There are few who pay particular attention to the alarm clock in their hotel room. Those who do may find a nifty innovation in the rectangular timepiece. Nearly 40% of the 4.9 million hotel rooms in the United States have an iHome propped up on the bedside table. Looking a lot like the conventional hotel alarm clocks, the iHome has the added feature of a dock for Apple gadgets.

Contrary to what people might think, the iHome is not an original Apple product. It was invented by a small company who capitalized on an opportunity created by the popularity of the iPod. Keeping itself up to date with the latest Apple offerings, SDI has churned out its first iPad-compatible alarm clock. Despite warnings about Apple competitors, the company is not worried. “The iPad, iPhone and iPod are recession-proof,” says Ezra S. Ashkenazi, SDI’s president.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Realtone Electronics made a killing by manufacturing and selling transistor radios, then a must-have gadget for the era’s tech savvy. As the 1970s rolled in, however, the trend met its end and the electronics company survived the next two decades making cheap clocks that sold in drugstores. It also took an affinity toward creatively combining different devices into one. The company was the first to create a cassette tape player-clock radio, as well as the telephone-clock radio.

It was this affinity that would lead the company, now called SDI Technologies, to newfound success. In 2005, the company was grappling ideas as to how to bring itself forward into the digital age. Ashkenazi, son of one of Realtone’s founders, suggested that they could make a clock radio with an iPod dock. To increase the likelihood of generating sales, the company designed its earliest Apple accessories in the brand’s distinct sleek aesthetic. The resulting product revived the company, starting a new golden age for its business.

In keeping up with the times, the company has done it again by extending its products to become compatible with Apple’s iPad. This innovation was uniquely inspired by both something old and something new. They took the old idea of combining two gadgets with a brand new technology that they had faith in. It probably won’t be long until the next hotel you go to will have an iPad-compatible dock.