Channel Business

Avnet Shows Global Commitment to Oracle Partners

Avnet Technology Solutions is doubling down on its Oracle channel strategy. Specifically, the value-added distributor has shifted Oracle guru Mike Hurst from an Americas role to a global role. Plus, Chris Swahn fills Hurst's previous role, moving into the GM and VP post for Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas’ Oracle Solutions group. Here's the update.

November 16, 2010

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Avnet Technology Solutions is doubling down on its Oracle channel strategy. Specifically, the value-added distributor has shifted Oracle guru Mike Hurst from an Americas role to a global role. Plus, Chris Swahn fills Hurst’s previous role, moving into the GM and VP post for Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas’ Oracle Solutions group. Here’s the update.

This is actually a two-part story. Hurst was named VP, global supplier business executive for Avnet‘s Oracle relationship in July 2010. Fast forward to the present and Avnet has named Swahn to lead Avnet’s Oracle-related partner business in the Americas.

In recent months Hurst has been an outspoken proponent of the Oracle-Sun combo, assuring Avnet partners that Oracle will be among the last IT giants standing as the technology industry continues to consolidate. Hurst has also evangelized Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) Specialized training to Avnet partners. The VAR Guy expects Swahn to take similar steps in the Americas.

Some pundits think the Avnet-Oracle relationship has hit some turbulence here and there over the past few months. During an interview with The VAR Guy in October 2010, Avnet Technology Solutions Global President Philip Gallagher downplayed any potential Avnet-Oracle stumbling points. Instead he said an occasional challenge involves maintaining alignment — that is, assuring that Avnet and Oracle can go to market together in a profitable manner that benefits both companies.

FastChat With Mike Hurst

No doubt, Avnet’s Hurst and Swahn are focused on those areas of alignment. In a July FastChat interview with The VAR Guy, Hurst described how Avnet partners would potentially profit from the Oracle-Sun combo.

Within the video above Hurst describes:

0:00 – Introduction
0:15 – Historic and future synergies between Avnet, Oracle and Sun partners
1:24 – How Avnet expects to work with Oracle partners on a global level
2:35 – More info and Web links
2:55 – Conclusion

Key Opportunities, Including Exadata

Hurst also took some time to describe Oracle-related opportunities awaiting legacy Sun partners, particularly Exadata storage solutions:

The conversation above covers:

0:00 – Introduction
0:15 – Making sure partners are aware of application-to-disk opportunities
1:15 – The most pressing opportunities for partners include Sun, SPARC, CMT (Chip Multithreading) and Exadata.
2:09 – Why Exadata is generating so much buzz with legacy Sun and modern Oracle partners.

Balancing Act

Of course, Avnet isn’t betting purely on Oracle-Sun solutions. The value-added distributor also has close relationships with Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and IBM. And on the flip-side, Oracle has a key distribution relationship with Arrow’s Enterprise Computing Solutions division.

The VAR Guy will be watching to see how Avnet and Arrow potentially move forward with Oracle.

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