In the Western Union in the 30s of the 20th century worked 14 thousand couriers delivering telegrams. In the early forties of the 20th century, Western Union has used the first time a commercial intercity microwave transmission system. Separation of the companies had two objectives: first, to give Western Union the opportunity to develop more intensively, and secondly, to help First Data to return to its original activity (in 1992 the company separated from the payment system of American Express as an independent financial services company). In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. In 1856, in 7 years after the foundation of New York State Printing Telegraph Company, the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company. In the 1910-1920 years. Western Union is actively engaged in researching, innovating in the field of data transmission.