PHOENIX—January 15, 2015—Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), a leading global technology distributor, today announced that it has joined the OpenPOWER Foundation, an open development alliance based on IBM’s POWER microprocessor architecture. Working with the OpenPOWER Foundation, Avnet will help partners and customers innovate across the full hardware and software stack to build customized server, networking and storage hardware solutions best suited to the high-performance Power architecture.

The OpenPOWER Foundation was established in 2013 as an open technical membership organization that provides a framework for open innovation at both the hardware and software levels. IBM’s POWER8 processor serves as the hardware foundation, while the system software structure embraces key open source technologies including KVM, Linux and OpenStack.

“Working with the OpenPOWER Foundation complements Avnet’s long-standing relationship with IBM across the enterprise, from the components level to the data center,” said Tony Madden, Avnet senior vice president, global supplier business executive. “With the accelerated pace of change in technology, membership in the OpenPOWER Foundation provides an excellent avenue for us to work alongside other market leaders to deploy open Power technology, providing customers and partners with the technology infrastructure they need to evolve and grow their businesses.”

As an OpenPOWER Foundation member, Avnet will provide channel distribution and integration services for OpenPOWER compatible offerings, enabling its partners and customers to focus on innovation, optimizing operational efficiency and enhancing profitability.

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