Published: April 27, 2006

Virgin Life Care HealthZone Kiosk Wins Awards; IBM Provides Services, Hardware

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Virgin Life Care's HealthZone Health Monitoring Station, supported by IBM services and hardware, won two KioskCom Excellence Awards at the at the 10th Annual KioskCom Conference and Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nev.

The HealthZone is a key component in Virgin Life Care's HealthMiles, a health rewards program designed to motivate and incentivize consumers to take control of their health and become part of the "prevention solution." The HealthZone is designed to provide HealthMiles members with an easy-to-use and highly accessible tool to measure, set health goals, monitor and track results, access personal health information on demand, and obtain periodic assessments.

The HealthZone enables users to measure and track key biometric data and features a scale, body fat indicator, blood pressure cuff, and touch screen. The HealthZones are being placed in convenient locations, such as offices, health clubs and retail stores, so that health monitoring becomes more accessible to consumers. The first HealthZones were launched in Boston, Louisville, San Antonio and Tampa earlier this year.

The HealthZone was awarded first place for the Best Non-Transactional Kiosk Application and second place for the Most Creative/Best Use of New Technology in a Kiosk deployment. It also was named as a finalist in the category of Best Kiosk Project Hardware/Enclosure Design. The KioskCom Excellence Awards recognize the most successful and innovative self-service kiosk business solutions worldwide.

The HealthZone was custom-designed with IBM's Kiosk group and is supported by IBM services. It is a first-of-its-kind health kiosk, which provides an all-in-one, integrated unit, offering customers an innovative solution to measuring and tracking health statistics. IBM works with Virgin Life Care on the product lifecycle -- from design and development to integration, post-sale support and hardware maintenance.

The HealthZones combine the IBM Anyplace Kiosk integrated IR touch screen and Intel Celeron M Processor, A&D TM-2655 Professional Blood Pressure Health Monitor, Futrex 6100 Body Fat Reader, A&D Weighing JL-400 Scale, and Cisco 800 Wireless Router/Multitech CDMA Modem. It's the first time that these devices are brought together in a single kiosk.

"As obesity and other preventable health conditions reach epidemic proportions in the U.S., consumers are looking for useful and practical ways to help them take control of their health," said Stephen Thornton, CEO of Virgin Life Care. "The HealthZone is a convenient and effective vehicle for consumers to self-manage and self-monitor their health and well-being and make informed decisions that will ultimately lead to healthier lifestyles."

Data from the HealthZone is automatically fed to Virgin Life Care's personalized, password-protected LifeZone Web site via a wireless communications system from Transaction Network Services, Inc. This enables HealthMiles members to track their overall progress and view health and fitness accomplishments online at their convenience. HealthMiles members earn Reward Points for effort, measurement and achievement logged through HealthZone, LifeZone, and GoZone, a pedometer that connects to the LifeZone Website. These points can be redeemed for products at retailers.

About Virgin

Virgin, a leading branded venture capital organization, is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony, to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and retailing. Virgin has created more than 200 companies worldwide, employing approximately 35,000 people, in 29 countries. Revenues around the world in 2004 exceeded US $10 billion.

For more information about Virgin Life Care, please visit: www.virginlifecare.com.

For more information about IBM, go to: www.ibm.com