AIR Worldwide was an American risk modeling and data analytics company based in Boston, Massachusetts that was acquired by Verisk Analytics in 2022.
It had customers in insurance, reinsurance, financial services, and government markets. AIR Worldwide specialized in catastrophe modeling software and services to manage the probability of loss from natural catastrophes, terrorism, pandemics, casualty catastrophes, and cyber incidents. After the acquisition these services continued under the name Verisk Extreme Event Solutions.[1]
History
Karen Clark, the developer of the first commercial hurricane catastrophe model, founded Applied Insurance Research in 1987, with CATMAP as its first product introduced later that same year.[2] CATMAP provided a catastrophe loss analysis system for treaty insurers and reinsurers in particular.[3] In late August 1992, AIR published results from its U.S. Hurricane Model that estimated insured losses for Hurricane Andrew's landfall in southern Florida could come to surpass $13 billion. The estimate, which was met with skepticism at the time, was later validated by insurance claims and renewed interest in catastrophe modeling for estimating risk due to extreme events "almost overnight." Over ten major insurance companies faced insolvency as a result of Hurricane Andrew alone.[4]
Applied Insurance Research was privately held until it was acquired by ISO in 2002 and renamed AIR Worldwide; Verisk Analytics later formed as a parent holding company for ISO.[5] Analyze Re, a software analytics provider for the reinsurance and insurance industries, became a part of AIR's operational domain in 2016, and then Arium, a company specializing in liability risk modeling, followed in 2017.[6][7]
In January 2022, AIR Worldwide transitioned to the Verisk brand and is now Verisk Extreme Event Solutions.
^"Catastrophe Modeling Pioneer Clark Advises on Insurers' Best Practices", Insurance Journal, November 6, 2007. Accessed April 19, 2018 [1]
^"The AIR Hurricane Model", State Board of Administration of Florida, January 2006. Accessed April 18, 2018. [2]
^Smith, Eric J., "Smith: Private insurance industry ready to step up on flood protection", Houston Chronicle, March 11, 2018. Accessed April 16, 2018. [3]
^"ISO ACQUIRES AIR TO DELIVER NEW DECISION-MAKING TOOLS AS INSURERS AND REINSURERS FACE INCREASING EXTREME-EVENT RISK", Verisk Analytics, May 14, 2002. Accessed April 11, 2018. [4]
^"Verisk Analytics Buys Canadian Real-Time Analytics Firm Analyze Re", Insurance Journal, October 24, 2016. Accessed April 16, 2018. [5]
^"Verisk Analytics Acquires Arium For Casualty Risk Modeling", Seeking Alpha, January 17, 2017. Accessed April 16, 2018. [6]
