Distribution Watch: Avnet, Arrow Electronics, Tech Data

Finally, Friday is here! Welcome back, Distribution Watchers, to another edition of the web’s weekly roundup of all the hottest IT channel distribution news. This week we’re featuring the latest from Avnet (AVT), Arrow Electronics (ARW) and Tech Data (TECD).

Avnet: Avnet Technology Solutions has been authorized globally as a Lenovo distributor, giving it the ability to sell Lenovo’s System x servers and related solutions. The authorization will allow Avnet to sell Lenovo’s System x, BladeCenter, Flex System blade servers and more to its channel partners in more than 40 countries globally.

“Avnet is working closely with Lenovo to ensure a seamless transition for existing System x channel partners and their customers,” said Tony Madden, senior vice president and supplier business executive for Avnet Technology Solutions, Global, in a statement. “Additionally, our worldwide sales team is actively engaging with channel partners to capture new opportunities and help them transform Lenovo’s innovative technology into business solutions for their customers around the world.”

Lenovo completed its acquisition of the System x server business from IBM earlier this month. Avnet will continue to work with IBM as well by distributing the company’s Power Systems, Storage Systems, Power-based Flex servers and PureApplication and PureData Appliances, as well as IBM training services offered through Avnet Academy, according to the company.

Arrow Electronics: Arrow has added Hitachi Cloud Service for Content Archiving to its cloud service portfolio, the distributor announced this week. With the addition of the new service, solution providers will be able to offer Hitachi Cloud Service for Content Archiving to their customers and provide enhanced distributed cloud storage services through Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), according to the press release.

Hitachi cloud service allows users to extend storage strategies from the enterprise to the public cloud and to lower overall costs and management complexity, according to Arrow. The solution was designed as an HDS hybrid content cloud and uses the same infrastructure products as Hitachi’s other private infrastructure solutions. Hitachi Cloud Service for Content Archiving will also be available via the ArrowSphere cloud marketplace in the United States.

“We’re excited to be an important part of today’s announcement which builds upon the significance of newly emerging cloud aggregation models like the ArrowSphere program,” said Mark Stratton, vice president, Cloud Services Engineering at Hitachi Data Systems. “This joint effort enables us to provide cloud solutions for more Arrow solution providers and their respective customers with more efficiency and automation when providing high-value cloud services to the channel."

Arrow also received the Excellence in Training award from enterprise security provider Palo Alto Networks. The award was presented during Palo Alto Networks’ NextWave Americas Partner Conference last month. Arrow was honored with the distinction for its high marks in the company’s Authorized Training Center Compliance score as well as for the number of instructor certifications, the volume of students taught and classes held and overall student evaluation scores.

"As a channel-driven company, we choose to work with the highest-performing channel partners to meet customer demand for a true next-generation enterprise security platform," said Todd Palmer, vice president for America’s channels, Palo Alto Networks. "We congratulate Arrow and all of our outstanding Americas partners for a great year, and look forward to continued success."

Tech Data: Tech Data is enhancing its Software License Selector to help solution providers ensure better order accuracy, including consultative services to aid resellers understand the best solutions to offer end users, according to the company. Additional features include a new interface built on HTML 5.0, advanced address book search capabilities and responsive design and multiple browser compatibility.

The Software License Selector was originally introduced in 2011 to help reduce software license cycles and provide users with customized solutions and increased order accuracy, according to Tech Data. The latest version was previewed during this week’s Tech Data TechSelect Partner Conference in Nevada.

"The new technology enhancements made to the Software License Selector increases its value to channel partners, delivering one of the industry's most accurate, reliable and efficient tools—further reducing the cycle time from quote to license," said Phil Filippelli, vice president, e-Business at Tech Data. "The Software License Selector offers channel partners' best-in-class data infrastructure, a complete set of management tools, and reliable services to further improve the software solutions buying experience through Tech Data."

As the great cartoon character Porky Pig often said ‘That’s All, Folks!’ Have a great weekend and never forget to keep on distributing.