Digital Transformation Comes to the North Pole

Digital transformation has come to the North Pole, and this year, Santa Claus has tricked-out Christmas with the latest innovations at the Network Edge, aka the North Pole. Let’s take a peek at what’s happening.

In the Workshop

The elves are diligently working—and they’re always connected with their mobile devices. Being at the Edge of the North Pole network makes it easy to collaborate across the workshop, across the cloud or anywhere in the village. They can easily book conference rooms using a mobile app to discuss the demand spike for the Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon, and adjust production accordingly.

Out in the warehouse, asset tags are used to ensure that every child’s list is packed correctly and checked twice. Smart building controls keep the temperature a delightful 80-degrees, while artic winds outside are frightful.

Keeping Trim for Christmas

Mrs. Claus gave Santa a Fitbit this summer to make sure he gets in 10,000 daily steps and stays lively and quick. The smartwatch also tracks his sleep to make sure he’s rested for the big day. Mrs. Claus also tracks Santa’s location from the Kringle Health mobile app and is notified by text when he makes an unexpected stop in the village bakery—and to verify that he’s really going to the gym when he says he will.

Out in the winter wonderland, the reindeer also benefit from mobile, cloud and IoT. Using sensors, their health is monitored by the veterinary team, to make sure they can all dash away on the appointed evening. Data is streamed to the cloud so the elves can work with animal health experts in the lower 48 to diagnose why a reindeer is off his feed or if Rudolph’s nose goes on the blink.

Minimizing the Threat

It’s important that the Grinch, Heat Miser, the Abominable Snowman—or any unknown entities—can’t disrupt the important Christmas work. And no one likes to talk about it, but sometimes an elf gets disgruntled or is compromised. And there’s always that kid who’s crushing AP Computer Science who’s trying to hack Santa’s list for his little sister Cindy Lou Who.

But this year, Santa’s network is protected against internal and external attacks with AI-based cybersecurity. Santa’s security operation center is using a new tool to gain visibility into malicious or compromised users and devices, so the elf-analysts can remediate the situation and automatically put the person on the Naughty List. Lump of coal. Check.

Up, Up and Away

The sleigh is packed and ready to go. On Christmas Eve, the location-aware Santa’s List app helps Santa find the most direct way to the nice kids’ houses and sends delivery confirmations to the workshop. As he flies around the world, Santa’s smart suit logs his cookie intake at each house, notifying Mrs. Claus when he’s over his limit. No getting stuck in the chimney this year.

Back in the Village

Mrs. Claus is tracking Santa’s location to help him stay on schedule—and to know when he’ll arrive back home. She has a smart kitchen, so she can control the oven temperature from her mobile device, and get notifications when the cookies are ready. And when Santa arrives home, she gets advance notice from her Ring doorbell.

Santa’s back! It’s time for Santa and the Mrs. to kick back, be jolly, and stream Elf on Netflix. That scene where Buddy eats the spaghetti sundae always cracks him up.

Happy Holidays to all...from Aruba!!