Avnet HealthPath™ Connects Partners with Growing Health Care Market Opportunities

TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2006--

Health Care Practice Combines Training, Sales Enablement Tools and Services to Help Partners Deliver IT Solutions to Health Care Organizations

As demand for IT solutions for health care organizations continues to grow, Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas, today announced HealthPath, a health care practice dedicated to helping value-added resellers, independent software vendors (ISVs), system builders and OEMs take advantage of opportunities in the health care market.

Today's health care industry faces mounting challenges to reduce clinical and administration costs, while responding to regulatory compliance issues and managing vast amounts of patient data, images and records. As a result, demand is increasing rapidly for total solutions that help health care organizations become more responsive and flexible in delivering improved patient care more efficiently.

According to Tony Vottima, vice president, Business Development, Avnet Technology Solutions, Avnet HealthPath™ brings together the components critical to serving the health care market. "Avnet's first objective is to help partners understand the business and IT challenges faced by health care organizations and work together with them to deliver complete solutions to the health care community. We provide health care application vendors with the infrastructure, expertise and resources needed to deliver complete solutions to customers quickly, efficiently and profitably. For example, by combining our leading supplier relationships and partner program expertise along with our advanced technical capabilities, including ISO 13485 medical-certified integration facilities, we create a powerful time to market advantage."

To work effectively with health care organizations, many resellers need help understanding how they work and the issues they face.

HealthPath™ uses Avnet's Market Connection, a proven methodology to help resellers get into new markets more quickly. Specifically,

HealthPath™ equips resellers with all of the skills, tools, solutions and sales support necessary to effectively build successful and profitable health care sales practices. As part of HealthPath(TM), Avnet is providing resellers with health care market training; assessment tools to identify customers' IT needs and calculate return on investment; and a wide array of technical services, such as application hosting, network monitoring, configuration, integration, implementation and certified integration and design services.

In addition, Avnet is working closely with suppliers and ISVs to introduce solutions to meet specific health care industry needs. For example, Avnet offers a wide range of storage and information lifecycle management solutions for health care providers from leading technology suppliers and ISVs. By developing an ecosystem of skilled partners ready to sell these solutions, Avnet will also help suppliers and ISVs grow their businesses in the larger health systems while extending their reach to small and medium health care organizations.

"Avnet clearly understands what it takes to do business in this industry," said John Connolly, president, Virtus Partners. "By working with Avnet and its suppliers, we think Virtus Partners will be able to increase our opportunities in health care and build a stronger business serving the health care market."

About Avnet Technology Solutions

Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet Inc.

(NYSE:AVT) representing $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with locations in more than 30 countries. As a global technology sales and marketing organization, Avnet Technology Solutions has sales divisions in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific focused on specific customer segments and a select line card strategy enabling an exceptional level of attention to the needs of its customers and suppliers.

Avnet enables success from the center of the technology industry, providing cost-effective services and solutions vital to a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and 300 suppliers. The company markets, distributes and adds value to a wide variety of electronic components, enterprise computer products and embedded subsystems. Through its premier market position, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of capabilities that help its trading partners accelerate growth and realize cost efficiencies. For fiscal year ended July 2, 2005, Avnet and the recently acquired Memec (closed July 5, 2005) generated combined revenue in excess of $13 billion in the past year through sales in approximately 70 countries. Visit www.avnet.com.