NEW YORK–The new Microsoft Windows Vista operating system, as well as the 2007 release of Microsoft Office, will offer insurers a higher level of data security and user account control, helping them comply with federal and state regulations, a Microsoft executive said.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., announced the business availability of Vista and the Office 2007 release at a major press event held here Tuesday.

According to Bill Hartnett, general manager of the Insurance Solutions Group at Microsoft, the new platform and software include features designed to foil data breaches that could mean regulatory troubles for insurers, brokers and others who handle sensitive information.

“Up to now, operating systems were assumed to be operating in a benign world,” said Mr. Hartnett. “This is the first operating system built with the assumption that you are going into a hostile world, where there are dangers from organized crime and terrorists.”

He noted that many data breaches occur when laptop computers or PDAs (personal data assistants) are lost or stolen. The new releases, however, allow portable users to equip their entire hard drives with a “strong level of encryption,” he explained.

In addition, the new products allow information on an Internet-ready phone to be “remotely wiped” if the device is lost or stolen.

Mr. Hartnett conceded that Vista users may have to use more keystrokes to access sensitive information, “but it is also more secure.” Users can turn off many of the security features, although Microsoft doesn't recommend it.

He pointed out that no new hardware is needed to run Windows Vista, although a memory upgrade may be necessary and a new graphics card may be needed to take advantage of the operating system's three dimension capabilities.

Vista and the 2007 release of Microsoft Office will allow users to find information more easily by scrolling through 3-D pages, said Mr. Hartnett. Simply “hovering” over an on-screen application immediately yields a thumbnail representation of what is there, he explained.

“The most powerful feature is the search technology within the enterprise on the desktop,” he said. “[Users] keep gathering more information on their computers, so it becomes more difficult to remember where the information is stored.”

The new application allows users to create a search folder around a single name, then get “everything”–e-mail, documents, etc.–related to that name.” The best part of that, he noted, is that “every time I open it up again, it automatically refreshes and updates.”

The graphical user interface on Microsoft Office has also changed to make accessing information easier, said Mr. Hartnett. The software is “sensitive to what you're doing” and can pull up “Ribbons” menus that relate to common tasks such as editing or mail-merge, he explained.

For those who are already skilled in using the older keyboard shortcuts, however, that capability remains.

Excel Services is another major enhancement to the Microsoft Office suite, said Mr. Hartnett. This application, built for financial services, enables users to run Excel spreadsheets on a company's server as a set of Web services.

The spreadsheets are rendered in a browser, but security is maintained by the ability of administrators to limit views and access to the data. In addition, any underlying formulas in the spreadsheets are not exposed, which is “a huge benefit from the compliance and security standpoint,” he added.

Mr. Hartnett conceded that a number of the new features of Vista and the 2007 Office release were already present in Windows XP and previous Office versions, “but people just didn't know how to access them or how to use them.” The new releases, he said, will make those features more accessible and easier to use.

Special Reports /

New Vista OS Said To Benefit Insurance

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