Avnet Unveils Converged Infrastructure Solutions

Avnet Technology Solutions, in IT solutions distribution and an operating group of Avnet, Inc., introduced two new solutions to accelerate the adoption of private clouds by SMBs and ROBO.

The Avnet A30 Series and A20 Series appliances are Avnet converged infrastructure solutions based on EMC’s VNXeR3200 unified storage platform and EMC ScaleIO architecture, respectively.

They will be available to customers exclusively through Avnet’s channel partner community in the US and Canada. The new appliances will provide SMBs and ROBO customers with the benefits of private clouds, but at the price points and sizes that align with their organizations.

“The adaptability and efficiency of private clouds make them ideal for small businesses, remote offices and branch offices; however, these solutions are typically designed for companies with hundreds or thousands of employees,” said Greg Peterson, VP and GM for the EMC solutions group, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “Avnet and EMC collaborated to create converged infrastructure solutions tailored to the unique needs of the small business market that leverage EMC’s latest software and architecture, and create a path to private clouds. The introduction of the Avnet A30 Series and A20 Series presents a clear opportunity for our partners to address this underserved market with flexible information infrastructures that have the scale they need.“

The Avnet A30 Series and Avnet A20 Series are converged infrastructure solutions that provide small businesses and ROBOs with remote and virtual access to their data via private clouds. Both solutions are built on EMC’s VSPEX for private cloud architecture that features virtualization with flexibility, validated interoperability for deployment and cloud-based storage and backup. The physical aspects of these solutions are housed in a Panduit enclosure that fits in small wiring closets and other space-constrained facilities.

Features include: 

• Avnet A30 Series: Designed to meet the needs of businesses and offices with approximately 50 users. It includes two of the latest releases from EMC, the Data DomainR DD2200 and the VNXeR3200. The DD2200 offers reliable storage protection, delivering industry application protection and data integrity. The VNXe3200, EMC’s unified storage platform, features unified snapshots and FC support along with the Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST) and Multicore Optimization (MCx) software that leverages flash or increased performance while lowering capex and opex ($/IO/s and $/GB).
• Avnet A20 Series: Created for businesses and offices with approximately 25 users. This solution includes ScaleIO, a software-only solution that uses the application hosts’ local disks to realize a virtual SAN that is comparable to, or better than, external SAN storage, but at a fraction of the cost and without the complexity.

“Avnet is making private cloud computing affordable for small businesses by using our next-generation technology,” said Jeff Boudreau, SVP and GM, enterprise and midrange systems division, EMC. “Avnet was the natural choice for us to engage with on these appliances based on their team’s strong technical expertise, services capabilities and heritage in solutions distribution. Avnet complemented EMC’s strategy to have channel-ready solutions available following the launch of our VNXe3200 storage platform and EMC ScaleIO architecture, and together, we will help our partners solve the technology challenges of small businesses and remote and branch offices.“

Avnet will help partners accelerate their ability to bring the Avnet A30 Series and A20 Series appliances to market through its Transformation as a Service (TaaS) initiative. This initiative streamlines the converged solutions process with pre-sales support, engineering assistance, financing and services, such as data center migration and technology recycling. Additionally, partners can leverage the Avnet Global Solutions Center in Chandler, AZ, for the integration and assembly of the Avnet A30 Series and A20 Series appliances by Avnet’s EMC-certified engineers. This will reduce the time to deployment for Avnet partners and provide them with tested, validated and documented converged infrastructure solutions.

“Small businesses are constantly turning to us for practical ways they can increase their IT efficiency, and Avnet has squarely met this need with their new Avnet A30 Series and Avnet A20 Series appliances,” said Dan Chatson, datacenter practice brand manager with SIS, LLC, a technology and managed IT solutions provider and an Avnet partner. “We now have appliances specifically made for small businesses featuring EMC’s latest technology, which will provide our customers with all of their computing, networking and storage needs while allowing them to reap the benefits of private clouds.“