Broadband Media Allows Face to Face With Deployed Loved Ones

Connecting with loved ones during the holidays is one joy that many Americans look forward to. Sometimes finances and schedules can be so tight that a holiday visit just isn't fated to happen on a given year, and sometimes, it helps to think outside the box, trying new ways to gain that precious holiday connectivity. This is where new innovations in broadband media technology and broadcasting can help fill in the gaps and bring those who are miles apart together in the same room; allowing grandmothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even deployed fathers meet new additions to the family face to face or simply share in the holiday cheer.

While many of us might simply be unable to afford a trip to visit distanced relatives over the holidays, our dutifully serving military personnel abroad are not able due to their service to our country. Imagine being stationed overseas while your friends and relations celebrate the holidays, a very insular feeling indeed, and a phone call can only do so much. A phone call is bittersweet, but the ability to see family members faces, reactions of joy, and offerings of love would be priceless. Present-day broadband technology has the ability to allow relatives, even those spread across the country, to connect their celebrations via multiple cameras and multiple personal computers. A mother and father in Tennessee are able to see their daughter in Virginia, their son in Washington State, and their grandson serving in Afghanistan, communicating in real time across thousands upon thousands of miles thanks to Whiteblox and other providers of Internet broadcasting tools. Not only are separated relatives allowed to talk and see each other live, they are afforded the ability as well to broadcast streaming video, perhaps of their youngest son's first "at bat" at a little league game, a daughter's dance recital, or simply an infant's bath- time; all of these being joyous viewings by proud grandparents that need not wait for DVDs to arrive by mail, but instead can watch and enjoy them with the grandchildren that produced them, sharing the elation and warm feelings instantly.

Harnessing the power of the Internet to connect loved ones across vast distances is truly exciting. Providers like Whiteblox continue to strive and create new capabilities as well as making this technology increasingly available to all that desire to use it.

About the Author: Gregory Demetriades is Chief Executive Officer of Whiteblox, a leading provider of integrated broadband video solutions.