Avnet StoragePath™ Combines Business-Driving Assessment Services with Market Enablement Resources to Help Solutions Providers Deliver Comprehensive Solutions That Address Customers’ Business Challenges

To enable solutions providers to capitalize on the growing demand for storage solutions, Avnet Technology Solutions, the solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today launched a practice focused on IT storage optimization — StoragePath™. StoragePath helps Avnet’s U.S. and Canadian solutions providers deliver strategic solutions, including hardware, software and services, to assist their customers in improving utilization of storage resources, reducing costs, supporting business continuity/disaster recovery imperatives and addressing regulatory issues. Initially, StoragePath will focus on storage infrastructure design and management, storage utilization, data loss protection and recovery, and application optimization.

“Avnet StoragePath delivers results and accelerates the success of our partners around this business-critical technology,” said Kim Hofmann, director, storage solutions practice, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “Regardless of a solutions provider’s experience, Avnet StoragePath provides them with training, tools and resources to develop comprehensive storage solutions that address the rapidly evolving business needs of their customers. Also, participating partners can take advantage of storage assessment services to make certain proposed solutions directly address customers’ business challenges and have a measurable return.”

The storage market, including hardware, software and services, reached $75 billion in 2008¹ and a cumulative four-year CAGR for these three areas would be 3.2 percent². Compliance and digital content growth continue to fuel the demand for storage solutions. In response to increasingly stringent federal guidelines and regulations regarding data retention, companies developed compliance strategies to properly save and retrieve documents, files and correspondence. At the same time, the volume of digital content has grown, prompting a drive toward handling this data differently by considering its use, production, access and delivery.

Leveraging Avnet’s SolutionsPath™ methodology, the StoragePath practice is designed to help solutions providers build and expand their storage market expertise. The practice provides a unique portfolio of services and training programs, along with access to experts and technology from industry-leading suppliers.