Bracknell, UK – 18th December 2012 Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), has announced the availability in the UK of EMC® VSPEX™ consisting of technology from EMC, Microsoft and Brocade.  This technology combination, as part of VSPEX, is available to Avnet’s EMC Velocity Premier Partners, EMC Velocity Affiliate Elite and EMC Velocity Affiliate partners.

EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructures are validated reference architectures developed to deliver private cloud and virtual desktop infrastructure solutions for small-to-medium enterprise (SME) customers that are ready to transition to private cloud environments.  VSPEX from Avnet Technology Solutions, UK, combines leading storage, back-up and recovery solutions from EMC, Microsoft applications and systems management and Brocade networking solutions.  

Barry Body, sales director, storage and compute, Magirus UK, an Avnet company explained, “With VSPEX our business partners can now sell complete highly flexible solutions to their customers underpinned by Avnet’s pre- and post-sales certified expertise. The recent acquisition of Magirus by Avnet also means that we are able to draw on Magirus’ vendor relationships and expertise to support requirements for VSPEX solutions comprising EMC, Cisco and VMware.  This gives our partner community complete flexibility in the VSPEX solutions they can sell to end-users supported by Avnet and Magirus. All of this technical firepower is available to business partners and their SME end-user customers looking to reduce complexity while building private cloud and virtual desktop solutions.”

Avnet has dedicated teams and resources on hand to help business partners gain the skills and knowledge necessary to attain EMC Velocity™ Affiliate Partner status and above.  They can then take advantage of the attractive commercial incentives associated with VSPEX.  In order to maximize opportunities in the SME marketplace, demand creation and marketing campaigns are available from Avnet along with access to advanced demonstration facilities to those business partners delivering the solution architecture.    

Terry Beale, UK channel director at EMC, said, “With VSPEX we are giving our channel partners the tools to address the fast growing market in virtual infrastructure and private cloud computing.  VSPEX will accelerate the journey to the cloud as it enables Avnet and its business partners to build value and differentiation. VSPEX has changed how solutions are delivered via the channel.”

VSPEX is complementary to Avnet’s SolutionsPath™ methodology, which helps business partners target specialized, high growth markets.  In particular, partners developing solutions and services in the areas of storage, data management, virtualisation and security will benefit from this new initiative.  In addition, there is the ability to work with an end-user’s existing infrastructure or preferred suppliers to supplement the Avnet VSPEX solutions via Avnet’s broad portfolio of supplier solutions and extensive service offerings.  

“The EMC VSPEX solution from Avnet represents an excellent opportunity for channel organisations to deliver simple, flexible, optimised solutions to customers that provide a highly scalable foundation for their transition to the cloud.  Brocade cloud-optimised networking technologies enable customers to access the power of virtualisation and cloud by reducing complexity and increasing scalability and stability,” concluded Barbara Spicek, senior director, EMEA partner sales at Brocade. 

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About Avnet Technology Solutions
As a global IT solutions distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions collaborates with its customers and suppliers to create and deliver services, software and hardware solutions that address the business needs of their end-user customers locally and around the world. The group serves customers and suppliers in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. It generated US $10.8 billion in annual revenue for fiscal year 2012. Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet, Inc. For more information, visit www.avnet.com

About Avnet
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology serving customers globally. Avnet accelerates its partners' success by connecting the world's leading technology suppliers with a broad base of customers by providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, Avnet generated revenue of $25.7 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.

Media Contact
Linda Patterson
Marketing Director
Avnet Technology Solutions UK
T: +44 (0)1344 662000
E: Linda.patterson@avnet.com

EMC, Velocity and VSPEX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. Other products and/or services are trademarks of their respective owners.