Avnet Technology Solutions Unveils New Program to Help Partners Drive Government Market Growth

Avnet Technology Solutions, an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT) and a distributor focused on enterprise computer products and embedded subsystems, today announced a comprehensive program aimed at increasing incremental revenue opportunities for partners in the U.S. government market. Avnet’s Government Market Expansion Program (G-MEP), which has been in a pilot phase for the past four months, will assist qualifying value-added reseller (VAR) partners in identifying and developing new opportunities to build and grow their government businesses, including those in the federal, state, local and education sectors. Tailored to the needs of each partner, G-MEP provides participants with value-added services and offerings that range from go-to-market planning to building a pipeline of opportunities with individual end user appointment setting services. "With research firms anticipating total government IT spending anticipated to reach $160 billion next year, the government market offers tremendous opportunities for partners that understand the needs and intricacies of government agencies,” said Mike AtLee, national director, Government Solutions, Avnet Technology Solutions Americas. "Avnet’s Government Market Expansion Program taps into our team’s 100 plus years of combined experience in selling complex IT solutions to government markets. The program is designed to not only enable partners to identify and capture incremental growth opportunities in this diverse market, but also provide them with the insight, knowledge and skills needed to become trusted advisors to federal, state, local and educational organizations.” Through G-MEP, Avnet’s team of government experts will work with partners to develop, nurture and pursue a pipeline of government sales opportunities, as well as provide educational support on the government market, the highly-specific needs of its customers, and their buying cycle. Key features of the program include: Capitol Smarts: competitive analysis, partnering opportunity identification, market intelligence assessments, and market training and updates. Government Contract Watch and Contact Directory Services: access to federal, state, local and education market intelligence and databases, including government contact details. The service also includes pre-request-for-proposal opportunity information to help ensure that proposals are accurate and competitive. Market and Demand Generation Campaigns: individually created to help partners drive awareness and identify opportunities for achieving specific growth objectives. Research Services: access to federal and state industry analysts for independent research and projects. Training and Events for Federal, State, Local and Education Markets: field- and web-based training covering state and government business intelligence, including seminars, conferences, trade shows, and networking engagements. In addition to these features, G-MEP also offers partners a variety of additional services, ranging from government-specific newsletters to a calendar of upcoming federal, state, local and education focused government events. Participants can also leverage Avnet for Go-To-Market Planning, which is entirely focused on demand generation. This fully customizable program component provides partners with a measurable demand generation strategy and execution assistance. "One of the greatest challenges for our company is sorting through all of the publicly available information from state and local agencies to identify opportunities,” said PJ Hunt, sales manager for General Microsystems Inc. "Through Avnet’s Government Market Expansion Program, we have access to a team of government experts that live for sifting through public information and directing us to the opportunities we want to pursue. It would bury a company like ours to even try to gather all the publicly available information. With Avnet’s support, we now have the tools and resources to get in front of state agencies long before the RFP hits the street.” "Avnet’s Government Market Expansion Program has helped us grow our business by getting deeper and wider into new accounts,” said Greg Byles, executive vice president – principle, Global Technology Resources Inc. "Since participating in Avnet’s pilot program for the government market, we have been able to significantly grow our business, to the point where we needed to hire more salespeople to penetrate the market further than ever before.” Launched at Avnet’s New Frontiers partner conference, G-MEP is offered through Avnet Technology Solutions’ Government Solutions Practice. Avnet is committed to connecting resellers to new customers and new solutions in new markets, including Healthcare, IP Telephony, Security/Networking, Virtualization, Storage, and Wireless Mobility. For more information on Avnet’s Government Solutions Practice, visit: http://www.aps.avnet.com/government. About Avnet Technology Solutions Avnet Technology Solutions is a value-added distributor of enterprise computing products, software and services with locations in more than 30 countries. As a global technology sales and marketing organization, Avnet Technology Solutions has sales divisions focused on specific market segments and a select line card strategy enabling an exceptional level of attention to the needs of its customers and suppliers. An operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), Avnet Technology Solutions posted US$6 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. Visit www.ats.avnet.com/. About Avnet With more than 250 locations serving customers in 73 countries worldwide, Avnet markets, distributes and adds value to the products of the world’s leading electronic component suppliers, enterprise computer manufacturers and embedded subsystem providers. Additionally, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of service capabilities, such as supply-chain optimization, logistics solutions, product assembly, device programming, computer system integration and engineering design assistance. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, Avnet generated revenue of $15.68 billion. Visit www.avnet.com/.