Hello faithful readers, and welcome back to Distribution Watch. This week we’ve got the latest from Avnet (AVT), Wayside Technology Group and ScanSource. Even though we just got past April Fool’s Day, these distributors are no joke. Here's to hoping your cubicle didn't get covered in tin foil!

Avnet: Avnet Technology Solutions has been recognized with an HP PartnerOne Award for Growth Distributor of the Year Canada, the company announced this week. Avnet was honored for its performance and strong year-over-year HP revenue growth in Canada during the 2014 HP Global Partner Conference in Las Vegas.

"This award is the culmination of our team's alignment with the HP PartnerOne program to help our solution provider partners accelerate their revenue growth and profitability around HP software and hardware," said Brian Aebig, vice president and general manager, Avnet Technology Solutions, Canada, in a prepared statement. "I applaud our team for their dedication to developing the tools, training and resources needed to help our HP partners capture opportunities in high-growth technology and vertical market industries, such as converged infrastructure solutions, Big Data, analytics and health care."

Wayside: The specialty distributor announced that Bill Botti has joined as executive vice president later this month.

"Bill Botti is an exceptional and well-respected industry leader, and we look forward to him joining us with great expectations," said Simon Nynens, chairman and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement. "Bill's experience will be vital in shaping and executing our business strategies with our reseller and vendor partners this year and in the years to come."

Botti is a 30-year IT industry veteran who previously served as the vice president of North American Sales at Veeam Software. He also served as president and COO of Arrow EXS’s Alternative Technology Group.

"I am very excited about the opportunity to join Wayside Technology and work with industry leading people, partners and technologies," said Botti. "I am passionate about the channel and enjoy working with both vendors and resellers and am extremely excited to start this new adventure."

ScanSource: Dealers and resellers can now take advantage of ScanSource Security On-Demand, a new online education and information portal that went live earlier this week. According to the distributor, On-Demand provides resellers with everything from product reviews and how-to guides for products as well as vertical market-specific information to help them understand the role of security in IT. As a bonus, On-Demand will also feature entertainment and money-saving promotions for VARs.

“Since ScanSource Security’s inception, we have been focused on delivering education, training and information that will help dealers and resellers be successful,” said Christie Hamberis, vice president of Merchandising, ScanSource Security in a statement. “The continued need for a comprehensive educational offering that spans sales, marketing, product and promotional information from ScanSource Security is very important to our reseller and vendor partners.  We believe On-Demand fulfills that need and will add significant value to the channel.”

That brings us to the end of this week’s edition of Distribution Watch. We hope to see you next week for another star-studded edition of distributor news, accolades, and adventures. Have a great weekend, and keep on distributing.