Skincare firm focuses on health of PCs

By RICHARD PAMATATAU

Skincare company Nu Skin is expanding into computer health and will release security products for the PC market this year.

Noreen Noble, senior manager global marketing, said Nu Skin would launch its computer security products on the New Zealand market this year through its IT wing, Big Planet.

Nu Skin has three corporate arms: skincare, software and dietary supplements.

Salt Lake City-based Noble was in New Zealand to launch Visia, a computer-based skin analysis system that uses a digital camera, ultraviolet light and a database of "skin evaluations" to rank a customer's skin condition.

Noble said IT products were a natural for Nu Skin to go into as part of its healthy living focus was to ensure customers' safety. "That includes ensuring your data is safe and protected from bad stuff."

The new PC product will put Nu Skin up against companies such as Symantec and Trend Micro, which supply anti-virus and firewall software to the home and small-business market.

The Big Planet product is called BP Internet Security.

The company said it was easy-to-use software developed for home and small business computers.

It requires Windows 98, NT or 2000 to run.

Like most of the packages of its type, Internet Security offers a degree of protection from hackers, spam and "pop-up" advertising.

Nu Skin gives a computer diagnosis free with software from its website, which will search for viruses, profanities and other things it deems to be "not good".

Pricing for the security products is still to be released.

In another project, Nu Skin is using its Visia system to build a global database of skin types based on age, ethnicity and other factors such as diet and smoking.

Noble said everyone who had their skin analysed by the system became part of the database, which recorded information and then stripped off identifying data such as the person's name.

The factors assessed by Visia are wrinkles, spots, pores, evenness, porphyrin count and UV spots. Porphyrins are bacteria that can sometimes cause skin irritation and are present on all skin.

Nu Skin will use Visia as a sales and marketing device and it is being set up in the company's Auckland shop to steer people into choosing the "appropriate" products for their skin type.

Customers can download software from the company's site to "self-diagnose" their skin types.


Noble said in the computer age people wanted more choice and Nu Skin made the software freely available.

Naturally, the company is selling products to go with Visia and this year it will start selling a gel to eliminate lines and refine pores.

Nu Skin is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and reported revenue of almost US$1 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2002.