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Verizon Saves NORAD's Christmas Santa Tracker with One Talk
As a child, did you ever want to know how Santa made his way across the globe in a single night? Having some sort of tracking device to monitor his progress probably would have been useful as a child, but unfortunately for many of us the technology just hadn’t arrived yet. Luckily for kids in 2020, Verizon (News - Alert) and NORAD have partnered with Santa’s team at the North Pole to provide live updates for those wondering about his progress throughout the night.
For all those kids out there who believe in the magic of Christmas and leave out cookies and milk for Santa when he stops with his reindeer team, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is continuing its 18-year tradition of its Santa Tracking Program. The program lets kids see in real time where Santa is on his global delivery route.
Typically, the NORAD call center fields more than 150,000 calls with 1,500 volunteers each Christmas Eve. This year, unfortunately, COVID-19 restrictions will limit the number of volunteers in the call center to field calls. Despite these new limitations, it seems unlikely that anything would stop NORAD from continuing this spirited tradition. Indeed, playing the role of Rudolph and helping save this part of the Christmas story this year, Verizon has partnered with NORAD to expand the call center’s capabilities beyond its physical footprint.
Using Verizon’s One Talk app loaded onto iPhones, Verizon will enable volunteers to take calls to Santa’s team from remote locations – just as though they were sitting in the call center. One Talk is Verizon’s mobile business unified communications service and can extend any business’ phone service to smartphones enabling a true remote workforce.
“It's a great source of joy for the Verizon team to volunteer alongside our partners at NORAD to help carry on the tradition of tracking Santa Claus' whereabouts around the world,” says Andrés Irlando, senior vice president and president, Public Sector and Verizon Connect at Verizon. “For 18 consecutive years, it has been an honor to support NORAD and their mission to help children believe in the magic of Santa Claus and the holiday season.”
Starting at 6:00am EST on Christmas Eve, children will be able to ask NORAD volunteers direct questions to Santa, and can receive live responses through the Verizon virtual call center. Children may call 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to ask their questions. They can also track Santa’s journey online with the NORAD Santa Tracker, which also includes a number of other interactive North Pole activities, or download the NORAD Santa Tracker app to their Android (News - Alert) or Apple devices.