LeftHand Partners With Avnet

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Avnet Technology Solutions, a value-added distributor of enterprise computing products, software and services and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today announced a new U.S. and Canadian distribution agreement with LeftHand Networks, a leader in open iSCSI SANs. With this new agreement, Avnet continues the expansion of its Storage Practice, providing Avnets value-added reseller (VAR) partners with incremental sales opportunities for virtualization and consolidation solutions that leverage HP and IBM x86 servers.

“Avnet is creating an ecosystem of best-in-class storage and server consolidation solutions,” Jeff Bawol, senior vice president and general manager, Enterprise Software and Storage Solutions Group, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “Following closely on the heels of our new relationship with VMware and in conjunction with our other key storage partners, the addition of LeftHand Network’s iSCSI SANs to Avnet’s offerings further enhances our commitment to fostering significant partner growth opportunities in storage and x86 servers. Our goal is to arm Avnet’s partners with unbeatable technology and service solutions that deliver solid performance and return on investment metrics for their SMB and enterprise-class customers.”

According to industry research firm IDC, iSCSI is the fastest growing segment of the storage industry. During 2006, the iSCSI SAN market grew by 144 percent, to $746 million, and is predicted to grow to $5 billion by 2010. “With the growth of the iSCSI industry, it is important that industry leaders create strategic partnerships to ensure widespread distribution of this emerging technology,” said Janet Waxman, research vice president for IDC. “Partnerships like Avnet’s and LeftHand’s accomplish just this.”

The combination of enterprise-class x86 servers from HP and IBM with LeftHand Networks’ SAN/iQ® storage software creates a highly virtualized SAN environment for end customers. LeftHand’s easy-to-deploy, open iSCSI SAN is scalable and provides high availability, reliability and performance. LeftHand’s clustered SAN is managed from a single pane of glass within the user interface, allowing end customers to simplify their consolidated storage resources while providing a scaleable storage environment.

“More than 40 percent of LeftHand Networks’ sales come from repeat business,” said David Bangs, vice president of sales at LeftHand Networks. “Customers value LeftHand’s products and the ability to achieve enterprise-class performance in a ‘pay as you grow’ model. We chose Avnet to extend our channel not only because of their strong relationships with HP, IBM and VMware, but also Avnet’s leadership in customer awareness and ability to sell storage solutions that solve business problems.”

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