Avocent Corporation Earns Five-Star Rating from CMPs VARBusiness Magazine

Media Contacts:
Avocent Corporation
Marianne Higgins, APR
256-217-1221
marianne.higgins@avocent.com

MRB Public Relations
Mike Becce
(732) 758-1175
mbecce@mrb-pr.com

Avocent Corporation Earns Five-Star Rating
from CMP’s VARBusiness Magazine

Lauded by Leading Technology Publication for Partner Programs

Huntsville, AL, March 21, 2005 — Avocent Corporation, (NASDAQ: AVCT) today was recognized by CMP Media’s VARBusiness magazine as one of North America’s top information-technology (IT) vendors in terms of the breadth and depth of channel-partner programs it presents to solution providers that sell its products to end users. The Avocent Take Command partner program received a Five-Star Rating, acknowledging the robust features of its programs for IT integrators, resellers and consultants.

Of the 287 vendor program entries reviewed this year, one-third of them from 85 different vendors received the coveted five-star rating in the magazine’s 11th annual Partner Programs Guide survey. The guide appears in the March 21, 2005, issue of VARBusiness.

“We applaud vendors like Avocent for their overall channel commitment and channel innovation,” says VARBusiness Publisher Robert C. DeMarzo.

“To receive this recognition for a fourth year in a row from VARBusiness is an incredible honor, which reflects directly on the superior IT resellers that have chosen to partner with Avocent,” said Dudley DeVore, senior vice president of branded markets, Americas. “Our Avocent Take Command program offers extensive opportunities for resellers to grow their business by selling the most complete solution for IT infrastructure control available today. We welcome resellers looking for new opportunity to take a closer look at the excellent programs, promotions and support Avocent can provide.”

About VARBusiness Magazine
For the past 18 years, VARBusiness’ strategic resources have been the gateway to the solution-provider community. VARBusiness provides unique strategic business and technology insight for solution providers through industry-defining research, in-depth editorial, channel events and innovative Web services, enabling these IT professionals to make educated decisions for their businesses, partnerships and customers. VARBusiness has been the recipient of numerous industry awards for both editorial content and design. Additional information about VARBusiness products, events and services, is available on the magazine’s Web site at www.varbusiness.com.

About Avocent Corporation
Avocent Corporation is the leading supplier of connectivity solutions for enterprise data centers, service providers and financial institutions worldwide. Branded products include KVM switching, extension, intelligent platform management interface (IPMI), remote access, wireless and video display solutions. Additional information is available at: www.avocent.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that are forward-looking statements as defined within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements regarding market opportunity, product development, engineering and design activities, and product availability and operability. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including the risks associated with the introduction and operation of a new product, risks associated with product design efforts, risks associated with reliance on a limited number of component suppliers and single source components, and risks related to OEM sales. Other factors that could cause operating and financial results to differ are described in the Avocent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Avocent, the Avocent logo and Take Command are registered trademarks of Avocent Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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