8x8 is proud to report that it made the Yuletide a bit brighter for some children this past holiday season. In the 8 weeks leading up to Christmas, 8x8 had Santa Claus at the North Pole answering ViaTV Videophone calls from families, retail stores and pediatric wards in hospitals from around the country. For over 350 hours, Santa saw thousands of kids and heard their wishes. The children were treated to Ole St. Nick smiling, winking and waving at them.

Katie Kearney, coordinator of the Brown Family Life Center at the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said that 10 to 12 kids saw Santa from their hospital with ViaTV Videophones. "The kids loved it. It was great. It helped alleviate some the anxiety the children had. It helped them deal with being in the hospital during Christmas. Santa told them he was not going to miss them. He was not forgetting them. 'I know where you are.' That was important for the kids."

Robert Wullner, a father and ViaTV owner emailed 8x8 saying, "Just a quick note to say thanks for having Santa available during the holidays. My kids can truly say that they were the first on their block to have a virtual visit with Santa in 1998." Mr. Wullner closed his note with an interesting question, "How about the Easter Bunny?"

Jim Reid of Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines, IA wrote 8x8 to say, "When we learned of your promotion, we seized the opportunity to raise the spirits and lighten the hearts of some of our pediatric patients. We hastily configured a self-contained ViaTV roll-about and wheeled it up to our pediatrics unit on Wednesday, December 23. In coordination with the pediatric units' Child Life Specialist, two of our own elves rolled the 8x8 unit from room-to-room establishing video calls with Santa and then watching the magic happen.