On the eve of its partner conference in Colorado, Avnet Technology Solutions is digging deeper into vertical markets — promoting data center expertise in banking, energy, utilities and retail industries. Here’s some perspective…

Part of Avnet’s new plan involves hiring Mike Houghton (formerly of Direct Alliance Corp). Houghton now is VP of Vertical Market Solutions for Avnet Technology Solutions in the Americas. He will heading Avnet’s expansion into the aforementioned areas, along with fleshing out new specialized SolutionPaths to Avnet’s existing portfolio.

Avnet’s investment in the new markets (banking, energy and retail) is expected to be formally launched by the end of 2010. Avnet’s impetus for the launch and investment come from their own market research and personal sales volumes. They cite a double-digit sales growth for the channel in banking and utilities during the past year.

According to Avnet’s release and figures…

Avnet also played up partner profitability, growth, specialization along with the ability to adapt and provide for customers needs. Avnet believes this will set partners, and Avnet alike, above the competition.

Will Avnet partners welcome the vertical market news? We’ll be digging for answers during the Avnet Technology Solutions Partner Summit, starting July 26 in Colorado. Roughly 450 channel industry pros are expected to attend the conference. On a related note, we expect to hear some updates from Oracle-Sun and Cisco at the conference.

Additional reporting by Joe Panettieri. Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center; f0ll0w The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter and VARtweet.