The acquisition expands Avnet’s line card, adding training authorization for some vendors who they already carried. It also will strengthen them in new solution areas, and in the government space.
Mike Hurst, senior vice president, Avnet Global Services
Distributor Avnet has announced the acquisition of an Ottawa-headquartered enterprise-focused IT trainer which caters to both the Canadian and American markets. ExitCertified was founded in 2001, and generated revenue of approximately US $24 million in the fiscal year ending in June. It will be integrated into the Education Solutions group within Avnet Technology Solutions’ Global Services business.
Avnet already had a strong education solutions component, but this acquisition strengthens it in several ways, said Mike Hurst, senior vice president, Avnet Global Services.
“Training is an integral part of our solutions strategy, and this acquisition helps us scale it more rapidly,” Hurst said. “Here specifically in North America, it nearly doubles the resources we have for training and education.”
ExitCertified also helps Avnet expand their line card.
“They have training authorizations around some existing Avnet partnerships such as Oracle, Brocade, SAP and Veritas which will now make us a certified trainer for them,” Hurst said. “It also expands our training capacity around new solutions in Big Data, cloud, converged, security and hyperconverged.”
Hurst indicated that while ExitCertified and Avnet’s customer bases are somewhat similar, since both revolve around enterprise IT, the acquisition will strengthen Avnet in the government space.
“They have a unique and large presence in the government sector that we will leverage our solutions around government around,” he stated.
Like many successful Canadian companies, most of ExitCertified’s business is American
“They have a very large percentage of business in the U.S.,” Hurst said. “They offer a wide range of modalities. They have training centres across the U.S. and Canada that have on-site and instructor-led training, but they now reach a much broader audience virtually, which is ever more important these days. The training industry, like much of the industry, is being changed by consumerization, which here impacts how you reach individuals that need to be trained. They address this with connected classrooms and virtual capabilities and potential training-as-a-service. Their MVP/iMVP virtual training platform is very strong, and gives us a training platform we can provide downstream.”
Hurst added that in addition to their capabilities and leadership talent, ExitCertified has a very strong reputation in the industry.
“They are widely seen as a high-integrity organization,” he said.
