This week we are posting each day around the topic of 1993, the year Excel Vending was launched.  So far, we have had a general look at the year, and in Blog No.2, we explored what happened in Entertainment and Sport.  Today we are looking at the state of Technology in 1993.

You could be forgiven for thinking 1993 was a quiet year, especially compared to the rate of change we all experience today.

After all, 1993 was the year the World Wide Web was put in the public domain, until then there was no browsing.  In April 1993, CERN released an open license, making the software required to run a web server freely available, along with a basic browser and a library of code.  Since 1993, the web has flourished.

Like the web, Excel has flourished, with a vast network of operators, technicians, and support staff servicing thousands of clients throughout the country.

So, if the web was only just starting, what else was happening in technology?  Mobile telephones were starting to get popular, the launch of the highly popular Nokia 1011 was in 1993 – they would go on to dominate the mobile landscape throughout the 90’s.

Microsoft launched Windows NT and the Pentium Processor was born.  For those wondering about Steve Jobs, he was still in exile from Apple, he didn’t return until Excel Vending was celebrating their 3^rd birthday in 1996.  Nevertheless, what a return it was.  It is hard to believe that Apple’s transformation to the biggest corporation in the world actually started three years after Excel was founded.  Perhaps world domination is just around the corner for us!

It’s difficult to look back to 1993 without taking note of what has happened in the intervening years – it is almost jaw dropping.  Let us transport you back to our first days and then look forward to what is going to happen.

So, here we are in 1993.

• In 5 years time, Google will launch
• Next year Sony Playstation will launch, and the Channel Tunnel will open
• In 3 years time Under Armour will launch
• Next year Netscape, Yahoo, and Lycos will launch
• In 11 years time Facebook will launch
• In 13 years time Twitter will launch
• In 12 years time YouTube will launch
• Next year Amazon will launch
• In 10 years time LinkedIn will launch
• In 12 years time Bebo will launch
• In 8 years time iTunes will launch
• Next year we will see the start of the National Lottery
• In 17 years time Instagram will launch

These facts are truly stunning, has there ever been such a disruptive 22-year period?  The change in the way we communicate and consume information has changed dramatically.  Look at how this has affected ‘traditional’ businesses:

• Kodak – once the biggest photographic business in the world has gone
• Blockbuster Video – Also gone and largely replaced by Netflix, a company offered to them four times!
• Olivetti – The future was not in typewriters!
• HMV – The future wasn’t in CD’s either!

Many of these companies failed because they didn’t adapt to change, fortunately our management team has been at the forefront of innovation, always offering the very latest in vending technology.

We hope this brief look at 1993 from a technology point of view has given you some food for thought – are you keeping up to date with the rate of change around you?

Tomorrow, we are going to take a brief look at businesses launched around the same time as Excel Vending in 1993, and how they have faired in this every changing environment.

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