Avaya Powers Christmas Spirit All Over the World

Christmas is a time for connections and involvements. It usually gives people the fuzzy feeling of belongingness and togetherness. And in that light, Avaya decided to be part of bringing people together, which is what it has been doing for years now.

Santa is a prominent figure of the holiday season and kids all over the world anticipates the time when Santa visits their homes and bring gifts for them. Avaya took part and dwell in with the excitement of the kids by powering NORAD’s contact center, where there are almost 1,250 volunteers taking calls and answering emails from kids about Santa and his whereabouts. The NORAD Tracks Santa is a program that started way back in 1955 because of a happy accident.

In 1955, a company released an advertisement in a Colorado Springs newspaper, which invites kids to call specific hotline numbers where they can talk to Santa or one of his helpers and tell them their Christmas wish list.

In December 24 of the same year, a call was received by Colonel Harry Shoup in the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) in Colorado Springs. Expecting for a warning of atomic bombers, he was surprised to hear a little girl’s voice asking him if he was Santa Claus. Colonel Shoup was dumbfounded but didn’t want to disappoint the kid by saying that she called the wrong number. When the colonel got to talk to the kid’s mom, they discovered that one of the numbers in the newspaper advertisement was wrong and instead have the command center’s number.

Colonel Shoup told the little girl instead that he can tell her Santa’s location by using his radars. All evening, the entire crew catered to kids’ calls about Santa’s location. This started the tradition which the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) continues until the present time, starting from when it replaced CONAD in 1958. 

NORAD officers are able to receive calls all over the world. With kids asking them about Santa’s whereabouts in the eve of Christmas day, they consider the program as one of their most important missions giving them the utmost joy in the Christmas season. And to make sure that all calls are connected, Avaya technology powers the entire system. Visit our store and find great deals for Avaya products.

Another holiday cause, that Avaya involved itself in, is the #SantaCause of the Cell Phones for Soldiers. In an effort to bring people together on this special day, Avaya chose to donate to the program.

This cause started when two kids decided to use the savings, which they kept in their piggy banks, in order to purchase phone cards for military troops, who are assigned outside of the country. This is where the nonprofit organization, Cell Phones for Soldiers, started. And now, connecting military troops to their families, the organization was able to donate 120 million talk minutes. Avaya joins in that same cause to connect people anywhere in the world and is proud to associate themselves with the organization. As simple as it may seem, a single phone call can mean a big thing for the military troops who are far from their families.