Family ties are just click away

The Sorenson family of companies today launched a Web site that can help make the term "long-lost relative" obsolete.

The Salt Lake-based companies' GeneTree combines elements of DNA profiles, genealogy and family history and social networking as a means to let users learn about relatives, contact them and share information with them — all at GeneTree.com.

"We're answering questions like 'Who am I,' 'How am I connected to others,' and 'Where did I come from?'" said James Lee Sorenson, GeneTree's chief executive officer. "It's done through a combination of technology, of science and of social networking, and we'll enable people to collaborate with each other by being able to very easily share their family histories and their photos and their videos in a way that they've never been able to before."

GeneTree uses elements of Sorenson Media's digital video compression and encoding technology, the genetic and genealogy information of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation and the consumer genetic testing of Sorenson Genomics.

"There are a number of moving parts here," Sorenson said. "We've taken these core competencies and combined them. That's the value and the uniqueness of GeneTree."

"These (three) are interesting trends, in and of themselves," said Matt Cupal, president and chief operating officer of Sorenson Media. "Now we're bringing them together in a single experience, and we think that the whole is much more than the sum of the parts."

The Sorenson announcement comes a week after Provo-based Ancestry.com said it would offer DNA Ancestry, a service linking DNA testing with its collection of names in historical records and its online family history community.

Ancestry.com says its new service, with DNA tests using Sorenson Genomics ranging in price from $149 to $199, provides results that can predict ancestors' origins and migrations. In coming months, the DNA results will be added to online family trees, and by year-end, users will be able to create and join social networks based on genetic connections.

Joining the GeneTree network is free, and one starting point for users is to have their DNA tested by Sorenson Genomics. The cost ranges from $99 to $149. They then can map those results with the foundation's database to discover parts of their family histories that even predate written records. Users can build family trees, contact other participants with DNA connections and collaborate with them to compile family histories.