Technology

RealEC Technologies, Santa Ana, Calif., has announced a strategic alliance with appraisal-technology provider ACI to improve appraisal delivery on behalf of lenders, appraisers, and appraisal management companies.The companies said the collaboration includes the use of RealEC's seamless connections and ACI's universal appraisal delivery system that incorporates automated rules, custom forms support, secure digital signatures, and an Extensible Markup Language exchange toolkit to bridge any loan origination or automated underwriting system. The standard ACI appraisal file includes the report, addendum, sketch, limiting conditions, photos, maps, and electronic signature, which gives the appraiser the opportunity to proof the report and attach an electronic signature before transmitting the completed report to RealEC. RealEC Technologies is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial with significant equity ownership by Stewart Title Co. and LandAmerica Financial Group. RealEC and ACI can be found online at http://www.realec.com and http://www.aciweb.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the acquisition of the 45% of Hansen Quality Loan Services Inc. -- a provider of collateral score products and automated valuation models to the mortgage and investment banking industries -- that it did not already own.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. FNF said Hansen's collateral score products include quality control of closed-loan appraisals, loan portfolio assessment for securitization or sale, collateral evaluation at the outset of the underwriting process, and risk analysis in the extension of credit. "Hansen has been a strong contributor to our real estate information services group since the acquisition of a majority interest by Fidelity National Information Solutions in May 2002," said William P. Foley II, FNF's chairman and chief executive officer. The company can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.

The city of St. Louis has begun recording loan satisfactions via a "level 3" electronic recording initiative using technology from U.S. Recordings, a Saint Paul, Minn.-based company that provides mortgage recording systems.U.S. Recordings' InteleDocPlus was the system used to submit documentation electronically, and Fidlar Software's iDocument XF was used as the receiving system. U.S. Recordings can be found online at http://www.usrecordings.com.

Image Recognition Integrated Systems Group, a technology provider based in Brussels, Belgium, has released three new products designed to move paper documents and forms into a digital format.The products, though not geared only to the mortgage industry, are being used heavily by mortgage companies, according to IRIS. The first product, Readiris Pro 9 Corporate Edition, is a tool that converts documents, files in Portable Document Format, and business cards into electronic documents. IRISPdf 2.5 Server is the new version of I.R.I.S. Production OCR Server. It's a networkable application that can be used to store scanned documents in a specific folder and convert them to .pdf or .rtf format. Finally, Formiris Pro 5.1 is a software suite that captures, sorts, and identifies all types of documents and forms entering a company or organization, irrespective of their size, layout, and contents. IRIS can be found on the Web at http://www.irislink.com.

Del Mar Database, the San Diego-based provider of DataTrac, a mortgage system that connects mortgage applications of the lender's choice through data input and management, has named three new vice presidents.Lisa Oelsner has been appointed vice president of product marketing and will work closely with newly appointed vice presidents and business managers Dan Stern and Rob Pommier. Del Mar said Ms. Oelsner has more than 15 years of management and marketing experience. She spent 10 years at Fannie Mae in various roles, including project manager, senior information technology consultant, and manager of business planning. Mr. Stern and Mr. Pommier have a combined 30 years of experience in operations and management, the company said. Del Mar can be found on the Web at http://www.delmardb.com.

GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa., has appointed former Fiserv executive Ted Morse senior vice president of sales and business development for its Mortgage Automation Solutions division.Mr. Morse joins GHR from Fiserv, where he spent the past five years as senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development. GHR provides browser-based and client server platforms and applications for originating, processing, and closing loans for the residential mortgage, consumer, and small business lending industries. GHR can be found on the Web at http://www.ghrsystems.com.

ILOG, a provider of software components and services based in Mountain View, Calif., has introduced ILOG JRules 4.6, an offering in ILOG's Business Rule Management System product line.The new product includes enhancements that enable policy managers and business analysts to manage complex rule sets and modify them using a spreadsheet-like interface. ILOG can be found on the Web at http://www.ilog.com.

TowerGroup, Needham, Mass., has released a new report designed to track what it expects to be the leading-edge technologies in the mortgage industry throughout this decade.According to the research, TowerGroup believes that the four technology categories that will have the largest impact on the automation of the mortgage lending process in this decade are: enhanced automated underwriting and credit scoring technology; enterprise document management; business process management; and electronic mortgage closings. In new research titled, "Mortgage Technology: The Next Big Thing(s)," Craig Focardi, a senior analyst in the Consumer Lending & Bank Cards practice at TowerGroup, identifies the drivers that will influence mortgage information technology developments and spending for the balance of the decade. TowerGroup can be found on the Web at http://www.towergroup.com.

IntraPrise Solutions Inc., Newton, Pa., has acquired the business of Merit Dynamics Inc., a provider of loan product information to the mortgage industry based in Cape May Court House, N.J.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Merit maintains a searchable database of product specifications from more than 120 investors and over 2,200 separate products turning investor product manuals into a standardized database accessible to any authorized user with a Web browser. In the future as part of the acquisition, ISI's software products will integrate with Merit Matrix. ISI provides software systems and managed services for the financial services industry. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.intraprisesolutions.com and http://www.meritdynamics.com.

FirstPoint Inc. has acquired Prymak Inc., both based in Greensboro, N.C., and announced that it will operate Prymak as a wholly owned subsidiary, keeping all local employees and operations intact.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Prymak is a technology development and consulting company founded in December 2000. It provides the mortgage banking industry with software design, project management, and implementation services. Prymak's software includes a Web-based mortgage and consumer loan origination application, along with a toolkit for custom development by clients. FirstPoint provides credit information, collection, and management services. The companies can be found online at http://www.firstpointresources.com and http://www.prymak.com.