Alex Aguila

Co-founder of Alienware

Report by Mitchell Marsh

Alienware

Mission: Empower the consumer to create, work, and play faster by innovating and building the most powerful computers in the world

Alex’s OriginsAlex grew up in Miami Florida, with his friend Nelson Gonzalez. They had a passion for video games, and their computers were constantly requiring additional hardware and reconstruction to keep up with the resource hungry video games. They thought there has to be a computer company out there with computers specially built for video games. Alex’s mom gave him some advice, “Quit playing games or you’ll never amount to anything.” That’s when the idea for Alienware came about. When Alex and Nelson created the idea,

Alex immediately quit his job as a medical technician to start Alienware.

The Start of AlienwareAlex and Nelson started Alienware in 1996, and were going to banks to get a loan. “We got laughed at by every bank in Miami” Alex said. This resulted in them pooling together

Their money coming up with $10000. They worked together to pay their bills and made their first computer, called “Area 51”. The computer was sent to a popular magazine PC Gamer.

The computer was awarded editors choice in 1998.

Alienware Takes OffOn September 21, 2001, Alex had an interview with the Miami Herald, earning the highest praise, which gave Alienware all the Attention it needed. The expansion of the company got the attention of Dell. On March 23, 2003, Dell agrees to buy Alienware, leaving Alex and Nelson in charge because whatever they they were doing, they were doing it right. Alienware is still run by Alex and Nelson today.

AlienwareOf the two founders, Gonzalez possessed the greater knowledge about hardware, the building blocks of Alienware's extremely fast systems. During its first few years in business, the company benefited from important relationships that were established with leading hardware and software manufacturers. Alienware became one of the first vendors to try the latest, fastest components developed by the industry's elite manufacturers. The company's access to state-of-the-art technology translated into exceptional systems that gamers longed for, strengthening the company's reputation in the market with each technological advancement. The components of Alienware's systems were on display in the company's growing field of product offerings, which were offered in metallic colors (Nova Yellow, Plasma Purple, Saucer Silver, Conspiracy Blue, Cyborg Green, and Martian Red) for the first time in 2000. By 2000, after three consecutive Editor's Choice awards from PC Gamer, an average Alienware system featured a 1.1 gigahertz (GHz) processor, a 40 gigabyte (GB) hard drive, 256 megabytes (MB) of memory, and two video cards. The system sold for $3,227. Sales were expected to reach $8.5 million for the year, as Gonzalez and Aguila, initially hoping for a monthly production volume of between 50 and 100 units, presided over a company with 40 employees who were custom-building 400 units per month. Ahead, much growth was anticipated, as the company planned to add notebooks, workstations, and servers to its product mix. Revenues in 2001 reached $28 million.

Alienware Facts• Alienware was ranked as

one of the fastest growing private company in the US by 2005.

• The company made $172 Million in 2005

• Alienware ‘s original idea came from a popular TV show called the X-Files

• Alienware sells its products in North America, Europe,

Australia, and New Zealand. From a company owned retail store in Miami Florida.

Alienware ProductsM18X

The Most Powerful 18 inch laptop in the world.

Area 51 M17XAllows full 3D gameplay.

Timeline

1996

Alienware founded by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila 1998

PC Gamer selects Alienware’s Area 51 system for its “Editors Choice” award

2000

Interview with the Miami Herald which gave Alienware the attention it needed

2002

Company introduced the first notebook computer capable of running resource demanding games

2005

Company made $172 million 2006

Dell agrees to buy Alienware

Work Cited

http://www.entrepreneur.com/worklife/successstories/article78392.html

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/8/Alienware-Corporation.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/alienware-corporation