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Avnet Technology Solutions Partners with Palo Alto Networks to Deliver Next-Generation Firewall Solutions in the UK

Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today announced that it has signed a UK distribution agreement with Palo Alto Networks. Avnet will now distribute Palo Alto Networks’ entire product family of next-generation firewalls. Partners can also leverage Avnet’s SolutionsPath™ methodology to help them target this high-growth, specialized market and gain a deeper understanding of how to incorporate Palo Alto Networks’ technology  into integrated data centre solutions.

Avnet’s experienced team with in-depth knowledge of the UK IT market will help partners to use Palo Alto Networks’ technology to expand their reach in the data centre and accelerate their growth. Avnet and Palo Alto Networks will closely collaborate on market development activities that will create opportunities for partners to increase awareness of network security solutions that address the challenges facing their end-user customers.

“Palo Alto Networks has innovated network security and amassed over 4,500 enterprise customers worldwide in just four years, which we feel clearly demonstrates the market demand for these types of solutions,” said Bruce Hockin, head of business strategy, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK. “Now, Avnet channel partners in the UK can safely enable application usage among their end-users. We will work closely with our partners to provide them with the skills and resources needed to develop data centre architectures that achieve greater performance and security, whilst aligning with their customers’ business strategies.”

Palo Alto Networks brings unprecedented visibility and control of applications and content to enterprises. This technology enables partners to help their end-user customers safely embrace web-based applications and social media. Additionally, partners can significantly reduce the total cost of ownership for their end-user customers through architecture simplification and device consolidation.

Karl Driesen, vice president of EMEA at Palo Alto Networks said, “Avnet has a proven track record of providing extensive project support and business partner enablement in both the networking and security arenas. We see this as an opportunity to build additional routes to market with partners targeting enterprise data centres. As a high-growth organisation, we are continuously looking for new opportunities and partners, such as Avnet, that can strategically build upon our growth.”

Peter Hannah, business unit director, networking, security and unified communication at Avnet Technology Solutions, UK concluded, “With Palo Alto Networks, Avnet channel partners now have the ability to build multi-gigabit, application-aware, network security solutions for the data centre and network perimeter. To achieve this, Avnet is investing in significant demonstration equipment, plus providing sales training and technical support propositions to enable those new to the technology to quickly get up to speed. We see this as an excellent opportunity for our business partners to create incremental growth and revenue in their mid-market and enterprise customers.”

Avnet is able to support its partners with professional service and accredited training capabilities from launch and will be offering 24/7 support and helpdesk services from December.

About Palo Alto Networks
Palo Alto Networks™ is the network security company. Its next-generation firewalls enable unprecedented visibility and granular policy control of applications and content – by user, not just IP address – at up to 20Gbps with no performance degradation. Based on patent-pending App-ID™ technology, Palo Alto Networks firewalls accurately identify and control applications – regardless of port, protocol, evasive tactic or SSL encryption – and scan content to stop threats and prevent data leakage. Enterprises can for the first time embrace Web 2.0 and maintain complete visibility and control, while significantly reducing total cost of ownership through device consolidation. Most recently, Palo Alto Networks has enabled enterprises to extend this same network security to remote users with the release of GlobalProtect™ and to combat targeted malware with its WildFireTM service. For more information, visit www.paloaltonetworks.com.

About Avnet Technology Solutions
As a global solutions distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions collaborates with its customers and suppliers to create and deliver effective solutions that address the business challenges of their end-user customers locally and around the world. For fiscal year 2011, the group generated revenue of US $ 11.5 billion with customers and suppliers in more than 70 countries. Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet, Inc. Visit: www.ts.avnet.com

About Avnet Inc.
Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest distributors of electronic components, computer products and embedded technology in the world. Avnet accelerates its partners’ success by connecting the world’s leading technology suppliers with a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and providing cost-effective, value-added services and solutions. For the fiscal year ended July 2nd, 2011, Avnet generated revenue of $ 26.5 billion. For more information, please visit www.avnet.com

For more information please contact:
Avnet Technology Solutions
Linda Patterson, Marketing Director
T: +44 (0)1344 662000
E: Linda.patterson@avnet.com