BOSTON—Risk Management Solutions has unveiled a new,open platform it says will enable insurers to manage models andexposures in minutes rather than months.

RMS(one) revealed to clients this week at the firm's clientconference, Exceedance, after four years of developing thecloud-based product set to launch in spring 2014.

CEO Hemant Shah took to the open stage May 8 with three largescreens behind him to the sound of Talking Heads' "Once in aLifetime" and began to tell attendees in the large, packedconference room just how he got here.

In fact, it was May 8, 1989 at a conference in Honolulu whenShah, then 23 years old, says he gave the first demo of his firstproduct—a model on earthquake risk limited to Los Angeles, SanFrancisco and San Diego.

And after demonstrating the functionality of RMS' proprietaryanalytic operating system (AoS) he says will "absolutely crushlatency," improve efficiency and liberate data for decision-makersat every level of an organization, Shah said, "I've wanted to givethat demo for 24 years."

According to its executives, RMS(one) will streamline themodeling, underwriting and portfolio management processes ofinsurers and reinsurers by making it possible to integrateexisting RMS models with the proprietary models of theusers, as well as from other modelers—all within the private RMScloud.

In other words, the platform was designed to allow risk takersto be even more sure when asking themselves, "Am I right; am Iwrong?" (To borrow another lyric from Shah's intro.)

An executive, for instance, is able to work in the system from aiPhone or iPad and run a complete scenario of a book of commercialbusiness within multiple subsidiaries in various regions againstRMS' North American hurricane model (or any of its availablemodels)—and have it in the time it takes to go get a cup of coffee,as demonstrated live by Philippe Stefan, chief technologyofficer.

The results screen is packed with color-coded data, and permitsthe user to "drill in to see patterns that may warrant additionalinvestigations," said Shah.

Immediately following the demo, RMS announced multiplethird-party partnerships—insurers and modelers who have agreed tointegrate their models into this single platform to unify what oncewas scattered and fragmented exposures in disparate databases.

Among them are ERN, which provides models for earthquake andother perils in Latin America; JBA Risk Management, which isparticularly known for modeling flood in the United Kingdom; andRisk Frontiers, a center specializing in natural hazards inAustralia and Asia Pacific.

Munich Re, Aspen, Scor and Argo have agreed to partner with RMSin this endeavor by allowing users to migrate the output of eachcompany's proprietary models into RMS(one).

"As an industry, we need to access catastrophe models frommultiple providers to develop a more complete and rigorousunderstanding of risk, resulting in greater depth of insight intoour exposures," said Aspen Re CEO James Few, in a statement."However, the practical costs and constraints associated withrunning multiple modeling systems are a major obstacle. We wouldwelcome more organizations also making their models available onRMS(one)."

And in what may be the most surprising partnership announced atthe conference, Paul VanderMarck, chief products officer, saidcatastrophe modeling competitor Eqecat is on board and will shareits data scheme. Users of RMS(one) will be able to export the datato Eqecat, run the model, and bring the results back toRMS(one).

Aon Benfield's ReMetrica will similarly allow RMS(one) data tobe downloaded in ReMetrica.

"What else can be built over time?" VanderMarck added. "We willnever have all the good idea, but we've made available a broaderarray of capabilities."

Shah said RMS(one) gives insurers and reinsurers the ability todo what they've been wanting to do—make the model their own.

"They can make informed decisions—your own view of risk—based,not driven by, these models," he said. "And instead of running itonce a year, you can do this once a quarter and generate a report,making better capital and capacity choices."

Shah said RMS' existing catalogue of models is not changing buthe expects, over time, to deliver new high-definition models tolook at risk on more granularly.

Clients chose when and how to use RMS(one), Shah said.

"No one will be rushed to use RMS(one)," he said. "You're incontrol."

Model-licensing remains the same. Updates to the RMS models willbe in both RMS(one) and the firm's other software platform,RiskLink, through 2016 and RMS will support RiskLink until2019.