NORAD and tw telecom Track Santa Claus on His Worldwide Christmas Eve Journey

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- tw telecom (NASDAQ: TWTC), a leading provider of managed services, including Business Ethernet, converged and IPVPN services to enterprises throughout the U.S. and globally, today said it is assisting the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) for the third consecutive year to support the NORAD Tracks Santa program.  This critical endeavor helps millions of children track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve as he delivers presents to boys and girls around the world.

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"For more than 50 years, highly-skilled trackers have monitored Santa's movements at the 'NORAD Tracks Santa' Operations Center located in Colorado Springs, Colo., and relayed location information to tens of thousands of children following his progress," said Joyce J. Creech, NORAD Tracks Santa project lead.  "With so many children and parents relying on us for accurate Santa location coordinates, it is critical our communications collaborators be able to meet our critical demands. We're pleased tw telecom, and all other communications collaborators, will again provide us with the communications resources necessary to manage the call volume we are expecting."

"NORAD and Peterson Air Force Base employ tw telecom's local communications services for their daily mission-critical communications needs, but also use them for extremely high priority projects such as NORAD Tracks Santa communications," said Rick Corbett, vice president and general manager for tw telecom in Colorado.  "Our technical teams will be on 24-hour alert to ensure the NORAD Track Santa Task Force has these mission-critical communications services at the ready.  Our goal is to provide seamless communications service so that every child who is seeking Santa's location will receive it."

The NORAD www.noradsanta.org website includes a Countdown to Track Santa clock as well as a Kid's Countdown Village, holiday games and activities. Starting at 12:00 a.m. MST on Dec. 24, website visitors can watch Santa as he makes all the preparations for his flight.  Then, at 4:00 a.m. MST (6:00 a.m. EST), trackers worldwide can talk to a live phone operator to inquire about Santa's whereabouts by dialing the toll-free number 1-877-Hi-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].  NORAD's "Santa cams" will also stream videos as Santa makes his way over various locations worldwide.

This year, using free apps in the Apple iTunes Store and in the Android Market, parents and children can count down the days until Santa's take off on their smart phones!  Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and Twitter.  Santa followers just need to type "@noradsanta" into each search engine to get started. 

About tw telecom
tw telecom holdings inc., a unit of tw telecom inc., headquartered in Littleton, Colo., provides managed network services, specializing in Business Ethernet and transport data networking, Internet access, local and long distance voice, VoIP, VPN and security, to enterprise organizations and communications services companies throughout the U.S., and globally.  As a leading provider of integrated and converged network solutions, tw telecom delivers customers overall economic value, quality, service, and improved business productivity. Please visit www.twtelecom.com for more information.

About NORAD
NORAD is a bi-national United States and Canada organization charged with the missions of aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning in the defense of North America. 

SOURCE tw telecom