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Vol. 13, No. 4 June 2006 www.mortgage-technology.com Presenting this year’s best and brightest mortgage technology vendors. By Anthony Garritano and Scott Kersnar his year, after much deliberation, we cut our Top 100 list in half and made it two lists: The top 25 vendors that license technology per se, and the Top 25 service providers, that offer technology on a hosted basis and/or provide other services. Among those on our first list are companies that also offer products on an ASP basis but primarily get their revenue from selling software. Going forward, those players that dabble in both worlds will likely adopt the service model as the Software as a Service trend gains more traction. As a result, traditional vendors may go away as time goes on and the power of the Web is more fully realized. Reflected in this year’s list are some notable mergers, like the merger between WellFound Decade and Lydian Data Services to form Lydian Technology Group, and some acquisitions like Fidelity National Financial Inc. acquiring DOCX. Consolidation like this is expected to continue in the near future as the space becomes more competitive and big players become even bigger to stay alive. Our four major criteria for inclusion of eligible vendors and service providers on our list are customer satisfaction, functionality, market share and viable revenue model. Demonstrating functional value to lenders is our most important criterion. It is crucial that the vendors on our list have satisfied users and show the ability to hold them by keeping those customers apace of the technology deployed by competing lenders. Below are our 2005 picks for the Top 25 mortgage technology vendors. If you think your company should be listed, let us know by e-mailing our managing editor, Tony Garritano: Anthony.Garritano@sourcemedia.com. Throughout the year, we update our list online (www.mortgage-technology.com). Vendors newly coming to the mortgage arena will want to ask Tony about being included in the new vendor article in our November-December issue of MT. T 2 Mortgage Technology » June 2006 a la mode inc. WWW.ALAMODE.COM Cogent Economics WWW.COGENTQC.COM Oklahoma City-based a la mode inc. produces electronic document and transaction management software. Over 50% of the nation’s real estate appraisers use its WinTotal report production product. Its XSites Network provides LOS integration, nationwide coverage, automated status messaging, pre-delivery underwriting-guideline checks, PDF/XML reports, and HMDA reporting. This year the company launched SureDocs, which creates a PDF digital file from any desktop application — including their loan rigination software, word processing or spreadsheet software. The digital documents are easily stored, retrieved and manipulated. Through a la mode’s partnership with Wave Systems, SureDocs includes e-signature technology. Founded in 1985 The integrated suite of five multi-user tools comprising award-winning CogentQC Systems are used to guide the QC reviews of over $750 billion in annual mortgage originations and over 4 million servicing records. Last year the company migrated its CogentQC suite to .NET. Cogent also improved the user interface; added a new drag-and-drop Report Designer tool with graphing; and a new Sampling Wizard that simplifies sampling strategies. Cogent’s client list includes over 70 of the top banks, thrifts and mortgage companies in the nation. The integrated suite of CogentQC Systems included quality control for loan origination, servicing, compliance, pre-funding and loan-pool due diligence. Data-Vision WWW.D-VISION.COM Associated Software Consultants Inc. WWW.ASCONLINE.COM Middleburg Hts., Ohio-based ASC offers its Java-based PowerLender loan processing system as a flexible loan origination software that can be customized without programming and can operate in both Windows and Linux environments. ASC updated the product to include enhanced loan pricing and eligibility; enhanced free-form note-taking; the ability to add electronic attachments to loan records; a “linked loan” feature to simplify the processing of loans with many co-borrowers; and enhanced disconnected processing, enabling an application to be processed without connection to a host LOS. ASC has also added a security capability that allows nonpublic data within a database to be obscured before it’s transmitted. Founded in 1978 Mishawaka, Ind.-based Data-Vision Inc. offers LoanQuoter.com, a template website design service and RemoteDocs.com, an Internet-based system that lets borrowers receive disclosures, enables brokers to submit loans, and enables distribution of all other documents between parties. LoanQuoter.com was enhanced to include live chat. Through this feature lending institutions can conduct live, interactive discussions with consumers about any content on their websites. The lending institution uses a control panel to monitor incoming requests and traffic. RemoteDocs lets lenders employ electronic document transfer via automated interface components, on an ASP basis and via XML integration with loan origination systems. Founded in 1993 Dorado WWW.DORADO.COM Calyx Software WWW.CALYXSOFTWARE.COM With some 66% of the market for mortgage point-of-sale systems used by originators, San Jose, Calif.-based Calyx Point features open architecture that enables it to partner well with pricing engines and transaction-management systems. This year Calyx launched an integration style that is fully MISMO capable and patent pending to allow the system to more easily integrate with third-party providers. Going further, Calyx DirectConnect and WebConnect products allow vendors to integrate within Point so the user never has to leave Point to link to the vendor or service provider. LoanBridge and the to-be-released Point SDK allow integrations to happen seamlessly outside of Point. Founded in 1991 In March San Mateo, Calif.-based Dorado Corp. launched its Enterprise Lending System (ELS) as the mortgage industry’s “first lending solution and service platform that enables unification of all loan channels, products, services, personnel, customers, and fulfillment partners through a single point of sale.” ELS encompasses and integrates all Dorado product components, including ChannelMaster, PriceMaster, SourceMaster, .MOR and third-party services to reduce costs and shorten cycle times. This year the company introduced ChannelMaster/Production, a new networked solution for loan fulfillment. ChannelMaster/Production provides loan fulfillment capabilities including processing, conditions management, underwriting, closing, and funding. Dorado also partnered with First American Fulfillment Solutions to deliver an end-to-end LOS. Founded in 1998 www.mortgage-technology.com 3 Dynatek WWW.DYNATEK.COM FileNet WWW.FILENET.COM Dynatek, Livonia, Mich., offers its MORvision as a complete loan origination system that automates everything from point-of-sale and Web origination through processing, underwriting, closing, secondary tracking and delivery. MORvision supports government, conventional and subprime lending, as well as multiple business channels. In December 2004 Dynatek celebrated its 1 millionth transaction using the award-winning MORvision Plug-In Partner Network. To date Dynatek has applied for and received certification for all three MISMO seals available at present, including credit, mortgage insurance and automated underwriting. Also, last year the company received Mortgage Technology magazines Help Desk Award. Founded in 1986 FileNet, Costa Mesa, Calif. offers the P8 enterprise content management (ECM) platform. FileNet P8 is an integrated framework designed to leverage content management, business process management and enterprise application connectivity capabilities to speed critical business decision making. Recently, Pyramid Solutions used the platform to create a new LOS for the mortgage industry. Its new Web Site Manager product acts as a Web content management solution that manages the user experience and delivers content for large numbers of global websites, all from a single platform. Web Site Manager provides content management, allowing Web content to be personalized and targeted, and electronic delivery across mortgage channels. Founded in 1982 Ellie Mae WWW.ELLIEMAE.COM Fiserv WWW.FISERV.COM Dublin, Calif.-based Ellie Mae Inc. provides Internet and software solutions for mortgage originators. The company owns Contour’s The Loan Handler and Genesis2000 and offers brokers a host of origination services via its ePASS B2B e-commerce platform. The ePASS Gateway now enables integrating services offered through ePASS as Web services. The company offers Encompass as a mortgage processing and management system that automates the loan origination process. The company announced plans to take the Encompass product further with the release of Banker Edition late this year. The value proposition is that the product offers a fully customizable solution for small and mid-tier lenders. Founded in 1999 Fiserv Inc. Brookfield, Wis., provides Windows-based client-server loan origination systems to handle loans from traditional and ecommerce channels, Its Internet origination solution allows borrowers to apply for a loan online. The Easy Lender and Unifi LOS systems automate every phase of loan origination and processing. The company’s MortgageServ servicing system provides immediate transaction updates, task tracking, work queuing, and a valueadded, private label subservicing functionality. Fiserv recently acquired Del Mar Database. Last year the company launched an API that would tie all of its units together as Web services in a serviceoriented architecture. The transition is ongoing. Founded in 1984 FICS WWW.LOANWARE.COM Gallagher Financial Systems WWW.GOGALLAGHER.COM Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc. specializes in providing flexible, comprehensive residential and commercial technology solutions to the mortgage industry. FICS boasts incorporating innovative imaging and Webbased capabilities into its LoanWare suite of products. FICS’s 32-bit client/server application supports ODBC relational databases, giving Microsoft Word, Excel and other ODBC compliant systems access to mortgage loan data. Also, the company’s iNetAp provides borrowers with the ability to apply for a mortgage loan via the Internet and receive instant decision pre-approval. The product also includes administrative tools to better manage the pipeline. Founded in 1983 Coral Gables, Fla.-based Gallagher offers Millennium, which features embedded modules for standard mortgage scenarios and multichannel lending. Gallagher’s NetOxygen adds Internet-based functionality to Millenium. The sysem allows data to update dynamically, using a standard set of XML controls, client-side JavaScript libraries, a SOAP listener, a Session Manager and a Data Manager. Gallagher moved to create a more centralized system with the release of NetOxygen Authentication Studio, which provides an extensible, enterprise-wide single sign-on solution for all Gallagher applications. The product leverages existing NetOxygen technology with an independent authentication database to centralize all user sign on activity for Gallagher applications. Founded in 1985 4 Mortgage Technology » June 2006 Harland/Interlinq WWW.HARLANDFINANCIALSOLUTIONS.COM Integra Software Solutions WWW.INTEGRA-ONLINE.COM Atlanta-based Harland Financial Solutions offers technology to over 6,000 financial institutions. In March 2004 Harland announced release of the long-awaited INTERLINQ E3 loan production platform to succeed MortgageWare. The E3 Web-based platform features integrated business process management (BPM) and connectivity across the mortgage supply chain. While migration to E3 has been slow, the company did celebrate a milestone this year when MidFirst Bank, one of the five largest privately held financial institutions in the country, become the 100th lender to convert its mortgage operations to the new Interlinq E3 system. Founded in 1923 At a price ranging from $65 thousand and up, Integra Software Systems, Franklin, Tennessee, provides its Destiny LOS software as the next step up for mortgage lenders needing a comprehensive system to handle loan volume through post-closing operations and secondary marketing. It’s WebAgent feature offers seamless integration and exchange of information between the Web-server and back-office systems. Integra also offers a risk-based-pricing engine. Founded in 1996 Lydian Technology Group WWW.LYDIANTECHNOLOGY.COM Hyland Software WWW.ONBASE.COM Westlake, Ohio-based Hyland offers OnBase for Mortgage Lending as an enterprise content management software system that combines integrated document management, business process management and records management in a single application. The system captures, stores, routes, and retrieves loan documents of all kinds in a single repository. Documents may be accessed through the OnBase client or through a Web based “thin client” user interface. Hyland added new features this year that include providing collaborative workspaces that users can create to collectively work on documents, including handling exceptions. These collaborative interactions can be stored as part of an audit trail of decision making to support compliance strategies. Founded in 1991 On the heels of a merger with Lydian Data Services, WellFound Decade has morphed into Lydian Technology Group, Jacksonville, Fla. WellFound Decade, Woodstock, Ga., provides standards-based business integration software. The company is the result of a merger between the former WellFound and Decade Corp. Leveraging service-oriented software, WellFound Decade’s flagship product, the Mortgage Integration Foundation, allows companies to integrate their current internal systems, users and external partners to produce an end-to-end mortgage lending process. Now the newly formed company has closer ties to larger wall Street investors and the secondary market via its association with Lydian data Services. Founded in 2004 MDA MindBox Inc. WWW.MINDBOX.COM ILOG WWW.ILOG.COM ILOG, Mountain View, Calif., is a worldwide provider of business rule logic. ILOG’s JRules is widely used by leading financial institutions and insurance companies to enable STP, a major financial services industry initiative enabling automation and management of business processes and decisions in real-time beyond simply updating rules. ILOG BRMS, policies and practices are expressed as English-syntax business rules instead of computer code. ILOG’s latest version includes .NET support. The company also offers ILOG CPLEX, which includes a Conflict Refiner debugging tool, which can quickly find and correct inaccuracies in any mathematical model and a Solution Polishing algorithm that provides a range of alternatives for solving the most difficult business operation problems. Founded in 1987 MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. acquired MindBox to create synergies between MindBox, DataQuick and its other holdings. MDA plans to continue on an acquisition path in the mortgage space. Greenbrae, Calif.-based MindBox LLC, is a technology company that automates mortgage cycle processes by creating decisioning systems using rule- and case-based reasoning. In the past year the company has enhanced its Power Editor — a multi-level editing application that allows the user to modify or update automated business policies - to include template editing capabilities, the inclusion of multiple domain files, and the posting of conditional messages. Founded in 2000 Metavante/GHR Systems WWW.GHRSYSTEMS.COM GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa., pioneered product and pricing technology for lenders. The GHR entelligence suite includes software www.mortgage-technology.com 5 offering to automate virtually every step of the loan origination process, including laptop, website and call center systems, plus a comprehensive data services network. In March 2005 GHR announced the release of its workflow system as a stand-alone product. In other news, last year the company was acquired by Metavante. Some of the synergies between the two companies have already started to show up. For example, at present, GHR has integrated imaging technology from TREEV, another Metavante company, and will connect to its parent’s servicing product to create an end-toend application. Mortgage Cadence WWW.MORTGAGECADENCE.COM and automated underwriting. The program works in such a way that at the point of first borrower contact, Portellus Lending searches all of the available loan products, determines best-fit prices with conditions, and includes detailed program maximums for which the borrower is approved. Portellus’ Lending Debt Management application determines a customer’s unique credit situation before submission to the underwriting process. Portellus also offers a Lending Pricing Engine, Lending Compliance Engine and Lending Best Execution Engine to complete its mortgage offering. This year the company launched a new approach to selling its product via the Customer Readiness Lab that allows the user to try out the technology before purchasing. Founded in 2001 Mortgage Cadence offers an Internet-based suite of automated mortgage services within a single, unified system that includes streamlined, logical document tracking and advanced workflow. The system also enables real-time tracking of borrowers from origination through funding. Starting this year the company expects to form alliance partnerships with consulting firms to offer specialized plug ins to the core product. The company also plans to introduce a pictorial user interface in the second half of the year. In addition, Mortgage Cadence launched its Symphony product, which is an ASP product geared for the midtier that are looking for a more fully functional out-of-the-box application. Founded in 1996 Veros Software WWW.VEROS.COM MortgageFlex WWW.MORTGAGEFLEX.COM Irvine, Calif.-based Veros builds decision-support applications for various industries. Veros’ predictive modeling technology includes AVMs. The company this year launched VeroFI, a risk-based solution for collateral valuation. The company also offers VeroFORECAST, which provides future home price forecasts, using multiple technologies and data mining to analyze relationships between house prices and economic variables. Veros recently partnered with Bradford Technologies, developer of ClickFORMS appraisal software. The collaboration of Veros and Bradford will integrate VeroVALUE with ClickFORMS. Lenders will be able to incorporate multiple collateral valuation techniques into their appraisal reports through the familiar ClickFORMS interface. Founded in 2001 MortgageFlex Systems, Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., provides software and systems solutions to the lending industry after originally offering consulting services. MortgageFlex Systems originally provided consulting services to the lending industry at large. Specifically, MortgageFlex Systems was retained by financial institutions and mortgage bankers to provide data processing and financial consulting services. In January of 1986, MortgageFlex began actively marketing software to the lending industry, and now lays claim to $2 trillion in mortgages originated with its LoanQuest and other products. Guardian Mortgage Documents announced an alliance with MortgageFlex to offer lenders greater customization. Founded in 1980 Virpack WWW.VIRPACK.COM Portellus WWW.PORTELLUS.COM Vienna, Va.-based Virpack provides the VirPack as an electronic envelope that packages, manages, and delivers data, documents and images. VirPack’s barcode and scanning products enable creating an electronic copy of a loan for transmission within a VirPack and reception in a VirPackViewer to let receivers extract needed content. The VirPack Enterprise Center is the company’s new document management and imaging platform. The company’s VirPack Direct-TPI is a delivery tool specifically designed for integration with thirdparty imaging systems. On the heels of the e-delivery frenzy started when Freddie released its standards, Virpack has started doing edelivery for both Flagstar and Wells Fargo. Founded in 1995 MT Portellus, Irvine, Calif., develops technology for both origination 6 Mortgage Technology » June 2006