Avnet Hall-Mark Announces Partner Academy; Educational Opportunities Give Resellers a Competitive Advantage.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 10, 2003

Avnet Hall-Mark, a value-added distributor of enterprise servers, storage, software and services, today at its annual IBM Partner Conference announced the Avnet Hall-Mark Partner Academy, designed to maximize market opportunities for its value-added resellers (VARs) by ensuring access to the most relevant, timely and comprehensive educational offerings.

Partner Academy is organized into three major categories to ensure that all aspects of a partner's business are addressed:

-- Technical - product and certification training typically

required for supplier authorizations.

-- Sales - methods to help refine sales skills and identify and

map solutions to market opportunities.

-- Executive - focuses on the skills and strategies needed to

help partners manage their business.

Utilizing a "virtual training organization" model, Partner Academy takes advantage of several instructional methods in order to best serve the needs of VARs. Training may be administered in a traditional instructor-led classroom setting and group seminars, as well as through electronic tutorials and online webinars that make training quicker and more accessible for partners. Instructors come from a variety of qualified resources, including Avnet Hall-Mark's certified technical staff and sales organizations, supplier partners, professional training organizations and subject matter consultants. Training courses are often consolidated into a single session and are also offered in conjunction with other events to make the best use of the VAR's time. Avnet Hall-Mark trains thousands of VARs annually, allowing the company to offer the training at reduced costs or at no charge to the VARs. The goal of Partner Academy is to bring educational opportunities as geographically close as possible to VARs to make it easy and less expensive for them to enhance their skills.

"Our goal is to help our VARs become the best trained competitors in the industry," said Fred Cuen, executive vice president and general manager of the Avnet Hall-Mark IBM Business Unit. "In July we helped VARs earn more than 250 certifications. At our annual Partner Conference we'll exceed 450 certifications in just four days."

Ed Jensen, president and CEO of Associated Computer Systems, Ltd., said of Partner Academy, "Avnet Hall-Mark is sensitive to the needs of VARs and makes it easier to gain access to training. They've found creative solutions to help reduce the overall cost of training, as well as my time away from the office."

"Avnet Hall-Mark consistently ensures that its partners receive the training required to maintain their authorizations in a timely manner," said Alex Gogh, director channels marketing, IBM Americas. "Partner Academy is yet another way Avnet Hall-Mark helps its VARs stay at the forefront of the industry."

About Avnet Hall-Mark

Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., Avnet Hall-Mark is an industry-leading, value-added distributor of enterprise servers, storage, software and services, marketing exclusively to the reseller channel. Through operations in the United States, Mexico and Canada, Avnet Hall-Mark provides solutions from industry-leading manufacturers including BMC Software, EMC, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Network Appliance, Oracle, StorageTek and VERITAS -- driving growth for partners and manufacturers.

Avnet Hall-Mark is a division of the Avnet Technology Solutions operating group of Avnet Inc. (NYSE:AVT), one of the world's largest technology marketing, distribution and services companies. Avnet's sales for fiscal 2003 (year ended June 30) were $9.05 billion. For more information about Avnet Hall-Mark, visit: www.hallmark.avnet.com.

Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.