Copp Systems, a Dayton, Ohio-based security and communications systems provider, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. 

Copp Systems (formerly Copp Integrated Systems) was founded in 1920 by Roy Stanley Copp, an engineer and member of the Dayton Boys, a group of young engineers and students interested in technology. Copp began selling and servicing RCA living room consoles from his Monument Avenue storefront to prominent Dayton families, including the Wrights, Deeds and Ketterings. As the business grew and new technologies emerged, Copp Systems added numerous communications systems to its offerings. 

Today, Copp Systems consults, designs, installs and maintains systems that integrate fire/life safety, video surveillance, access control, nurse call, audio-visual systems and monitoring applications. The firm is proud to be one of the licensees of Footprint, a web-based situational software developed in partnership with the University of Dayton Research Institute’s Software Systems Group. Footprint brings together information from multiple video monitoring systems and sensors into one platform, enabling law enforcement to solve cases quicker using data-driven decisions. 

“Copp Systems’ hundred-year anniversary is a monumental milestone and a testament to our dedication to customer service,” said David Markham, president of Copp Systems. “Our customers know they can depend on us as their trusted advisors to maximize their resources and deliver a superior level of support. We’re always looking for ways to add new facets to our business to meet our customers’ changing needs.”

Copp Systems serves a broad range of industries, including public safety, commercial and industrial, health care, education, government and military, transportation, logistics, financial and retail. Under the leadership of owner and CEO Bill DeFries, the company became verified as a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), opening more opportunities to serve Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the local veteran community.  
DeFries said the key to the company’s future success will be its ongoing commitment to education and eagerness to embrace new technologies. 

“It says a lot about any company to survive — and thrive — for a hundred years,” DeFries said. “But especially in the electronic security industry, it takes forward-thinking and flexibility to stay ahead of the curve and adapt as new technologies are developed . . . As Copp Systems propels into a new decade, we’re looking forward to unifying organizations and simplifying lives with the latest technology, all while maintaining our long history of quality customer service.”