Why We Fit Ajax

Not a badge on someone else's hardware.

Ajax Systems was founded in Kyiv in 2011 and is now Europe's largest security system manufacturer. They design and build their own equipment across four factories, employ around 5,000 people, and their systems protect over four million users in more than 180 countries.

They are also, by some distance, the most decorated. Their equipment has taken Red Dot design awards, and, more relevant here, Intruder System of the Year at IFSEC, the UK security industry's own awards.

That matters for an unglamorous reason: a manufacturer at that scale still makes parts for a system fitted eight years ago, still issues firmware updates, and will still be trading when you need something adding. Plenty of security kit is orphaned within a few years of installation.

Three genuine alternatives, and where each falls down for the properties we work on.

DIY smart devices such as Ring, Nest and similar. Good at what they do, and we say so on our smart home security page. But they are cameras and doorbells, not a graded intruder alarm. They usually depend entirely on your broadband, and they are not built to resist someone who recognises what they are looking at.

Contract-monitored systems. Professionally monitored, which is a real advantage, but typically sold on a long contract with proprietary equipment you do not own and cannot have serviced by anyone else. If the relationship sours, you start again. Some people are happy with that trade. Many are not, and are not told about it clearly up front.

Traditional wired alarms. Still the right answer on some new builds and larger commercial sites, and we will say so when it is. But retrofitting a wired system to an occupied house means chasing walls, lifting floors and redecorating, and it is far harder to extend later.

Ajax gives us graded equipment, wireless installation, no proprietary lock-in, and a system the customer owns outright.

Fitting one manufacturer has an obvious downside: if Ajax is genuinely wrong for your property, we are not the right company for that job.

That happens occasionally. Very large commercial sites sometimes need a wired, certificated installation. Insurance conditions sometimes require an NSI or SSAIB certificated installer, which we are not. In those cases we will tell you, rather than fit something that does not suit the situation.

What you get in exchange is depth. We are not learning a system on your property. We know its behaviour, its firmware, its failure modes and its limits, because it is the only one we install. When something behaves oddly at eleven at night, that difference is the whole difference.

Because you will hear these claims elsewhere and they need putting in context.

"Grade 2 certified." Ajax equipment is manufactured to EN 50131 and PD 6662. Certifying an installation to those standards is a separate matter and requires a certificated installer. We are not one, so we describe the equipment accurately and leave it there.

"Police response." Requires a police URN, which is only issued through an NSI or SSAIB certificated installer. We do not offer it and will tell you at survey rather than after.

"Insurance approved." Ask your insurer. Some policies require a certificated installer, many domestic ones do not. One phone call, made before you commit rather than after.

We would rather lose a job over this than have you find out later.

Occasionally asked, so worth answering directly.

Ajax is a Ukrainian company that has continued designing, manufacturing and shipping throughout the war, expanding its manufacturing across several countries in the process. Supply has been reliable throughout, which is more than can be said for several competitors during the same period.

We do not fit Ajax to make a point. We fit it because it is the best system we have used. That it is made by a company which kept its commitments under genuinely difficult conditions is simply a reasonable thing to know about a manufacturer you are trusting.