Maintenance Upgrade Planned for CSIOnet

October 2, 2012 (Toronto) – The Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) – Canada’s national standards association of P&C insurers, brokers and software providers – announced the maintenance upgrade to version 7.1 of CSIOnet’s virtual private network (VPN) gateway, scheduled to go live on Thursday, October 11, 2012. CSIOnet is a fast, secure network that facilitates EDI communications between insurers and brokers.

“CSIOnet has long been the industry’s most successful EDI service,” said Catherine Smola, President of CSIO, “this upgrade to version 7.1 will help ensure that CSIOnet continues to provide our members with the fastest and most secure means of exchanging insurance information.”

This is a very beneficial update for all CSIOnet users as it will resolve some of the technical issues that CSIOnet users have experienced in recent months. CSIO has been working closely with carriers and BMS vendors, who have successfully used a test version of the upgraded VPN gateway and have approved its deployment to production.

TELUS houses, monitors and maintains CSIOnet. CSIO has been working with TELUS to develop version 7.1, a more robust security solution than previous versions of the CSIOnet VPN.

“When TELUS assured us that version 7.1 of the CSIOnet VPN would help maintain the high level of security demanded by the Canadian P&C industry, we heartily agreed to test the upgrade,” said Roger Dawson, President of MASTERCOM Consulting, a leading supplier of EDI gateways to the P&C insurance industry. He added, “We found the upgrade process quite seamless, requiring only a few clicks from the user to download and install the software.”

Software providers have confirmed their support for the version 7.1 upgrade. Leianne Planner, EDI Coordinator at Keal Technology said, “We are happy to confirm compliancy with the new Juniper 7.1 software upgrade for sigXP clients.”

Bob Hornick, COO of CIM-Data said, “In our testing to date of the new Juniper 7.1 software, we have found everything completed by TELUS and CSIO to be working as expected [for VCIM clients].”

The new version of the CSIOnet VPN includes many substantial improvements over the older version (6.1), including:

  • Security enhancements: version 7.1 will enhance the security of the CSIOnet VPN being used by most brokers and carriers
  • More stable connectivity: the upgrade will improve upon the Juniper networking software by providing more stable connectivity
  • Improved browser support: accessing the CSIOnet VPN through a browser such as IE, Firefox or Chrome will be safer with version 7.1. Juniper has fixed a number of issues that lead to browsers crashing, such as having the Google Toolbar installed
  • Improved Mac support: accessing CSIOnet.com from a Mac computer will be easier with version 7.1. The Network Connect (NC) Help button will work and NC will no longer crash for MacBook Air users

If you have any concerns about the planned upgrade to version 7.1 of the CSIOnet VPN gateway, please contact your software provider/vendor for more details.

Maintenance Upgrade Schedule:

CSIO has been working closely with carriers and BMS vendors using a test version of the upgraded VPN gateway, which has resulted in a successful outcome – without issues – and as such, these partners have approved the upgraded VPM gateway deployment to production.

The newer version of the VPN gateway includes many substantial improvements over the older version including security enhancements and improved connectivity stability, removing the vulnerability of users experiencing any potential technical issues with unplanned network outages.

October 10, 2012 – Users will observe a scheduled maintenance outage of CSIOnet between 9pm to 11:59pm EST.

October 11, 2012 – Your EDI coordinator will be prompted to perform a few simple steps when logging into their CSIOnet account.

Should you encounter any issues after the upgrade, please contact your BMS provider or CSIO helpdesk at 1-800-463-CSIO(2746).

About Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO)

Founded in 1981, CSIO has been committed to improving the efficiency and competitive position of the broker distribution channel by overseeing the development, implementation and maintenance of industry standards in the areas of XML, EDI and forms. CSIO continues to maintain and operate the industry-owned EDI mail network service, CSIOnet. With offices in Toronto and Montreal, the non-profit organization has a vast member base of brokers, insurers and software providers. For more information, visit www.csio.com.