PETALING JAYA, 9 February 2015 (Mon): Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), announced a new partnership with EMC Computer Systems (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd., a leading provider of information infrastructure solutions. This partnership aims to capitalize on the high-growth flash storage market and will allow Avnet Malaysia to expand its distribution of EMC’s storage offerings. These include the VMAX Family, VNX, and Isilion solutions, which will add further value to Avnet’s over 600 existing reseller partners.
”Avnet’s alliance with EMC aligns with our business strategy to seize the immediate business opportunities arising from demand for flash-based storage platforms, especially among government sectors, enterprises and mid commercial markets” said Chiew Yue Lam, Avnet Malaysia’s general manager.
“The demand for flash storage is directly driven by a widespread urgency to harness the Big Data trend – where the exponential growth and availability of data within the business environment is prompting local organizations to deploy analytical applications to expedite data access, managing and storing.”
“Avnet’s large network of IT channel partners can help local organizations to optimize the performance of their enterprise applications and analytics capabilities to achieve more effective business operations at lower operational costs,” Chiew added.
“We are expanding our partner ecosystem to ensure that our customers, both current and potential, get the winning combination of niche skills and technologies in order to harness the potential of Big Data. Avnet was a natural choice for us in this mission as they share our enthusiasm and focus on delivering best-in-class flash technologies to customers,” said Cheam Tat Inn, Managing Director of EMC Malaysia
Exclusive Investment in EMC’s Flash Technology
In line with this latest partnership, Avnet also marks a milestone by being the first and only IT distributor in Malaysia to invest in EMC’s flash storage technology using the EMC® XtremIO™ flash storage server located in the Avnet Solutions Center (ASC) at Menara UAC, Petaling Jaya.
“This specialized server is intended to facilitate demonstration, testing and proof-of-concept (POC) activities in a convenient and cost-effective manner for Avnet’s IT reseller partners- thereby supporting their sales and implementation of flash storage solutions to their enterprise- and SME- end customers,” explained Chiew.
Taps on the Country’s Growing Flash Storage Market
Cheam further shared, “There is huge growth potential for the growth of the flash storage market here in Malaysia. Flash is one of the hottest segments in the storage market today, driven by an increase in online content , and amount of data generated by mobile connected devices , which is set to reach 27% in 2020 from 17% in 2013. Additionally, IDC forecasts future growth in this market to soar to USD 1.6 billion by 2016.”
Over the next 24 months, Avnet aims to help local IT partners accelerate their capabilities, sales, and technical skills to bring flash storage solutions to the local market. Local partners can rely on Avnet to provide complementary technology and assembly and integration services. This will enable them to craft and produce complete solutions for their customers.
Avnet is one of the largest global distributors for EMC with both companies collaborating for almost 15 years. Avnet distributes EMC in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and North America. At the moment, Avnet Malaysia is involved in several of EMC’s IT storage infrastructure projects within public and commercial sectors.
Avnet’s strategic partnership with EMC is part of its broader strategy to strengthen the company’s converged IT infrastructure, which follows other recent collaborations with top IT brands including Red Hat, Citrix, Cisco and SAP.
