Internet Users Around the World Can Visit 'NORAD Tracks Santa' Site and Prepare to Follow Santa on His Christmas Eve Journey.DULLES, Va. -- America Online See AOL. , Inc. --Annual Tradition from North American Aerospace Defense Command A bi-national command of the US and Canada that provides aerospace surveillance, warning and assessment of aerospace attack, and maintains the sovereignty of US and Canadian airspace. Also called NORAD. Celebrates 50th Season of Tracking Santa's Voyage --America Online, Akamai Technologies Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is a company that provides a distributed computing platform for global Internet content and application delivery, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) A machine intelligence that resembles that of a human being. Considered impossible by many, most artificial intelligence (AI) research, projects and products deal with specific applications such as industrial robots, playing chess, Team Up to Support Record Web Traffic from Around the World on Christmas Eve The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD NORAD abbr. North American Aerospace (formerly Air) Defense Command ) today announced the launch of the "NORAD Tracks Santa" Web site that allows Internet users to track Santa's Christmas Eve trip around the world. Beginning today, believers of all ages can get a head start in preparing for Santa's special Christmas Eve mission by going to www.noradsanta.org or on the America Online(R) service at Keyword: Santa. Hosted by America Online and delivered by Akamai Technologies, the NORAD Santa tracking site utilizes 300 servers worldwide to allow millions of kids the opportunity to get up-to-the-minute reports, streaming video A one-way video transmission over a data network. It is widely used on the Web as well as company networks to play video clips and video broadcasts. Computers in home networks stream video to digital media hubs connected to a home theater. and pictures from Santa's journey. Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI) software technology brings the images from NORAD's "Santa Cams" to computer and television screens around the world. Last year, the NORAD Santa Tracker web site received a record 576 million hits during the 72 hour period surrounding Christmas. At 9 pm ET on Christmas Eve last year, the site was receiving 12,000 hits per second, and the live videos of Santa's journey were streamed more than 9 million times. Akamai's global platform will ensure the reliable delivery of content for this year's Web visitors. As it has done for the past 49 years, NORAD will track Santa Claus as he makes his annual journey on December 24. Along with conducting its critical mission of protecting U.S. and Canadian airspace, NORAD performs this special duty each holiday season, using radar, satellites and Santa Cams. On Christmas Eve, NORAD's powerful North Warning radar system, which has 47 installations across the country, determines when Santa departs from the North Pole. Once the radar has identified Santa, heat-detecting infrared sensors on NORAD's satellites then monitor Santa's journey. Santa Cams--high-speed digital cameras positioned at different places around the world--perform the final step in the technology transfer by capturing images at Santa's various stops and downloading them to the NORAD site using AGI's aerospace analysis and visualization software. For the second consecutive year, Ringo Starr has been selected as honorary Santa tracker. The former Beatle will provide the update of Santa's progress on Christmas Eve from Great Britain. The live video clips start on Dec. 24 at 5:00 a.m. ET and are updated regularly until 3:30 a.m. ET on Dec. 25. The site will feature 25 key stops that Jolly Old St. Nick makes across the globe, beginning by flying over Northern Canada and Alaska and ending in the South Pacific; with visits to cities such as Moscow, London, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , and Reindeer Lake, Canada. The NORAD site is available in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. The AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. (R) Latino service will also offer coverage in Spanish. About America Online, Inc. America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services. About AGI AGI, based in Exton, PA, produces analysis software for the national security and space communities. For additional information about AGI or its software technologies, visit www.agi.com. About Akamai Technologies, Inc. Akamai(R) (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : AKAM AKAM Akamai Technologies, Inc. (stock abbreviation) AKAM Automated Key Access Machine ) is the global leader of distributed computing solutions and services, making the Internet predictable, scalable, and secure for conducting profitable e-business. For more information, visit www.akamai.com. NOTICE TO MEDIA: STK-generated 3-D animations will be made available in mid-December to network affiliate news services for Christmas Eve broadcasting. Please contact your network feed service to stream Santa's 25 famous stops around the world (approximately 30 seconds each). For details about Santa's 2004 itinerary, please visit www.agi.com/santamedia. |
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