Avnet Electronics Marketing Reports Increasing Demand for Development Boards and Evaluation Kits.

Company Brings Together the Right Suppliers and Products for Best Customer Support

PHOENIX -- Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, the largest operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT), today announced that electronics suppliers are relying on the company to integrate their products on development boards and evaluation kits at an unprecedented rate. As the industry increasingly turns to distribution for design support, Avnet Electronics Marketing's design team is in high demand. In the past year, Avnet Electronics Marketing has sold more than $1 million each quarter in Avnet-designed development boards and evaluation kits, which lead to registered designs for manufacturers. "This growth is a reflection of Avnet Electronics Marketing's increased focus on providing additional high-level, just-in-time design services following the acquisition of Memec," said Jeff Ittel, senior vice president of semiconductors, Avnet Electronics Marketing.

"Avnet has deep relationships in the supplier community to bring the right suppliers together for the best solutions for our customers' applications," added Ittel. "Avnet Electronics Marketing's extensive line card, design expertise and engineering resources combine to provide the industry with the best possible development boards and evaluation kits."

Due to Avnet Electronics Marketing's unique position in the supply chain, the company is able to select the best products from suppliers that traditional board and kit developers may not have worked with before. In addition, they provide a third-party view into which components will work best for various applications.

While some electronics products are viewed as commodities, nearly every component has a unique differentiator that could be helpful in specific applications. Avnet Electronics Marketing's engineers help customers determine which products will work best in different applications through development boards and evaluation kits, which may include multiple alternatives based on cost, compatibility, usage requirements and other factors.

"Xilinx places tremendous value on the ability of Avnet Electronics Marketing to design and deliver solution-centric evaluation and development kits," said David Stieg, senior director of Distribution Marketing at Xilinx. "The availability of a robust portfolio of affordable design kits from Avnet means that design engineers have broad access to real-world, working designs that can become the foundation of an in-house project."

Avnet Electronics Marketing's development boards and evaluation kits, the Avnet Design Resource Center, and Avnet Speedway Design Workshops(TM) are part of the company's "just-in-time" approach to design services - providing technical assistance and training from development to production, and throughout the product lifecycle according to customer requirements.

About Avnet Electronics Marketing

Avnet Electronics Marketing is the largest operating group of Phoenix-based Avnet Inc. (NYSE:AVT), a Fortune 500 company. Avnet Electronics Marketing serves electronic original equipment manufacturers (EOEMs) and electronic manufacturing services (EMS) providers in 68 countries, distributing electronic components from leading manufacturers and providing associated design-chain and supply-chain services. The group's Web site is located at http://www.em.avnet.com

Avnet markets, adds value to, and distributes the products of the world's leading electronic component suppliers, enterprise computer manufacturers and embedded subsystem providers. For the fiscal year ended July 1, 2006, Avnet generated revenue of $14.25 billion. Visit www.avnet.com/.