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BANGALORE, India, April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Avnet Technology Solutions, the global IT solutions distribution leader and an operating group of Avnet,

Inc. (NYSE: AVT), has selected IBM SmartCloud as the foundation for Avnet Cloud Solutions, a portfolio of cloud offerings for small and midsize businesses in India. With IBM SmartCloud,

Avnet offers compute and storage capabilities in a utility model and structures customized solutions such as disaster recovery and managed services. (Logo:

http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO ) Avnet has a strong presence in India, where it is expanding its portfolio of services to include customized cloud solutions for small and

midsize businesses across various industries, including retail, logistics, manufacturing, banking and financial services, public sector and education, among others. Cloud computing holds

tremendous potential for a significant number of small and midsize Indian enterprises with limited IT resources. IBM SmartCloud will enable Avnet partners to offer their customers access to

enterprise-level IT at affordable price points without additional investment in infrastructure, security, back-up, upgrades and maintenance. This partnership will help those customers derive

benefits by adopting a robust cloud architecture and service model, leapfrogging the traditional investment in enterprise IT. "As the need for a robust, yet affordable, IT

infrastructure rises, cloud computing presents a significant value proposition to customers and service providers," said Naresh Desai, general manager, Avnet Technology Solutions,

India. "Powered by IBM SmartCloud, our portfolio of cloud solutions will help our clients address their business requirements and drive growth." An enterprise-class public cloud

infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), IBM SmartCloud delivers secure and scalable hosted IT infrastructure with on-demand access to virtual server and storage resources. Leveraging the

transformational capabilities of IBM SmartCloud, Avnet Cloud Solutions will enable companies to focus on their core operational activities without having to pay extra for ownership of IT

systems or to invest large amounts of capital for IT projects. The organizations will also be able to reduce cost through a shift from capital expenditure (CAPEX) to monthly operation

expense (OPEX) model. "The Avnet and IBM strategic collaboration will focus on every client's specific compute needs and give them the flexibility and opportunity to scale,"

said Vamsi Mudiam, cloud leader, IBM, India/South Asia. "The IBM SmartCloud portfolio will help Avnet establish a robust infrastructure for seamless delivery and enhanced customer

satisfaction." Natural Ice Cream, a leading ice cream manufacturer in India, was looking to harness the transformational capabilities of cloud computing to gain technical superiority

and scalability. By leveraging the IaaS capabilities of Avnet Cloud Solutions, Natural Ice Cream will be able to instantaneously shift their applications with no capital expenditure and

reduce operating and infrastructure management costs in a secure environment. They can now focus on their core business and leave IT management to a trusted partner. About Avnet Cloud

Solutions: For more information on Avnet Cloud Solutions, please visit www.avnetcloudready.in  ABOUT AVNET TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS  As a global IT solutions distributor, Avnet Technology

Solutions collaborates with its customers and suppliers to create and deliver services, software and hardware solutions that address the business needs of their end-user customers locally

and around the world. The group serves customers and suppliers in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. It generated US $10.8 billion in annual revenue for fiscal

year 2012. Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet, Inc. For more information, visit www.avnet.com. About IBM India:  For more information on IBM India, please visit

http://www.ibm.com/in/en/  ABOUT IBM CLOUD COMPUTING  IBM has helped thousands of clients adopt cloud models and manages millions of cloud based transactions every day. IBM assists clients

in areas as diverse as banking, communications, healthcare and government to build their own clouds or securely tap into IBM cloud-based business and infrastructure services. IBM is unique

in bringing together key cloud technologies, deep process knowledge, a broad portfolio of cloud solutions, and a network of global delivery centers. For more information about cloud

offerings from IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/smartcloud. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ibmcloud and on our blog at http://www.thoughtsoncloud.com SOURCE IBM