Avnet floats into deal with Cumulus Networks

Distribution giant signs pan-European agreement to supply Linux OS for networks

Avnet has signed a partnership with Cumulus Networks in a move it claims will supply the industry's first full-featured Linux OS for networks.

As a result of the deal, Avnet will supply Cumulus Networks' datacentre network operating system software, Cumulus Linux, to its partner base.

The deal covers Austria, Benelux, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the UK and Ireland.

Dieter Lott, vice president of business development at Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA, said: "Our partnership with Cumulus Networks drives innovation in a huge growth market for resellers and managed service providers (MSPs), when many in the technology industry are scratching their heads about how to make software-defined networking a reality. Cumulus Networks is a good fit with VMware's NSX offering for network virtualisation and is complementary to our Red Hat open source portfolio."

Sudeep Goswami, senior director of corporate and channel sales at Cumulus Networks, said: "We selected Avnet for its expertise in datacentre solutions, its well-established pan-EMEA channel ecosystem, and its effectiveness in transforming technologies into business solutions for customers.

"Through Cumulus Linux, we are transforming networking by offering an effective alternative to proprietary, vendor-locked stacks that constrain IT innovation, and we look forward to progressing this change in EMEA through our relationship with Avnet."