| What do you think the following have in common: | | | | When you have an ADT alarm installed on your |
| fire alarms, burglar alarms and telegram delivery | | | | premises and it's triggered, whether by someone |
| services? You might be forgiven for thinking 'not | | | | breaking in, a fire, a medical emergency or manual |
| much'. If you look at the modest beginnings of | | | | activation, the signal goes to one of their control |
| ADT home security, you will find that there is a | | | | rooms. There it is evaluated by a monitoring |
| link though. | | | | specialist and he then takes the appropriate action. |
| During the latter part of the 19th century there | | | | Depending on what type of signal was received, |
| were a large number of small telegram delivery | | | | he will either phone you back, or directly contact |
| services doing business in the USA. To enable | | | | the police, fire brigade or medical services. |
| them to make use of economies of scale, all of | | | | If you are therefore living on your own and you |
| them amalgamated in 1874 and formed a single | | | | suffer from a life-threatening medical condition, |
| company called American District Telegraph, or | | | | you can have a special system installed which will |
| ADT. The company's main business was still to | | | | respond to any medical need that might arise. |
| deliver telegrams. | | | | Should you have a large house with a lot of |
| With the ever increasing popularity of telephones, | | | | valuable property, you most likely want to |
| the market for telegrams started to dwindle. The | | | | monitor it visually on a permanent bases. The |
| company went through difficult times and wasn't | | | | company will then fit a home video surveillance |
| able to find alternative sources of income. This led | | | | system at your premises which is connected to |
| to it being taken over by AT&T during the first | | | | their control room seven days a week. This way |
| few months of 1909. | | | | you can rest assured that ADT is aware what's |
| Now they had sufficient capital behind them to | | | | going on both inside and outside your house at all |
| start a process of diversification and they soon | | | | times. |
| ventured into burglar alarms and fire alarms. This | | | | The company can most likely ascribe a large part |
| led to exponential growth in the US market. | | | | of their success during the past hundred years to |
| During the 'fifties they also moved into the United | | | | the fact that new employees are trained to |
| Kingdom Market and from there to numerous | | | | meticulous standards. Knowing what to do in an |
| other countries. Right now the company has | | | | emergency situation is of the utmost importance. |
| branches or franchises in over 50 countries | | | | They also have written rules on how employees |
| around the world. | | | | should handle certain situations. |
| ADT derives most of its profits from installing, | | | | Another factor contributing to their success is the |
| maintaining and monitoring alarm systems. | | | | fact that ADT Home Security only utilizes state |
| Something that lures a lot of customers to them | | | | of the art technology in their security systems. |
| is the fact that they don't normally charge an | | | | For the home owner this should bring peace of |
| initial fee when installing an alarm system on your | | | | mind, knowing that his property is protected by |
| premises. You sign a fixed length contract and | | | | the best there is, not by a system already known |
| everything is included in your monthly payment. | | | | inside out by every burglar in town. |