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ARROW ELECTRONICS DEDICATED TO INCREASING IBM STORAGE SALES

The Support Net Division of Arrow Electronics Inc, one of the largest value-added distributors of IBM enterprise products and integration services, announced recently that it has increased the resources that are dedicated to driving sales of IBM storage products through the launch of an IBM-focused Storage Enablement Team, ArrowSET. "Our new ArrowSET program will take a much more proactive approach to customers' storage sales, getting involved with the customer early on in the planning and proposal stages rather than coming in at the close. This approach, used by the new team of IBM storage specialists, is geared towards significantly increasing customer close rates," said Eric Williams, executive vice president, Support Net Division.

The ArrowSET team will offer the following:

(1) Enablement: Training on IBM-branded storage products and solutions including competitive selling skills to help appropriately position IBM storage as the winning solution.

(2) Technical Support and Transaction Consulting: An extension of Support Net's popular Technical Advocate Program, this team has the capability to provide highly skilled storage focused technical resource throughout the sales cycle including solution architecture assistance, product positioning, deal structuring, and onsite end user consultation.

(3) IBM Liaison: By leveraging the ArrowSET team's deep knowledge of IBM programs and promotions, Business Partners will be able to fully navigate the IBM storage organization and close more business.

(4) Testing Facilities: Access to Arrow's Universal Enterprise Storage Labs for proof-of-concept testing, hands on training and Business Partner-hosted demonstrations.

(5) Strategic Planning Sessions: Invitations to plan with ArrowSET's dedicated IBM storage specialists, garnering advice on go to market strategies, marketing campaign planning, and opening new markets and geographies.

The new ArrowSET team will be dedicated to sales and support of IBM storage and will be located in the Support Net Division out of Indianapolis. They will primarily be focused on the Support Net Division's IBM reseller base, but will also work with Arrow's storage-specific division, Arrow Enterprise Storage Solutions (Chanhassen, MN), when its resellers have IBM storage opportunities.