FlexPod Partner Programme:

Flexible and Dynamic

Converged Solution

Powered by SolutionsPath™

TechnologyAccelerate Success 2015

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1. Introduction

The next few years will see seismic shifts in the way IT is delivered, as companies position themselves for convergence and cloud. If

your business isn’t ready to profit and grow from these changes, you risk falling behind in the market.

Midmarket enterprise customers as well as Managed Service Providers (MSP) are looking for a simpler, more flexible, automated, and

dynamic infrastructure that will better align IT resources with continually changing business demands.

Embrace the change and invest in FlexPod, a pre-validated datacentre platform, employing best-of-breed components from NetApp

FAS/e-series, Cisco UCS and Nexus switches. The perfect platform for future shared infrastructure solutions, FlexPod will make it

simple for you to profit from tomorrow’s cloud-led datacentre opportunities.

• Customers can start small and evolve into a FlexPod solution,

maximising their existing IT investments whilst adopting

a more strategic path to the cloud-ready datacentre – all

without sudden impacts on resources and budgets

• Unlike competing offerings, FlexPod’s single architecture

at all sizes means ultimate scalability. FlexPod scales up

massively to accommodate even the most dynamically

changing enterprise IT environment

• Use FlexPod to challenge multiple customer pain points: slow

application deployment, complex workload provisioning, silos

of server, storage and networking, proliferating management

tools and inefficient processes

• Maximise returns on virtualisation and enable the move

to converged systems and public, private or hybrid

cloud delivery with FlexPod as the underlying shared

infrastructure platform

• For the most predictable engagement, FlexPod is also

available as a pre-validated, pre-sized frameworked solution

that includes service support to ensure accurate scoping and

trouble-free delivery

• Leverage FlexPod’s industry-first features to close business:

a Co-operative Support Model where all participating

vendors support the solution, and secure multi-tenancy for

private cloud.

Industry leaders NetApp and Cisco have a powerful global

presence and have been working together on a shared

virtualised datacentre vision since 2003. They are transforming

the datacentre with a unified architecture and virtualisation

technologies that result in highly efficient virtualisation and

cloud computing solutions built on jointly validated reference

architectures. Together they have helped thousands of customers

to increase efficiency and agility and reduce TCO.

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IDC forecasts the total integrated systems market will grow from

$7.3 billion in 2013 to $17.9 billion in 2018, representing a five-

year 2013–2018 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.6%.

Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA therefore recognises this is

an opportunity for the channel – and calls for the channel to act

now to drive growth in EMEA.

The reason for this phenomenal growth is a shift in the way a

growing number of customers are consuming IT. Customers are

increasingly looking for systems that are simple to manage, easy

to scale, provide elasticity, don’t require advanced forecasting

and deliver on the promise of software defined everything.

What is FlexPod?

FlexPod is a pre-designed, prevalidated infrastructure

building block built on Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus datacentre

switches and NetApp FAS/e-series storage components.

Plugging straight into virtualisation projects and virtualised

environments, FlexPod is hypervisor ready and optimised for

deployment alongside VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V.

Cisco UCS

The Cisco Unified Computing (UCS) architecture was

designed, from the ground up, for virtualised environments. It

unifies compute, network, storage access, and virtualisation into

a cohesive system. UCS has a radically simplified architecture:

• Dramatically reduces the number of devices that must be

purchased, cabled, configured, powered, cooled, managed,

and secured

• Extended memory technology allows UCS to support up to

384 Gigabytes memory and up to a 60% reduction in the cost

of memory, thereby supporting more VMs per server than

other competitor server manufacturers.

Cisco Nexus

Cisco Nexus datacentre switches use award-winning

Unified Fabric technology to consolidate traffic onto one

simplified, cost-effective architecture. Nexus switches also offer:

• Excellent scalability and fast, easy “zero-touch” installation

• Automatic configuration

• In-service upgrades

• Single point of policy management all greatly simplify

management and increase efficiency, availability, and

security

Veeam

The Veeam Availability Suite v8 integration with FlexPod

enables:

• Agent-less fast Backups from Storage Snapshots, with

application consistency to protect critical applications and

increase RPO without impacting storage performances

• High-speed recovery options to easily recover individual

items or entire VMs from NetApp Snapshot®, SnapMirror® and

SnapVault®

• Fast, application-consistent recovery points by orchestrating

NetApp Data ONTAP® to create snapshot-only backups

• Reduced risk of data loss by automating the creation of

secondary backups to NetApp SnapVault

• Verified protection by automating the testing of backups in

the background and guarantee recoverability of every file,

application and VM (virtual machine)

• A cloud-ready platform that enhances data availability

by providing an efficient way to get backups off-site to a

service provider

APC by Schneider Electric

By integrating the best-in-class offers of FlexPod from

NetApp and Cisco with the APC by Schneider Electric portfolio

of Infrastructure, Power & Cooling solutions, we can deliver a

truly end-to-end solution which plugs-in to your business with

no fuss, no mess, no waste and with maximum speed, and

efficiency.

APC Converged Infrastructure Solutions delivers fast and risk

free deployment of FlexPod, guaranteeing large savings in

time & cost on infrastructure design, build , deployment and

relocation, while ensuring FlexPod stays ‘Always On’, with

system management from afar for Remote & Branch Offices.

2. The Converged Infrastructure Market evolution

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NetApp Unified Storage

NetApp’s multiprotocol unified storage platform for all

tiers of storage provides advanced efficiency capabilities that

dramatically reduce capacity use along with:

• Built-in data protection and scalability features

• Optimised performance with 10GbE or FCoE

• Efficiencies including built-in de-duplication, thin provisioning

and rapid cloning

• Automated storage management, data protection and

security features.

Proven across a broad range of environments

FlexPod has been pretested and jointly validated with

popular hypervisors, operating systems, applications, and

infrastructure software, including:

• VMware® View and vSphere™

• Citrix Xen Desktop

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux® (RHEL)

• Oracle®

• SAP®

• Microsoft® Exchange, SQL Server®, and SharePoint®

• Microsoft Private Cloud built on FlexPod

FlexPod can be optimised to support several of these workloads

simultaneously. NetApp and Cisco have also jointly developed

reference architectures—several of them Cisco Validated

Designs, with prescriptive sizing guides—to help you integrate

and flex the solution to meet your specific requirements for the

following critical environments:

• Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). FlexPod is an easy-to-

deploy, self-contained virtual desktop solution in a rack. Its

modular design facilitates rapid, repeatable deployment of

thousands of virtual desktops. FlexPod integrates with, and is

optimized for, VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop. A virtual

desktop solution built on FlexPod provides unmatched price/

performance. You gain extreme efficiencies by deduplicating up

to 90% of redundant user and OS data, and I/O performance can

be accelerated by up to 50% with NetApp® cache acceleration

technology (Flash Cache). The extended memory technology

of Cisco® Unified Computing System™ provides the industry’s

greatest number of VMs per core density.

• Development and test. FlexPod enables rapid provisioning

and deprovisioning of virtual resources, making it an ideal

platform for development and test environments. NetApp

FlexClone® software facilitates rapid dev/test setup with

cloning technology that lets you deploy thousands of space-

efficient VMs for new projects in minutes, accelerating time to

production and time to market. Resources can be easily cloned

and redeployed, reducing preparation time for other initiatives

such as DR testing. FlexPod high compute and storage

consolidation ratios and utilisation levels also enable you deploy

development and test environments on a denser infrastructure

that reduces space requirements and capital costs.

FlexPod Solution Family

Primarily Branch, Retail,

Edge, and SMB Enterprise /

Service Provider

Massively scalable shared virtual data center infrastructure

Dedicated app infrastructure

Specialized environments within

enterprises

!  Enterprise Apps !  Private & Hybrid

Cloud !  VDI

!  Big Data and Analytics

UCS Mini

FAS3270FAS3270

Compact, cost-effective converged infrastructure

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Avnet converting the technology stack into a

compelling solution

Avnet delivers a single-source platform to help you successfully

bring FlexPod to your customers faster, easier and more

profitably. Avnet delivers the entire FlexPod project lifecycle –

pre-sales support, consolidated quoting, single order capability,

assembly and testing, ship complete and tracking.

Avnet is unique in that it is the only distributor in EMEA that

has both the breadth of tier one vendors in its portfolio – Cisco,

EMC, NetApp, HDS, VMware, and VCE – and the skills and means

to assemble, test and pre-configure highly complex converged

systems on behalf of its customers in EMEA.

Tongeren, Belgium, is part of the Avnet European distribution

centre, which houses both a pan-European distribution and

logistics operation, and an integration centre, primarily serving

Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA customers.

This distribution centre the only one in Europe which is especially

equipped for safe assembly, pre-configuration and validation of

IT solutions like FlexPod solutions. The centre is 34,000 square

meters in size and over one million packages are shipped every

year from this location.

As a value-added distributor and strategic partner, Avnet

simplifies the approach to converged infrastructure for its

customers, partners and resellers and makes it easier for them

to invest in this growing market.

Avnet is ready to build your FlexPod solutions, having put in place

all the resources required to deliver the technology stack in its

entirety. Use this capability as an interim solution whilst establishing

your in-house skills and as an add-on to your resources for

Distributor engagement with Avnet allows customers, partners and

resellers to address the aforementioned challenges by capitalising

on Avnet’s expertise and leadership in this area:

• Pre-integration to remove complexity and reduce risk.

• A “live project” approach for more reliable testing, and

continuous monitoring and maintenance.

• A “single source” approach which provides one point of

contact to reduce complexity.

• A “transformative” approach to infrastructure which aims

to break down the silos within a business to increase

collaboration on IT projects/deployments.

• The standardised approach to converged infrastructure

to significantly reduce risk, take the ‘guesswork’ out of

architecting new environments and delivering IT services.

• Highest standard and accreditation – converged infrastructure

is assembled by certified engineers which closes the gap on

the lack of training and accreditation needed to configure,

validate and create such complicated IT systems.

• Insight into the broader converged infrastructure ecosystem

across EMEA – through SolutionsPath™, Avnet can provide a

solid overview of the converged infrastructure opportunities

and solutions to educate the channel and drive growth.

Enjoy:

• Lower Expenses via: faster time to market, variable cost

workforces and high value consulting and integration

• Improved Process: Consulting vs. rack and stack; repeatable,

high quality assembly and test; unique, customisable serial

numbers and detailed white-glove services

• Fewer Profit Leaks from: accurate solution and technical

design, no missed components and the only end-to-end test

vehicle in the market.

3. How can Avnet help?

• Business and disaster recovery. FlexPod can be configured

with integrated data protection software to provide fast

recovery from system, site, and regional outages for business

continuity. The combination of NetApp MetroCluster™ and

SnapMirror® with Cisco UCS™ Manager and WAAS offers

automated monitoring and failover, as well as cost-effective

replication to a secondary site for continuous protection

against unplanned downtime. Our solution also lets you move

virtual server and storage resources and data nondisruptively

across hardware to eliminate planned downtime.

• Secure multi-tenancy and secure separation. FlexPod

leverages the Cisco SAFE architecture and NetApp

MultiStore® technology to deliver the industry’s only secure

multi-tenancy architecture1. Secure multi-tenancy enables

each tenant – application, business unit, or customer – to be

securely isolated within the FlexPod environment. Secure

multi-tenancy provides the data separation and service-level

guarantees offered by application silos, while delivering

the efficiencies of a converged, virtualized infrastructure.

FlexPod also securely separates nonvirtualized workloads

across the data center. 2SMT has undergone and passed

several security compliance tests PCI Compliance validation,

FISMA certification and ICSA Audit.

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Developed by Avnet, in partnership with its suppliers, SolutionsPath™ is a proven methodology that includes business intelligence

tools, education and lead-generation resources designed to help resellers and customers grow their business through specialisation.

Engagement is simple with the FlexPod Partner Programme

You can connect with this world-leading solution by joining our FlexPod Partner Programme. The most proactive partners will

enjoy returns from the sale of the FlexPod itself and from the surrounding services.

The FlexPod Partner Programme is open to Business Partners at every level of service capability, with partners able to complement

their in-house skills and resources with Avnet’s, ensuring expert deal support from Avnet and NetApp and maximising your margin

opportunity from outset.

Only participating partners will benefit from these exclusive programme deliverables:

• Unique FlexPod frameworks that simplify deployment and maximise project returns

• Training paths developed specifically for FlexPod

• Finance options to eliminate any cost-based customer pushback

• Service support to complement your in-house skills and resource

• Scope to create bespoke incentives for your team.The same applies for this converged infrastructure market – a real opportunity

for the channel.

Image of SolutionsPath™ Programme content – example below

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6. SolutionsPath Sales Accelerator

1. Dedicated partner end-user events to identify end-user accounts to attend

2. Targeted end-user demand generation to identify new opportunities

1 Maximising solution and wallet share through existing customers

2. Highly profiled new customer opportunities

5. SolutionsPath University

1 day University on Customer workshops & scenarios

FlexPod Converged expert sales force

4. SolutionsPath Portal & Market Insight

• 1 portal to access playbooks that contain all sales tools

• Subscription to Datacentre Market Insight on the latest research hot topics to keep you up-do-date

Easy to use sales guides for identifying, qualifying and engaging customers through a solutions focused sales process

3. SolutionsPath Certify

NetApp Storage partner status

Cisco UCS certifiedFully certified partner on FlexPod Converged Solutions

Veeam

2. SolutionsPath Briefing online

Partner Briefing: A half day agenda to educate Channel Sales and Marketing on the opportunity in the Converged Market

Awareness of market opportunity and programme content

1. SolutionsPath Analyse

Look at current customer buying profile from AvnetIdentify prospect customers from profile identified from local IT database

Knowledge of existing customer profileAgreed profile of partner target market to identify new prospects

4. What is the SolutionsPath™ Programme?

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Avnet anticipated the rise in adoption of Converged Infrastructure and aligned our business to

help partners and their end-users realise the productivity and efficiency gains of Converged

Infrastructure deployments. Avnet continue to be at the forefront with NetApp and Cisco

• Avnet EMEA have a year long standing relationship with NetApp

• Avnet are the only distributor with integration and assembly distribution centre for FlexPod in

EMEA, based in Belgium.

• Highest standard certification engineers to configure and validate converged Infrastructure

solutions

• Insight to the broad converged infrastructure eco-system

• A proven channel enablement methodology called SolutionsPath™ to help partners accelerate

growth in key markets

Benefits of the FlexPod Partner Programme

• Avnet’s FlexPod Partner Programme offers a fast-track to FlexPod revenues, both

for partners who are new to this technology and those who have already ventured into this

market

• Avnet’s FlexPod frameworks and Partner Programme make this a simple, profitable

engagement - reducing the sales cycle by as much as 50% over non converged infrastructure

solutions

• Reduced cost of sale – faster time to market, uses variable cost workforces and high-value

consulting and integration

• A better process – no more rack and stack, repeatable high quality assembly and test

• Fewer profit leaks – via accurate scoping, no missed components and end-to-end testing

• Save time with single: source, quote, order and invoice – then ship complete

• Ensured accuracy as every FlexPod deployed has been designed, sized and built by Avnet’s

accredited specialists

• Avnet services minimise the risk of failure and missed components and accelerate delivery

• Avnet can help to extend the solution by leveraging FlexPod’s reach within the IT environment

to find further hardware and service opportunities

• Strong finance packages, including new lease options, from Avnet and NetApp remove any cost

based customer objections and will enable customers to buy at outset the solution they want

to grow into.

5. Avnet and NetApp, Cisco & Veeam investing in partners

As a global IT solutions distributor, Avnet Technology Solutions transforms technology into business solutions for customers around the world. It collaborates with customers and suppliers to create and deliver services, software and hardware solutions that address the changing needs of end-user customers. The group serves customers and suppliers in North America, Latin America and Caribbean, Asia Pacific, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. It generated US $11.0 billion in annual revenue for fiscal year 2014. Avnet Technology Solutions is an operating group of Avnet, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.ats.avnet.com.

© 2015 Avnet, Inc. All rights reserved. The Avnet Technology Solutions logo and SolutionsPath™ are registered trademarks and PayNow, CloudReady and Accelerating Your Success are trademarks of Avnet, Inc. All other products, brands and names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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