Clifton Park, N.Y., (PRWEB) December 13, 2013 -- Annese & Associates, Inc., an integrated communications systems provider, teamed up with longtime partner, Cisco, for the networking leader’s annual Santa Connection Day. The event took place on Monday, December 2nd at the children’s hospital at Albany Medical Center in New York. This was Annese’s first time participating in the event.
Annese recommended its customer, Albany Medical Center, to be presented with this unique opportunity to deliver a live feed of the North Pole to its patients using Cisco’s TelePresence technology via iPad or mobile cart.
Santa visited with children and their families in the hospital’s playroom. For those who didn’t feel well enough to leave their rooms, a mobile cart or iPad enabled with Cisco Jabber software allowed Santa to travel room-to-room for a virtual bedside visit.
The Cisco Santa Connection Program was developed seven years ago to provide hospitalized children and their families with some hope and happiness during the holiday season. Through the magic of Cisco’s mobile and video collaboration technology, children who are unable to celebrate in the comfort of their own home due to illness are able to experience some of the holiday festivities that this time of year brings. Last year, nearly 2,890 children in hospitals across the nation participated in this special day.
“The joy that this program brings for a single day cannot be measured. It is a perfect combination of good karma, magic, and holiday joy. Very seldom do we get to spend a day using technology for something so heartwarming and so appreciated,” said Amy Edwards, Account Manager at Cisco.
This year Cicso aims to visit approximately 50 hospitals across North America. Many of these children would not otherwise have been able to see Santa this year and have the opportunity to speak with him in real-time and relay their Christmas wishes. After a personal conversation with Santa, the children can join their families and relax at a holiday party complete with gifts at the hospital.
About Albany Medical Center
Albany Medical Center, northeastern New York’s only academic health sciences center, is one of the largest private employers in the Capital Region. It incorporates the 651-bed Albany Medical Center Hospital, which offers the widest range of medical and surgical services in the region, and the Albany Medical College, which trains the next generation of doctors, scientists and other healthcare professionals, and also includes a biomedical research enterprise and the region’s largest physicians practice with 350 doctors. Albany Medical Center works with dozens of community partners to improve the region’s health and quality of life. For more information: http://www.amc.edu/ or http://www.facebook.com/albanymedicalcenter.
About Cisco Systems Santa Connection
During the 2013 holiday season, approximately 50 hospitals throughout North America will participate in the Cisco Santa Connection Program. This interactive experience enables hospitalized children to remotely connect and communicate with Santa using Cisco’s video collaboration technologies. Through the magic of the Internet, the children are connected over video directly to Santa’s workshop in the North Pole where they can share their wish lists directly with Old St. Nick. After a personal conversation with Santa, children can join their families and enjoy a holiday party complete with gifts at the hospital. The Santa Connection Program was developed seven years ago to provide children and their families a bit of holiday cheer and happiness during their hospital stay. For more information, please contact Emily May: emimay(at)cisco(dot)com.
About Annese & Associates, Inc.
Expertise. Relationships. Innovation. Throughout the past four decades, these principles have established the foundation upon which Annese & Associates has emerged as the trusted adviser to our customers, partners, and communities. With a full-circle approach to integrating communications systems, Annese wraps professional and managed services around Infrastructure, Collaboration and Data Center Virtualization solutions. Guided by our services methodology, we design an end-to-end IT experience for our clients, implementing the tools of today and administering a plan for tomorrow. Our business is the art, science, and passion of connecting devices to networks, people to people, and ideas to action.
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Christina Nordquist, Annese & Associates Inc, http://www.annese.com, +1 (585) 563-2129, [email protected]
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