IBM's Texas Memory Systems Engages Avnet Distribution Channel

Under the terms, Avnet will work with the IBM channel to extend the company's footprint throughout North America. These are expected to include a full line of solid-state memory solutions, such as the RamSan family of shared rackmount systems and PCIe cards.

"This is going to open up new markets," said Colin Blair, brand solutions director, IBM storage and power, and PureSystems at Avnet Technology Solutions. "Having the flash/SSD solution will allow us to sell complementary solutions and will also help us to address a new kind of market. When you look at where flash storage is sold today, it's going into a lot of industries and applications where it may be a little outside of the traditional data center opportunity. It's a nice value proposition in that we are talking about performance and removing storage and network and server bottlenecks. This creates a very solid business justification."

[Related: Avnet: Increased Verticalization Key To Channel Success ]

Blair also explained that, as part of the complete storage package, the flash/SSD technology will help channel partners and customers to address issues around server sprawl, power consumption, cooling and floor space requirements.

"This opportunity is growing," he said. "We've got some opportunities with the IBM storage portfolio to virtualize storage or to put it out in front and not virtualize it for performance reasons. So there are a lot of opportunities in that space that we will be able to capitalize on."

IBM made the acquisition in October of 2012. Blair sees Avnet Technology Solutions as uniquely positioned to assist the channel.

"We're pretty well accustomed to how IBM Software acquires companies and integrates them into their product family and brand," he said. "So when Texas Memory Systems was acquired, we jumped on that pretty quickly because we knew there would be an ecosystem of resellers that we think can benefit from the Avnet value proposition. We expect a lot of this technology will soon be embedded into the servers and other technologies."

"You get these kinds of opportunities about once every 10 years," he said. "We've already begun sales and technical briefings and will be doing a lot more as time goes on."

PUBLISHED FEB. 26, 2013