Pano Logic™, a developer of a server-based desktop virtualization solution, today announced a distribution agreement with Avnet Technology Solutions, an operating group of Avnet, Inc. (NYSE: AVT). Under the agreement, Avnet will distribute the Pano Virtual Desktop Solution (VDS) to its value-added reseller partners in the U.S. and Canada, and provide delivery and installation support for partners through Avnet OneTech™ Services.

Pano VDS provides partners with a unique desktop virtualization product that enables the desktop to be managed virtually by a customer’s IT support team. Partners can pair Pano VDS with industry-leading servers, storage, software and services, also available through Avnet, to create complete end-to-end solutions to meet all of their customers’ virtual desktop infrastructure needs. Additionally, Avnet offers market education and enablement services through its dedicated virtualization practice – VirtualPath™ – to accelerate partner growth.

“The virtualized desktop is an exciting new growth opportunity for Avnet’s partner community,” said Tim FitzGerald, who leads the VirtualPath practice for Avnet Technology Solutions, Americas. “Pano Logic’s Virtual Desktop Solution enables our partners to draw upon their datacenter expertise to deploy, manage and support a complete desktop solution virtually. Avnet will assist our partners with resources and the complementary solution offerings needed to successfully target emerging portions of the virtualization market.”

Pano Logic’s desktop virtualization solution moves the Windows PC and all its software off the desktop and into the datacenter. By leveraging existing VMware server virtualization this approach dramatically extends VMware ROI and offers unique benefits that traditional desktops cannot, including a lower total cost of ownership, centralized management, increased security and disaster recovery. For end-users, Pano VDS requires no additional specialized skills or training beyond those required to install or manage existing virtualization platforms – enabling them to focus on solving unique desktop challenges without having to reinvent the virtual infrastructure. For partners, Pano VDS provides a strong and complementary offering to extend datacenter services including storage, servers and networking. Once deployed, Pano VDS makes it easy to install centralized Windows desktop architecture, enabling partners to be far more productive and scalable for their customers.

“Avnet’s commitment to providing partners with complete solutions and educating them on the intricacies of the virtualization market will significantly help extend our reach. As more companies turn to virtualization to eliminate the need to continually manage and replace expensive hardware such as servers and PCs, they will look for solutions that are proven to work well together and ideally be able to purchase them from a single vendor,” said Benjamin Baer, VP of marketing at Pano Logic. “With Avnet, we will simplify the purchase and deployment cycle, and also be able to extend support during and after implementation to ensure customer satisfaction.”

About Pano Virtual Desktop Solution

The Pano Virtual Desktop Solution includes the hardware clients and software components required to turn standard virtual infrastructure into a purpose-built virtual desktop solution. The key components of the solution are the:

• Pano Device – Designed by an award-winning industrial design firm, the Pano device is a zero client – no memory, no operating system, no drivers, no software and no moving parts. The Pano device connects keyboard, mouse, display, audio and USB peripherals over an existing IP network to an instance of Windows XP or Vista running on a virtualized server. Pano is power friendly, consuming only 3% of the energy consumed by a traditional desktop computer.
• Pano Manager – A centralized service and web-based management interface which enables administrators to manage the entire virtual desktop installation by integrating with existing directory services and virtual infrastructure managers.
• Pano Desktop Service – A lightweight service residing within each desktop virtual machine links peripherals attached to the Pano to the unmodified Windows drivers residing in the virtual machine. This design guarantees that all existing Windows drivers will work without modification.