Maximus the Roman GeneralAlthough it might seem obvious, the company is not called after the Roman general and dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus, who lived from 280 to 203 BC. The epitaph "Maximus" means Great or The Greatest, a title he deserved while fighting the invading Carthagean general Hannibal from 217 onwards. After the earlier defeats of the Romans Fabius Maximus avoided frontal battle with the superior troops of Hannibal, and is instead credited with inventing guerilla warfare, harassing Hannibal's supply chain. At that time, he was nominated "Dictator" and sole ruler of Rome, but relieved from this role in 216 because the Romans wanted more direct action. After the resulting crushing defeat in the famous Battle of Cannae (216) Fabius Maximus was nominated Consul again, which he would remain until the end of his life. In those years he successfully forced Hannibal to retreat and exit Italy, never to return.
Maximus the projectThe company name comes from the Maximus project at NXP, the development of an innovative smart amplifier for mobile phones. For technical details see the audio page. What made the Maximus project so special is that it was a case where we created a new function and a market segment that hadn't existed before. Based on the combined expertise and experience of the audio engineers within the company we defined a roadmap of innovative speaker protection and audio boost amplifiers. Amplifiers with an embedded ultra-low power digital signal processor (DSP), solving one of the bigger and generally perceived drawbacks of then modern smart phones: (very) bad audio quality and easily damaged speakers with the resulting need for service repair. The Maximus (or in fact the product resulting from the project, the TFA9887) solved all these problems. To execute the Maximus project a new product line was created from the available scattered audio experts, effectively an internal start-up business team. After the usual struggles to get all infant deceases solved, the TFA9880-family was quickly embraced by the mobile phone market and designed-in by the majority of phone makers. A project of which I am very proud, and - on the suggestion of my wife - an appropriate name for my then new company. The only surprise was then to find out that there are already many companies called Maximus, from breweries, butchers and real estate agents to large insurance companies. To tackle that problem I've added "R&D", to show the focus of the company.
The Maximus logo
The logo is my own design, but optimized in a few iteration cycles after critical review from wife and children. First I wanted something "analogue" in it, a wave or similar, since analogue and RF are my core competency areas. In the end I did not use a classical wave, but more a "wavy" time domain radar pulse. Next, a logo must use contrasting colours, so I chose orange - representing my Dutch roots - and black, representing the RF "ether". The company name is then written in bright white letters across, using the beautiful serif font Georgia Bold, known for its thick yet elegant lines and robust appearance. I particularly like the connection between the letters at their base, e.g. the fluid transitions between the x, i and m or between the & and the D. Finally, to highlight the "RF", I've modified the well-known Wifi symbol into a more directional version, radiating from the dot of the letter i. All in all a nice, clearly visible and representative logo.
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