On Dasher, On Dancer, On … Aura?

Each year, thousands of potentially life-changing phone calls are made over Avaya Aura communications platforms installed worldwide. This year, Avaya is helping connect some of the most important calls made on Dec. 24 – those from anxious children tracking Santa.

Avaya is helping NORAD in its yearly critical task of tracking Santa’s progress with his sleigh full of goodies and his eight tiny reindeer (nine, if Rudolph’s working this year).  When the estimated 1,200 volunteers answer calls coming into 1-800-HI-NORAD (catchy, right?) Santa hotline, they’ll be using the Avaya Aura communications platform, which is installed at Peterson Air Force Base, home of NORAD.

Every year on Christmas Eve NORAD helps answer the question, “Is Santa almost here?” through its NORAD Tracks Santa program. Volunteers field phone calls from excited youngsters (and those young at heart) who are allowed to stay up late and eventually collapse into sleep due to exhaustion and too much sugar. (The organization also has a website that shows where Santa is on RADAR.)

There’s no word on whether NORAD will start using Avaya’s unified communications technologies such as The Flare Experience to provide a more detailed view into Santa’s progress as he circles the globe in record time (an opportunity to use presence technologies, perhaps?). But for savvy solution providers, this could signal a new business opportunity: chatting with Santa, video conferencing with the Easter Bunny, instant messaging with the Great Pumpkin … the possibilities are endless!

For now, however, props to Avaya for keeping the holiday spirit alive. Ho ho hello!

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