Avnet Technology Solutions has swallowed Pepperweed Consulting, an HP Software Elite Partner Stateside.

This is the latest acquisition Avnet TS has made this year after snapping up enterprise distie Magirus and minnow solutions providers including Mattelli and Ascendant Tech.

IT enterprise management and integration firm Pepperweed works with 3,000 Fortune 500 clients and government agencies and turned over $12m in 2011, said Avnet.

"The acquisition of Pepperweed supports our strategic focus of expanding our services and software portfolio to help drive growth for both our supplier and reseller partners," said Jeff Bawol, Americas president of Avnet TS.

He said the deal will build on Avnet's vertical markets practices by adding software and services to ease HP resellers into flogging "complex and customised IT solutions" to government, healthcare, energy and financial organisations.

Avnet is bolstering its services portfolio through snapping up resellers to push these solutions.

The problem, says a source, is that other services-based resellers and integrators are doing the same thing and are potentially on a collision course with some of the larger wholesalers.

"Yet another managed service provider acquired to sell on such services," said a channel source. "Distributors are moving toward being managed services distribution resellers.

The terms of the Pepperweed acquisition were not disclosed. ®