tw telecom Assists NORAD in Tracking Santa on World-wide Christmas Eve Journey

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Dec. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- tw telecom inc. (NASDAQ: TWTC), a leading provider of managed services, including Business Ethernet, converged and IP VPN solutions throughout the U.S. and globally, today announced that it is partnering with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to help track Santa Claus as he travels across the globe to deliver presents on Christmas Eve.

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"NORAD and Peterson Air Force Base utilize tw telecom's local voice services for critical communications and we are pleased to continuously show our commitment to the 'NORAD Tracks Santa' program," said Tracy Shaufler, Vice President and General Manager for tw telecom in Denver and Colorado Springs.  "Our technicians will be on 24-hour alert to work closely with the NORAD and Peterson Air Force Base Task Force to ensure seamless communications so every person who calls the 'NORAD Tracks Santa' hotline receives the most up-to-date information on Santa's location."

Last year, 1,200 NORAD Tracks Santa volunteers received 114,000 phone calls, more than 9,000 emails and 22.3 million unique website visitors during Santa's flight.

"Millions of people around the world rely on NORAD to provide accurate information on Santa's location," said Stacey Knott, NORAD Tracks Santa project manager.  "Our communications team is critical in meeting that demand.  NORAD is very pleased that for the fifth consecutive year, tw telecom is again providing part of the communications resources necessary to manage the call volume we expect this year."

Beginning at 12:01 a.m. MST on December 24, families can watch Santa make preparations for his flight.  Then, at 4 a.m. MST, a live phone operator will be available to speak with and inquire as to Santa's whereabouts by dialing toll-free, 877-Hi-NORAD (877.446.6723) or by sending an email to [email protected].  The web site provides information in eight languages – English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.

In addition, official NORAD Tracks Santa apps are available on smart phones and tablets to count down the days until Santa's launch. Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.  Santa followers just need to type "@noradsanta" into each search engine to get started. 

For nearly 60 years, NORAD has been providing Santa's location to millions of children around the world.  The highly-skilled Santa Trackers, mostly military volunteers and their families, provide real-time updates on Santa's location from the NORAD Tracks Santa Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.  

About tw telecom
tw telecom, headquartered in Littleton, Colo., is a leading national provider of managed services, including Business Ethernet, converged and IP VPN solutions for enterprises throughout the U.S. and globally. tw telecom also delivers secure, scalable private connections for transport data networking, Internet access, voice, VPN, VoIP and security to large organizations and communications services companies. Employing a resilient fiber network infrastructure, robust product portfolio and its own Intelligent Network capabilities, tw telecom delivers customers overall economic value, an industry-leading quality service experience, and improved business productivity. Please visit www.twtelecom.com for more information.

SOURCE tw telecom