“Oh, what times! Oh, what customs!”…we may say this often, just as Cicero did a very long time ago, when we remember nostalgically about things we consider to have been better in the past. It becomes therefore interesting to follow a particular industry though times and see how it evolved.
Let’s take the security industry for instance: at first, there were a couple of small telegraph delivery companies based in the USA. Then, they all gathered and in 1874 eventually formed the American District Telegraph Company. The current name of the company is ADT Security and we may say they were the ones to invent the security industry itself.
Times Change
At first, there were the messengers. They were sent to different clients to deliver and collect telegraphs. Just imagine how poetic that could have been: to be in love with a beautiful girl and write poems and dreams, synthesizing your feelings in a short telegraph and send them through a messenger. And then receiving back the same wonderful emotions from the beloved one, oh what times! What customs!
Then, in the late 19th century, the telephone usage replaced the messenger business. And the man yearning for his sweetheart began calling her from the nearest call box. And the far away beautiful girl began calling her lover from the call box in her native town and little by little, the new fashion made the messengers disappear. Such a pity! Romance was beginning its decline.
But times change, so did our lovers from before. They became busier and busier with their work, had children of their own and needed some sort of tools to protect their home and children. Home security became very important, so the security services began to appear in different forms. It was the most suitable moment for ADT to expand in new areas such as fire alarms and burglar alarms. Video surveillance systems followed.
And the story goes on and on and on. Time flows, people are becoming more and more sophisticated, so did technique and ADT together with it.
Nowadays
Don’t take it for granted when they say you should not forget our history, because our history made what we are now! You have learnt about how ADT came into being and you may certainly rely on what is represents nowadays: a Big Brother monitoring system that will always keep an eye on your home and protect your family from bad things. ADT will always be your ally, even in changing times.
