Avnet Technology Solutions is joining forces with Solarflare, the company pioneering low latency, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE). This new distribution agreement expands the high-performance network and data centre solutions available for value-added resellers (VARs) in the EMEA region. Avnet will be distributing Solarflare's complete family of products, including high-performance, low-latency 10GbE server adapters for enterprise and midrange computing environments.

"Avnet continues to invest in fostering growth opportunities for our business partners in EMEA," said Julie Reininger, product business manager, storage networking, Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA. "Our business partners can now position Solarflare's solutions along with complementary hardware and software products from Avnet supplier partners such as Brocade, Force10 Networks and Juniper Networks to provide a comprehensive solution. By including Solarflare's low-latency 10GbE server adapters, partners can better support the high-performance demands being placed on their data centres."

Solarflare offers innovative, comprehensive 10GbE solutions in a wide range of applications including cloud networking, virtualisation, high-performance computing and storage, in addition to industry verticals such as financial services and pharmaceutical. Solarflare's 10GbE and open source-based solutions accelerate computing processes by improving the input / output (I/O) in their server infrastructures. Through its new partnership with Avnet, Solarflare will be able to expand the reach of its channel across EMEA.

"We selected Avnet to become our new distribution partner not only because of their global scale and scope, but also due to their extensive regional relationships with both VARs and complementary technology suppliers," said Peter Jones, director of worldwide channels sales, Solarflare. "Avnet is the only pan-EMEA distributor that can provide complete high-performance, low latency solutions that combine Solarflare products with technology from Force10, Juniper and Brocade.  Avnet will help Solarflare rapidly expand our market leadership by equipping channel partners with complete solutions that solve the performance pain points of their customers' data centres."

"The opportunity for Avnet's business partners is twofold," added Bruce Hockin, head of business strategy, Avnet Technology Solutions, UK. "First, Solarflare's solutions will help our partners target new networking and server sales opportunities in high-performance computing environments such as financial, scientific and pharmaceutical markets. Resellers will also be able to help existing customers optimise the performance of their data centres to meet demanding computing applications including cloud computing, storage and virtualisation."