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Avnet Climbs Aboard the Cisco Unified Computing Train

Avnet has joined the growing army of distributors lining up to make it easier for channel partner solution providers to resell and install Cisco’s Unified Computing System. This week the IT and electronics distributor announced that it would create a dedicated business unit focused on Cisco Systems’ data center product suite, and it would sell […]

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Jessica Davis

Dec 18, 2009

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Avnet has joined the growing army of distributors lining up to make it
easier for channel partner solution providers to resell and install Cisco’s
Unified Computing System.

This week the IT and electronics distributor announced that it would create a
dedicated business unit focused on Cisco Systems’ data center product suite,
and it would sell products including Cisco’s UCS blade and rack servers along
with other products for the data center to its VAR
partners in the United States
and Canada.

Ingram Micro and Westcom have also recently made announcements about their
plans to offer the suite of Cisco’s UCS solutions to VAR
channel partners that qualify to sell them.

Avnet said in its announcement that it also plans to stock and configure
products for VAR customers, making it easier
for them to design complex blade solutions for their end customers.

In addition Avnet will be launching Cisco-focused enablement and service
offerings to its VAR partners, the company
said.

"With the incredible amount of convergence taking place within the data
center, it is critical to provide customers with complete solutions designed to
address their business challenges," Jeff Bawol, president of Avnet
Technology Solutions for the Americas, said in a statement.

"Our new distribution relationship with Cisco will enable Avnet’s channel
partners to address the data center market holistically with an exciting class
of products designed to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs,"
Bawol added. "We will work hand-in-hand with our channel partners to
ensure [that] they have the support, programs and services needed to be
successful in this highly complex environment where server, storage, networking
and virtualization technologies are increasingly converging."

Among the products included in the deal are:

Nexus
Data Center
Family of Switches
MDS
Family of Fiber Channel SAN Switches
Catalyst E-Blade Switches
Unified Computing System
(UCS) Blade and Rack Servers (B and C)
Application Control Engine (ACE)
WAN Optimization (WAAS)

The products will be offered along with Avnet’s consulting, integration,
implementation and managed services to create complete data center solutions,
the distributor said.

The new Cisco business unit will be led by Avnet executive and 20-year channel
veteran Chris Swahn, who will serve as vice president and general manager.

Avnet Climbs Aboard the Cisco Unified Computing Train

Jessica Davis

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