Distribution Watch: Avnet, Arrow Electronics, Ingram Micro

Happy Tuesday everyone! This week's Distribution Watch features the latest news from our friends at Avnet (AVT), Arrow Electronics (ARW) and Ingram Micro (IM).

Avnet: Avnet has expanded its existing relationship with Hitachi Data Services (HDS) to Latin America, where the company will provide solutions to channel partners in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia. Avnet will also serve as the sole distributor of HDS solutions for Argentina, according to the announcement.

Avnet currently sells Hitachi solutions in North America, Europe and APAC. The distributor did not mention whether it will expand its Latin America agreement with HDS to additional countries in the area.

“We expanded our relationship into Latin America because Avnet has consistently proven to be a trusted partner throughout our more-than-15-year relationship and understands how to create a knowledgeable partner community to bring our products to market,” said Oscar Valerdi, channel manager for Latin America, HDS, in a statement. “By adding new countries, we are enhancing our capabilities to help partners capitalize on the growth opportunities in storage that are being driven by the continuous advancements in technology that generate massive amounts of data.”

Arrow: Arrow Electronics has acquired UBM’s global internet media portfolio for $23.5 million, giving the company control over seven of UBM’s publications, including datasheets.com. UBM is a global B2B even planning, marketing services and media provider perhaps best known for its PRNewswire service.

Arrow said the acquisition will allow it to improve its standing as a thought leader and trusted advisor in the IoT space, according to the announcement. This is the second media acquisition for the distributor, following the purchase of the United Technical Publishing arm of Hearst Media last year.

“Our internet media is guiding innovation forward by making technical decision making easier for designers, R&D groups, and engineers,” said Matt Anderson, chief digital officer of Arrow Electronics. “This is a step forward in our digital transformation, positioning Arrow as the preeminent, unbiased technology internet media, design, and eCommerce option for companies, from those on Indiegogo all the way to Fortune 500 global leaders.”

Ingram Micro: Ingram’s Promark Technology division signed a distribution agreement with Pivot3 on Monday that will give U.S. channel partners access to the company’s portfolio of hyperconverged flash storage solutions.

“Both the hyperconverged and flash storage markets are increasingly appealing to our channel partners actively looking to broaden their solutions for virtualized workloads and round out their technology roadmaps toward more software-defined environments,” said Dale Foster, general manager and executive director of Promark Technology.  “Pivot3's increasing success and highly differentiated technology put us in a great position to help customers take advantage of flash platforms and the emerging technology opportunity presented by HCI.”

In other Ingram news, the distributor also recently finalized a deal with Awingu to distribute the company’s enterprise mobility solution to partners in the United States. Ingram previously had an EMEA-only relationship with Awingu, according to the announcement.

“We are pleased to support Awingu, which uses the power of the latest web technology to mobilize all company applications regardless of where they physically reside, whether in the cloud or on premise,” says Scott Zahl, vice president, Advanced Solutions, Ingram Micro. “Awingu has the advantage of working with cloud services and pairs with our broad portfolio of advanced mobility solutions.”

That’s all for this week, folks. Stay safe out there, and remember to keep on distributing.