Arrow Electronics Hosts May Days, Annual IBM Partner Education and Networking Conference, May 5-9.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2003

The Support Net Division of Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE: ARW), one of the largest value-added distributors of IBM enterprise products and integration servic es, will host its annual May Days reseller event May 5-9.

May Days, designed to help Arrow's IBM resellers obtain valuable IBM training and certifications, has grown to become a networking and solutions showcase event with an international draw. More than 400 representatives from over 100 individual reseller companies from across the U.S. and Canada will attend this year's conference to network with over 150 IBM executives, software companies, and third-party product and services providers. Throughout the conference, Arrow will offer over 70 training, educational and lab sessions, and expects its resellers to earn more than 300 technical and sales certifications at May Days this year.

"Every May Days session is geared toward one common goal: helping our Business Partner customers expand their relationships with IBM and master the needed skills to succeed in the channel," said Eric Williams, executive vice president, Support Net Division. "May Days offers a unique combination of business and technical information that keeps our customers' knowledge and skills at their highest levels. Our commitment to our partners through education and skills enablement is one of the reasons the Support Net Division was voted #1 IBM Distributor in customer satisfaction by IBM Business Partners in 2002."

The conference will kick off with an opening general session and IBM executive panel. IBM executive panelists include Mike Borman, general manager, Global Business Partners; Bill Donohue, vice president, pSeries sales, Americas; Leona Mitchell, vice president, xSeries sales, Americas; John Pratt, vice president, channel services; Mike Colleary, vice president, software channels; Frank Baldino, vice president, storage sales, Americas; Dan Fortin, vice president, Business Partners, Americas; and Paulo Carvao, vice president, iSeries sales, Americas.

At the core of this year's May Days event is Arrow's Solution Center, a pavilion where IBM and more than 40 ISVs and IBM Business Partners will showcase their most innovative solutions and where attendees can find out how they can use these existing and emerging technologies in conjunction with one another to gain a competitive edge over their competition.

An extension of the Solution Center, the May Days Solutions College will offer attendees a series of educational sessions in seven separate tracks, including an executive track developed specifically with business leaders -- from managers to CEOs -- in mind. Executive track sessions include topics like "Aligning Goals For Results," "Building A High-Performance Sales Organization," "Marketing Leadership In Crisis Times," and "Outwitting, Outlasting And Outplaying The Competition With Extreme Value."

Business Partners attending the conference will also have the ability to tour Arrow's new Indianapolis-based WebSphere Innovation Center (WIC), an educational, testing and demo facility for IBM resellers interested in selling WebSphere solutions, and one of only three distributor WebSphere Innovation Centers in existence.

For more information on this year's May Days conference, visit Arrow's May Days Web site at http://www.arrownacp.com/supportnet/events/MayDays2003.htm.

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, Colo., 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 complex and industrial OEM customers. Visit us 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.