Avnet Technology Solutions and Solarflare Join Forces to Develop Solutions for Optimising High-Performance Data Centres

New distribution agreement between Avnet and Solarflare accelerates enterprise computing sales opportunities for value-added resellers in EMEA

Bracknell, UK -- Avnet Technology Solutions, a global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), is joining forces with Solarflare, the company pioneering low latency, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE). This new distribution agreement expands the high-performance network and data centre solutions available for value-added resellers (VARs) in the EMEA region. Avnet will be distributing Solarflare’s complete family of products, including high-performance, low-latency 10GbE server adapters for enterprise and midrange computing environments.

“Avnet continues to invest in fostering growth opportunities for our business partners in EMEA,” said Julie Reininger, product business manager, storage networking, Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA. “Our business partners can now position Solarflare’s solutions along with complementary hardware and software products from Avnet supplier partners such as Brocade, Force10 Networks and Juniper Networks to provide a comprehensive solution. By including Solarflare’s low-latency 10GbE server adapters, partners can better support the high-performance demands being placed on their data centres.”

Solarflare offers innovative, comprehensive 10GbE solutions in a wide range of applications including cloud networking, virtualisation, high-performance computing and storage, in addition to industry verticals such as financial services and pharmaceutical. Solarflare’s 10GbE and open source-based solutions accelerate computing processes by improving the input / output (I/O) in their server infrastructures. Through its new partnership with Avnet, Solarflare will be able to expand the reach of its channel across EMEA.

“We selected Avnet to become our new distribution partner not only because of their global scale and scope, but also due to their extensive regional relationships with both VARs and complementary technology suppliers,” said Peter Jones, director of worldwide channels sales, Solarflare. “Avnet is the only pan-EMEA distributor that can provide complete high-performance, low latency solutions that combine Solarflare products with technology from Force10, Juniper and Brocade. Avnet will help Solarflare rapidly expand our market leadership by equipping channel partners with complete solutions that solve the performance pain points of their customers’ data centres.”

“The opportunity for Avnet’s business partners is twofold,” added Bruce Hockin, head of business strategy, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK. “First, Solarflare’s solutions will help our partners target new networking and server sales opportunities in high-performance computing environments such as financial, scientific and pharmaceutical markets. Resellers will also be able to help existing customers optimise the performance of their data centres to meet demanding computing applications including cloud computing, storage and virtualisation.”

About Solarflare
Solarflare is the pioneer in high-performance, low-latency 10GbE server I/O solutions. Our architectural approach combines hardware and software to deliver high-performance adapter products and application acceleration middleware for superior performance in a wide range of applications, including financial services, high performance computing (HPC), cloud computing, storage and virtualized data centers. Our products are used globally by many of the world’s largest companies, and are available from leading distributors and value-added resellers, as well as from Dell and HP. Solarflare is headquartered in Irvine, California and has an R&D site in Cambridge, UK.

About Avnet Technology Solutions
As a global solutions distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions collaborates with its customers and suppliers to create and deliver effective solutions that address the business challenges of their end-user customers locally and around the world. For fiscal year 2010, the group served customers in more than 30 countries and generated US $8.19 billion in annual revenue. Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet, Inc. Visit: www.ts.avnet.com/ae.

About Avnet
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology serving customers in more than 70 countries worldwide. Avnet accelerates its partners’ success by connecting the world’s leading technology suppliers with a broad base of customers around the world by providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended July 3, 2010, Avnet generated revenue of $19.16 billion. For more information, visit www.avnet.com.