About Us
Softmaxx specializes in wireless data communications software through our Linkmaxx™ family of software products. Softmaxx was founded in 2006 to address one of the most difficult and underappreciated problems facing celluar wireless data systems (called variously "Machine-to-Machine" (M2M), "Smart Services" or "SCADA"): the difficulty in using a public cellular network designed for people, in an all-machine environment. The Linkmaxx™ family of software products are designed to address this challenge.
Management
Ian Johnson, President
Ian Johnson, has been in the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) industry since 1994 and has worked for both Fortune 500 and startup companies, including Sony Ericsson's M2M division as head of software development. Mr. Johnson has a Bachelor's in Computer Science from the University of Victoria, and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill.
John Halliday, Vice President
John Halliday has more than 25 years of experience in Information Systems, business development, and management. His experience includes positions of direct P&L responsibility for business units with annual revenues of more than 35MM USD. John's domestic and international assignments include Information System Principle with AT&T Solutions, Unisys, and Systems Development Corporation. Mr. Halliday holds a BA and MBA from The College of William and Mary.
Board of Advisors
Justin Helmig, Director of Product Management, Taproot Systems Inc.
Justin Helmig has over 9 years of leadership experience in the wireless industry including business, marketing, sales, and technical roles. He has worked with a wide variety of companies in the wireless value web from large semiconductor and handset vendors to early stage startups. Mr. Helmig is currently Director of Product Management at TapRoot Systems, a venture backed wireless software company, where he has P&L responsibility for TapRoot's Wi-Fi, WiMAX, and Connectivity products. Additionally, he collaborates with the rest of the management team on new market entry, corporate strategy, and corporate positioning. Before joining TapRoot, Mr. Helmig was a member of Texas Instrument's Strategy and Corporate Development group where he was responsible for alliances, mobile operator relationships, product strategy, M&A strategy, and corporate development for the wireless terminals business unit. Mr. Helmig also held several leadership positions in TI's sales organization where he was a key contributor in building the OMAP wireless processor business from a new product idea to one of the highest revenue product lines in TI. Prior to joining TI, Mr. Helmig held technical positions at General Instrument where he was a technical lead for a digital cable set-top box software team and Qualcomm where he designed and implemented software for CDMA handsets. Mr. Helmig holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Clemson University and an MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Tim Ammons, CTO, ECastCorp Inc.
Mr. Ammons is a technology executive with over twenty years of professional experience managing technology teams in small and large IT environments. He has led teams in a healthcare environment dealing with HIPAA and FDA regulations, distributed teams in multiple locations, and has utilized offshore development teams. Mr. Ammons most recently worked as Director of IS at Misys Healthcare Systems, a leading provider of software to hospitals, physicians, and homecare organizations. He led software development, infrastructure and help desk teams supporting 2500 employees, and was responsible for all corporate IS operations that included 40+ staff with a budget of $8 million. After completing his degree in Management Science at Duke University, Mr. Ammons began his career at CompuSystems in Columbia, SC, where he completed his Masters degree in MIS. CompuSystems was later acquired by Misys, and Mr. Ammons moved back to his home state of North Carolina to join Misys as IS Director. He is a SIM member, has completed SIM's Regional Leadership Forum, and serves on the CIO Forum Advisory Board.