Nimble Storage Signs Avnet Technology Solutions

Nimble
Storage, Inc.
announced a distribution agreement with Avnet Technology
Solutions, an IT solutions distributor and operating group of Avnet, Inc., that
enables Avnet to sell Nimble’s portfolio of hybrid storage arrays.

Through the distribution agreement, Nimble Storage offers its converged
infrastructure solutions, SmartStack, through Avnet to its solution provider
partner community in the US and Canada. Nimble is exploring opportunities in
other regions with Avnet due to Avnet’s broad global capabilities that support
IT solutions and services.

Nimble Storage’s flash-optimized hybrid storage arrays are designed to solve a pressing storage issues: reining in storage complexity,
increasing performance/capacity efficiency and implementing affordable backup
and recovery. The solution is designed to help organizations maximize uptime
and availability of their critical applications.

To provide performance and high level of interoperability,
Nimble Storage has developed SmartStack – pre-validated reference architectures
with market leaders such as VMware, Cisco, Citrix, Microsoft, and CommVault.
Pre-validated reference architectures minimize the challenges associated with
deploying application, server, hypervisor, networking, and storage components
as an integrated solution.

The newly signed distribution agreement with Avnet
provides solution providers with the flexibility to purchase Nimble’s
SmartStack from one vendor.

Solution providers will also be able to draw upon the expertise of Avnet’s
dedicated Nimble solutions team, which is part of Avnet’s new supplier business
acceleration group. The group provides solutions sales, field sales, technical,
and product marketing support to ensure that suppliers, like Nimble Storage,
have access to the resources they need to accelerate
their success in the channel. In addition, overall business and sales efforts
for Avnet’s new supplier business acceleration team are provided by a
technology and solutions development group that offers pre-sales technical
support and evaluates new converged solutions.

Avnet will work with Nimble to provide its solution provider community
with training and demand creation programs to market and sell Nimble’s
flash-optimized hybrid storage solutions.

New processes that will benefit
the solution provider community include:

• Expanded quote and configuration support for resellers purchasing Nimble
  products.
• A dedicated sales team focused on onboarding, enabling and supporting both
  existing partners selling Nimble solutions and those looking toadd a modern
  hybrid storage product or converged infrastructure solutions to their portfolio
  of product offerings.
• Continued ease of doing business through simplified purchasing and credit line.
• Configuration services and testing validation for SmartStack solutions.

"This distribution agreement with
Avnet is a clear indicator of Nimble’s commitment to being a channel-centric
company. We are striving to provide our partner ecosystem with the flexibility
needed to meet end user demands, and the go-to-market programs and training
required to drive increased profitability from selling and deploying Nimble
storage solutions. The SmartStack solution eliminates much of the guesswork
involved in planning and sizing, procuring, provisioning and operations.
Providing the opportunity to purchase these solutions from a one-stop-shop will
be a huge value-add to our solution providers," said Kristin Carnes, director
of channel sales, Nimble Storage.

"Adding Nimble Storage solutions to
our portfolio for Connected and Secured Solutions is a great benefit to our
solution provider partners. The ability to simplify the procurement process for
resellers, along with additional financing options, increased sales support,
and SLAs, is key to the way we support the channel. Our solution-based
distribution model provides Nimble partners and their customers with an
opportunity to improve business performance with innovative storage solutions,"
said Scott Look, VP/ GM for connected and secured solutions, Avnet Technology
Solutions.