Company: AMAX
Company Description: Founded in 1979, AMAX engineers and manufactures advanced Cluster, Server and Storage Solutions. AMAX operates ISO:9001/14001/TL9000/UL certified facilities in North America and China to service the US, Canadian, LTAM, APAC and EMEA regions. AMAX drives two key divisions that deliver OEM x86 appliance solutions and standardized high performance computing solutions to a wide range of industries.
Nomination Category: Marketing Professional / Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Marketing Department of the Year

Nomination Title: Team AMAX - A True Effort to Market as a Team.

Tell the story about what this nominated organization/department achieved since January 1 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

In recent years, AMAX has achieved record breaking revenue numbers, in large part due to its Marketing department.  AMAX’s marketing team is responsible for the strategic positioning and messaging strategy for the company and its products, as well as the tactical execution of all branding, campaigns and marketing collateral both online, trade shows, and in printed media. AMAX is a 34-year-old, privately-held dynamic computing solutions company with more than a quarter of a million customers and a global footprint, providing high-performance integrated cluster, server & storage solutions around the world.

Under the leadership of Julia Shih, Director of Strategic Alliance, AMAX’s marketing department handles all marketing initiatives worldwide. With Shih’s ability to strategically, creatively and consistently structure engaging marketing campaigns, the team’s solid execution and notable delivery of winning campaigns, the marketing department has enthusiastically achieved the following successes between 2010 and 2012:

1) Grew High Performance Computing Cluster sales from $1.6 million in 2010 to over $15 million into the 1Q2013 with targeted campaigns. New customers gained by these campaigns included Hortonworks (Big Data), Lincoln Financial (GPU), The US Air Force (GPU), SLAC (Storage) and Fox Studios (Storage) among many others.  

2) Re-launched our Big Data solution, PHAT-Data™ in a strategic partnership with Intel to include new features as well as the Intel® Distribution for Apache Hadoop software to deliver a total turnkey solution for the emerging Big Data market.

3) Introduced a new CDN (Content Delivery Network) solution, ServMax™ PipeLine, aimed at CDN providers and co-developed with one of the largest CDN providers in the world, Edgecast Networks. Since the introduction of PipeLine, we've received an increase in data center inquiries of nearly 40%.

4) Successfully created Silicon Valley’s hottest tech-networking basketball tournament, AMAX Ballapalooza, with proceeds given to Autism Speaks.  A 3-day event, including 2 days of tournament play and a dinner networking mixer, Ballapalooza brought together some of the brightest minds in the tech industry along with a healthy dose of competitive spirit.  Ballapalooza turned in over 200 competitors and spectators and contributed thousands of dollars to Autism Speaks while driving new projects with existing customers and earning new customers from quality networking.  A resounding success, AMAX Ballapalooza 2013 is on schedule for early August.

5) Expanded our international presence with a strategically placed Suzhou, China manufacturing facility, and a second Shanghai China facility to service the APAC and EMEA regions. AMAX’s marketing team created additional campaigns to drive awareness & additional sales leads.
 
6) Bestowed with two GOLD Stevie Awards in 2012 for Best New Product or Service of the Year – Computer Hardware (AMAX PHAT-Data™, Big Data Analytics Solution) and Female Executive of the Year – Computer Hardware & Software (Julia Shih, Director of Strategic Alliance).

7) Directed & Filmed AMAX’s very own “Gangnam Style” Parody Holiday video!  Our customers loved it, and our colleagues enjoyed creating it.

As a result of AMAX’s marketing department’s efforts, AMAX secured record sales, increasing revenue from 2011-2012 by 29%, expanded our global reach with new manufacturing facilities, successfully created a technical networking event married with basketball, grew HPC cluster revenues nearly 10x despite the economic climate, and launched 2 new turnkey solutions.

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Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:

Julia Shih is a true leader and visionary for AMAX and the High Performance Computing industry as a whole. Julia started her illustrious career at AMAX in 2010 as the Director of Strategic Alliance.  Her role and mission would be daunting, as she would be tasked with being the key handler of a brand which has, for 30 years, been shrouded behind the many well-known Fortune 100 brands of its customers.  Her story is one of success and inspiration to all women around the globe who dream of leaving their mark on the world.