardo Reinoso, chief executive officer at ERN, added: “We applaud AIR for allowing our models and hazard data for Mexico and Latin America to run alongside its global suite of models in Touchstone. There are many operational benefits to providing models from multiple developers on a single platform, including significantly reduced data preparation and processing time, easier viewing, and comparison of multiple results.”
AIR is also looking to engage in closer integration with organisations such as the Global Earthquake Model (GEM) and PERILS. AIR was a founding member and key contributor to GEM, which is developing an open-source platform for sharing data, models, and knowledge about seismic risk assessment. PERILS and AIR already allow their mutual clients to seamlessly integrate the PERILS Industry Exposure Database (IED) and event sets generated using this IED.
“We look forward to collaborating with other data and model providers as we continue to offer the most complete exposure and catastrophe management solution via Touchstone,” said Milan Simic, senior vice president and managing director of international operations at AIR Worldwide. “Our approach — to empower companies to make decisions based on their free choice and specific needs, whether they are scientific, technical, actuarial or technology-based — is being met with enthusiasm by our clients.”
