According to Technology Consultants Inc (TCI), a Fort Lee, NJ based industry research firm, the insurance industry is currently dominated by aging main-frame-based in-house solutions. In the life insurance industry, for example, the IT budgets account for 2.8% of the premium revenue amounting to about $ 7 billion. There are about 2500 existing APL licenses and over 3000 IBM AS installations of mainframes at about 1000 major accounts. The lists of licensees reads like the Who's Who of the financial services industry. Allianz, Allstate, Aetna , Great West , GEICO , Met Life , NY Life, State Farm, Sun Life, Travelers etc. The key concerns of Insurance industry , as outlined in a TCI report published in Insurance and Technology Journal are as follows:

1. Cut legacy maintenance expenses while preserving code, data and revenues from policies and products on the legacy systems.
2. Be ready to do e-business. Improve and expand access to existing applications and data on legacy systems.
3. Provide more and better support for data mining and new product development to compete effectively with banks and brokerage houses.