The Power of Bauer
Starkwood, a private US military and security company is engaging in some seriously nefarious business, seemingly planning on waging biological warfare against its own country. Former CTU hero Tony Almeida has been kidnapped by this rogue organization and is in grave danger. When a Starkwood agent interrogates Tony, a top executive within Starkwood kills the agent and promises to reveal the bioweapon's location for immunity. Tony contacts FBI agent Larry Moss to broker the deal for immunity. The President needs to be conferenced in to sign the document that Larry's team has already drafted. Time is of the essence, every second counts.
If you missed it, that's a snippet from last night's episode of Fox's 24. So how did this situation play out? With web conferencing, of course! Agent Larry Moss uploads the document to his Cisco Webex meeting, invites Starkwood and the President to join the meeting, and communicates via audio and video conferencing. The President provides a virtual signature on the immunity document and Tony and the Starkwood agent are on their way to uncover the covert operation. Check it out.
While the situation is highly implausible, it's very exciting to see conferencing technologies referenced in popular culture and media this way.
Cisco had previously showcased their Telepresence technology on 24: Redemption, a 2-hour mini-series that aired just prior to the current season 7, and has had a long-standing relationship with the series showcasing its products.
Irene Psimenatos is the Web Collaboration Product Manager at ACT Conferencing
irene.psimenatos@canada.acttel.com.