Arrow Electronics Hosts First Enterprise Storage Advisory Council and Customer Summit, June 14 - 15.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Enterprise Storage Advisory Council and Customer Summit

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2004

To better understand how it can work more closely with customers to build their storage practices, Arrow Enterprise Storage Solutions (AESS), a division of the North American Computer Products group of Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW), kicks off two first time customer events this week: an advisory council and a customer summit.

The advisory council meets today at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, Calif., and will bring together a representative group of Arrow's top storage resellers and Arrow's storage team to design strategic initiatives that help shape the mission and direction of AESS through feedback sessions and business planning sessions.

The one-day advisory council will be followed by an enterprise storage customer summit on June 15. The customer summit will bring together 25 Arrow enterprise storage resellers and several suppliers who are sponsoring the event, including EMC, Hitachi, Legato, McDATA, QLogic, and Computer Associates. The event is designed to ensure that Arrow's most talented enterprise storage resellers have the latest information on business drivers and storage trends, and to familiarize resellers with the many resources and investments that they can leverage through Arrow.

"We are absolutely focused on doing what it takes to help our resellers achieve their storage business goals. A customer summit allows us to work one-on-one with our most enthusiastic customers as well as receive direct feedback from them as to how Arrow can best meet their storage business needs," said Mike Arends, vice president of sales, AESS.

The sessions at the customer summit are designed to help participants identify new business opportunities and learn how to better leverage Arrow's business development resources. Session topics include opportunities in regulatory compliance, working with Arrow on strategic marketing campaigns, and how to use Arrow's new online tools to more productively manage business.

"McDATA looks forward to the opportunity to meet with Arrow's most promising enterprise storage solution providers to obtain feedback about our partnership and work one-on-one with attendees on new activities and strategies that we can implement together to grow McDATA's channel," said Bruce Chumley, vice president of channels, McDATA. "McDATA remains committed to delivering compelling and competitive products to our trusted partners and value to their end customers."

About the North American Computer Products group of Arrow Electronics

The North American Computer Products group of Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) is a leading distributor of enterprise and embedded computing systems to resellers and OEM customers in North America. Based in Englewood, CO, the group is comprised of four divisions that make up Enterprise Computing Solutions (Support Net, SBM, MOCA, Enterprise Storage Solutions) and OEM Computing Solutions, which serves industrial OEMs and intellectual property-based companies. Visit all of our divisions at www.arrownacp.com.

Arrow Electronics is one of the world's largest distributors of electronic components and computer products and a leading provider of services to the electronics industry.