Avnet Marks 50^th Anniversary of Incorporation

Celebration includes opening a technology museum, publishing a book, honoring 50 longest-serving employees, and visit by Hollywood producer Jon Avnet, grandson of company founder

The museum prior to ribbon cutting	Chairman and CEO Roy Vallee, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Producer/Director Jon Avnet

Avnet, Inc. marks its 50^th Anniversary as an incorporated company with a grand opening of the Avnet Technology Museum at our Phoenix corporate headquarters on Friday, July 22, 2005. The mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon, members of the Avnet family, including movie producer/director Jon Avnet, and Avnet's current Chairman and CEO, Roy Vallee, will officially open the Avnet Technology Museum with its more than 1,000 feet of display area. The museum is housed next to the lobby of Avnet's corporate headquarters in Phoenix and will showcase over 100 consumer and technology products including guitars, turntables, test equipment and computers. The displays span 84 years of innovation and also include a number of historic documents and photographs related to the technology industry, and memorabilia from Avnet and other key firms that have played important roles in the evolution of the electronics industry.

In addition to the museum, Avnet is celebrating this milestone with the publication of Avnet: 50 Years of Making History, a glossy, 150-page hardcover book tracing the history of electrical and electronic technology and Avnet's evolving industry role and some of its notable accomplishments. Avnet has also produced a 10-minute video celebrating its history and told from the perspectives of Vallee and his predecessors. We also have additional photos from the grand opening of the museum.

Also, for those of you who can't make it out to Phoenix to view our museum, you can now visit the next best thing. We have built a detailed, 3-D recreation of our museum in the on-line world of Second Life. If you do not have an account already, it is free to sign up. You can find us there by searching for "Avnet" on the map found within Second Life, or by direct link which will launch the Second Life client if you already have it installed.

Not sure about installing Second life but still curious about what the museum looks like? You can view several teaser photos of the museum via the online photo sharing service flickr (one of which you can see to the right).

For more information on this event please read our Press Release, and for more about Avnet's history please view our History pages at "http://www.avnet.com/history/".