Avnet Opens Cloud Solutions Demo Center for HP Channel Partners

Avnet Technology Solutions, the distribution arm of Avnet Inc., said recently that it has opened a new solutions center for its Hewlett-Packard Co. channel partners to demonstrate cloud computing solutions to customers.

The HP-designated Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) is housed at Avnet’s Global Solutions Center located in Chandler, AZ, and is open to HP channel partners in North America, officials said.

Avnet said that to help channel partners show proof-of-concept cloud models to customers it has built a number of cloud solutions templates, and live and remote demonstrations. Officials said that the cloud center is framed on HP’s CloudSystem, an open platform for building and managing services across private, public and hybrid cloud environments.

“Avnet has offered live and remote solutions demonstration capabilities to our partners for years, and we have consistently seen that participating partners close deals faster and more profitably,” said Tony Vottima, Avnet senior vice president and general manager, HP Solutions Group.

“We invested in bringing these exciting demonstration capabilities to our partners around cloud computing to align with HP’s business strategy for the data center and capitalize on the growth potential of the cloud,” he said.

Avnet said that channel partners can access the HP cloud center virtually through an online remote portal, a resource that includes sales and technical training options.

Pepperweed Consulting, an HP Software Elite Partner and IT integration specialist based in Sewickley, PA, said that the Avnet cloud computing centers will help to benefits of the technology to clients.

“Having worked with Avnet’s technical experts to build their HP Cloud Center of Excellence, we look forward to leveraging this center, our value-add components and Avnet’s expertise to continue to demystify cloud computing and show Pepperweed’s clients the tangible results and benefits of deploying managed private cloud environments,” said Pat Stewart, Pepperweed chief executive.