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Watson IoT platform at center of Avnet-IBM alliance

By Lynn Haber

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Avnet Inc., this year's Ambassador-level sponsor of IBM's PartnerWorld Leadership Conference here Feb. 15 to 18, made two significant announcements with technology partner IBM.

One announcement addressed a joint partnership to develop and deploy Internet of Things (IoT) offerings built on IBM technology -- specifically the Watson IoT platform -- and the other is a security as a service (SaaS) offering for the public sector that will target Avnet Government Solutions partners.

The IoT announcement targets Avnet OEM partners and solution provider partners in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

According to the distributor, the collaboration is designed to help Avnet partners capitalize on the burgeoning IoT market, which Avnet reported is estimated to account for more than $921 billion in technology spending in 2016.

Together, IBM and Avnet will provide numerous resources to partners, including:

• IBM applications, such as Watson IoT platform, IBM Watson and IBM Cloud;
• IBM development platforms and kits that accelerate the ability to prototype IBM Bluemix-enabled IoT offerings;
• Proof-of-concept offerings;
• Avnet data center and cloud offerings based on IBM Watson IoT Platform, which provide analytics engines, asset management, data management tools, IoT platform as a service capabilities and security;
• Product design, integration and assembly support services; and
• Technical education and training on the IBM technologies via Avnet Academy.

Partners attending IBM Interconnect 2016 Feb. 21 to 25 in Las Vegas will be able to learn more about the Avnet and IBM IoT collaboration.

Avnet Government Solutions LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Avnet Inc., announced a new SaaS offering -- the latest member in a growing number of IBM security offerings that partners can leverage.

The newest SaaS offering addresses endpoints, such as laptops, workstations and servers, and the vulnerabilities they're prone to, such as malware, social engineering and phishing scams.

Avnet's other IBM security offerings, known as AGS SaaS Protect, include BigFix for endpoint protection, the QRadar security analytics platform and the Guardium data security platform. The offerings target federal, state, local and education government customers.