The following are certain risk factors that could affect our business, financial position and results of operations. These risks should be considered in connection with evaluating the forward looking statements contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K because these factors could cause the actual results and conditions to differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements. There also are other risks that we may not describe, generally because we currently do not perceive them to be material, which could impact us. If any of these risks develops into actual events, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be negatively affected, the market price of our common stock could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment in our common stock. We expressly disclaim any obligation to update or revise any risk factors, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Global economic instability – Current world-wide economic conditions and market disruptions may adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Financial markets throughout the world could continue to experience extreme disruption, including, among other things, severely diminished liquidity and credit availability, rating downgrades of certain investments and declining valuations and pricing volatility of others, volatile energy costs, geopolitical issues and failure and potential failures of major financial institutions. These continuing developments and the related general economic downturn may adversely impact our business and financial condition in a number of ways. The slowdown could lead to reduced information technology spending by end users, which could adversely affect our sales. The global economic downturn and instability may also result in changes in vendor terms and conditions, such as rebates, cash discounts and cooperative marketing efforts, which may result in downward pressure on our gross margins. The tightening of credit in financial markets and the general economic downturn may adversely affect the ability of our reseller customers, vendors and service providers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations and to perform their obligations under our agreements with them. This could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and services, could negatively impact our ability to collect our accounts receivable on a timely basis, could result in additional reserves for uncollectible accounts receivable being required, and could lead to elevated levels of obsolete inventory. Deterioration in the financial and credit market heightens the risk of customer bankruptcies and delay in payment. Significant volatility and fluctuations in the rates of exchange for the U.S. dollar against currencies such as the Euro, could also negatively impact our customer pricing and operating results.

We continue to be unable to predict the duration and severity of the current economic downturn and disruption in financial markets or their effects on our business and results of operations.

People – If we cannot continue to hire and retain high quality employees, our business and financial results may be negatively affected.

Our operating results could be adversely affected by increased competition for employees, higher employee turnover, or increased salary and benefit costs. Like most businesses, our employees are important to our success and we are dependent in part on our ability to retain the services of our key management, sales, IT, operational, finance and administrative personnel. We have built our business on a set of core values and we attempt to hire employees who are committed to these values. We want employees who will fit our culture of providing

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exceptional service to our vendors and customers. In order to compete and to continue to grow, we must attract, retain, and motivate employees, including those in executive, senior management, sales, marketing, logistics, technical support and other operating positions.

Many of our employees work in small teams to provide specific services to vendors and customers. They are trained to develop their knowledge of vendor products, programs and practices, and customer business needs, as well as to enhance the skills required to provide exceptional service and to manage our business. As they gain experience and develop their knowledge and skills, our employees become highly desired by other businesses. Therefore, to retain our employees, we have to provide a satisfying work environment and competitive compensation and benefits. If our costs to retain our skilled employees increase, then our business and financial results may be negatively affected.

Our continued growth is also dependent, in part, on the skills, experience and efforts of our senior management, including but not limited to, Michael Baur, our Chief Executive Officer. We may not be successful in retaining the members of our senior management team or our other key employees. While we have entered into employment agreements with key executives and have obtained a key person life insurance policy on our CEO’s life, the loss of the services of Mr. Baur or any member of our senior management team could also have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Vendor relationships – Terminations of a distribution or services agreement or a significant change in supplier terms, authorizations, or lack of product availability, or conditions of sale could negatively affect our operating margins, revenue or the level of capital required to fund our operations.

A significant percentage of our net sales relates to products sold to us by relatively few vendors. As a result of such concentration risk, terminations of supply or services agreements or a significant change in terms or conditions of sale from one or more of our more significant vendors could negatively affect our operating margins, revenues or the level of capital required to fund our operations. Our vendors have the ability to make significantly adverse changes in their sales terms and conditions, such as reducing the level of purchase discounts and rebates they make available to us. We have no guaranteed price or delivery agreements with our significant vendors. In certain product categories, limited price protection or return rights offered by our vendors may have a bearing on the amount of product we may be willing to stock. Our inability to pass through to our reseller customers the impact of these changes, as well as our failure to develop systems to manage ongoing vendor programs, could cause us to record inventory write-downs or other losses and could have significant negative impact on our gross margins.

We receive purchase discounts and rebates from some vendors based on various factors, including goals for quantitative and qualitative sales or purchase volume and customer related metrics. Certain purchase discounts and rebates may affect gross margins. Many purchase discounts from vendors are based on percentage increases in sales of products. Our operating results could be negatively impacted if these rebates or discounts are reduced or eliminated or if our vendors significantly increase the complexity of process and costs for us to receive such rebates.

Our ability to obtain particular products or product lines in the required quantities and to fulfill customer orders on a timely basis is critical to our success. Our manufacturers have experienced product supply shortages from time to time due to the inability of certain suppliers to supply certain products on a timely basis. As a result, we have experienced, and may in the future continue to experience, short-term shortages of specific products. In addition, vendors who currently distribute their products through us may decide to shift to or substantially increase their existing distribution, through other distributors, their own dealer networks, or directly to resellers or end-users. Suppliers have, from time to time, made efforts to reduce the number of distributors with which they do business. This could result in more intense competition as distributors strive to secure distribution rights with these vendors, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results. If vendors are not able to provide us with an adequate supply of products to fulfill our customer orders on a timely basis or we cannot otherwise obtain particular products or a product line or vendors substantially increase their existing distribution through other distributors, their own dealer networks, or directly to resellers, our reputation, sales and profitability may suffer.

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Customer relationships – We operate in a highly competitive environment and good customer relations are critical to our success. There can be no assurance that we will be able to retain and expand our customer relationships or acquire new customers.

Meeting our customers’ needs quickly and fairly is critical to our business success. Our transactions with our customers are generally performed on a purchase order basis rather than under long term supply agreements. Our customers generally do not have an obligation to purchase from us. Therefore, our customers can readily switch vendors. From time to time, we experience shortages in availability of some products from vendors, and this impacts our customers’ decisions regarding whether to make purchases from us. Anything that negatively impacts our customer relations also can negatively impact our operating results. Accordingly, our sales can vary as a result of fluctuations in pricing, product availability, and general competitive and economic conditions.

Centralized functions – We have centralized a number of functions to provide efficient support to our business. As a result, a loss or reduction of use of one of our locations could have an adverse effect on our business operations and financial results.

In order to be as efficient as possible, we centralize a number of critical functions. For instance, we currently distribute products in North America from a single warehouse near Memphis, Tennessee (with corresponding arrangements for our Latin American and European markets). Similarly, we utilize a single information system based in Greenville, South Carolina. While we have backup systems and business continuity plans, any significant or lengthy interruption of our ability to provide these centralized functions could significantly impair our ability to continue normal business operations. In addition, the centralization of these functions increases our exposure to local risks, such as the availability of qualified employees and the lessening of competition for critical services, such as freight and communications.

Although we have business interruption insurance, not all losses are covered, and an uninsured loss from electrical or telephone failure, fire or other casualty, or other disruption could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. In addition, there are limits on all of our insurance coverage, and it is possible that losses might exceed that coverage.

Systems – Our ability to manage our business and monitor results is highly dependent upon information and communication systems. A failure of these systems could disrupt our business.

We are highly dependent upon a variety of internal computer and telecommunication systems to operate our business. Our customers rely increasingly on our electronic ordering and information systems as a source for product information, including availability and pricing. There can be no assurance that our systems will not fail or experience disruptions, and any significant failure or disruption of these systems could prevent us from making sales, ordering and delivering products and otherwise conducting our business. Many of our customers use our website to check real-time product availability, see their customized pricing and to place orders. The Internet and individual websites have experienced a number of disruptions and slowdowns. In addition, some websites have experienced security breakdowns. While our website has not experienced any material disruptions or security breakdowns, any disruptions or breaches in security or a breach that compromises sensitive information could harm our relationship with our vendors, customers and other business partners. Any material disruption of our website or the Internet in general could impair our order processing or prevent our vendors and customers from accessing information and cause us to lose business.

In order to continue support of our growth, we plan to make significant technological upgrades to our information systems. This can be a lengthy and expensive process that may result in a significant diversion of resources from other operations. In addition, the information systems of companies we acquire may not be sufficient to meet our standards or we may not be able to successfully convert them to provide acceptable information on a timely and cost-effective basis. In addition, we must attract and retain qualified people to operate our systems, expand and improve them, integrate new programs effectively with our existing programs,

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and convert to new systems efficiently when required. Any disruption to our business due to such issues, or an increase in our costs to cover these issues that is greater than what we have anticipated, could have an adverse affect on our financial results and operations.

In addition, the information systems of companies we acquire may not be sufficient to meet our standards or we may not be able to successfully convert them to provide acceptable information on a timely and cost-effective basis. In addition, we must attract and retain qualified people to operate our systems, expand and improve them, integrate new programs effectively with our existing programs, and convert to new systems efficiently when required.

International operations – Our international operations expose us to risks that are different from, or possibly greater than, the risks we are exposed to domestically.

We currently have facilities in seven countries outside the United States and sell products in a number of others. A significant portion of our revenue is derived from our international operations. These operations are subject to a variety of risks that either are in addition to the risks that we face domestically or are similar risks but with potentially greater exposure. These risks include:

Because we have operations in Canada, Mexico and Europe, we are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates. Exchange rate fluctuations may cause our international results to fluctuate significantly when reflected in U.S. Dollar terms. We manage our exposure to fluctuations in the value of currencies using various derivative instruments. However, we may not be able to mitigate all foreign currency related risk.

In addition, in foreign markets we are more dependent upon third party providers of key services, such as third party freight forwarders and third party warehouses. Adverse changes in any of these third party services could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. As we expand our international operations, we expect these risks to increase.

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In addition, the value of our equity investment in foreign countries, such as our purchase of Algol Europe, GmbH in 2009, may fluctuate based on changes in foreign currency exchange rates. These fluctuations may result in losses in the event a foreign subsidiary is sold or closed at a time when the foreign currency is weaker than when we initially invested.

Credit exposure – We have credit exposure to our reseller customers. Any adverse trends in their businesses could cause us to suffer credit losses.

We have credit exposure to our reseller customers and negative trends in their businesses could increase our credit risk. As is customary in our industry, we extend credit to our reseller customers and most of our sales are on open accounts. We may be unable to collect on receivables if our reseller customers experience decreases in demand for their products and services, do not manage their businesses adequately, or otherwise become less able to pay due to adverse economic conditions. As we grow and compete for business, our typical payment terms tend to be longer, and therefore may increase our credit risk.

While we evaluate resellers’ qualifications for credit and monitor our extensions of credit, these efforts cannot prevent all credit losses, and credit losses in excess of historical levels would negatively impact our performance. In addition, for financial reporting purposes we estimate future credit losses and establish an appropriate reserve. To the extent that our credit losses exceed those reserves, our financial performance will be negatively impacted. During the past 12 months our operating expenses increased as a result of bad debt expense that we recognized primarily from a single customer. There is no guarantee that our operating expenses will not increase as a result of the recognition of bad debt expense from our reseller customers.

Terrorist or military operations – Future terrorist or military operations could result in a disruption of our operation or loss of assets in certain markets.

Future terrorist or military actions, in the United States or abroad, could result in destruction or seizure of assets or suspension or disruption of our operations. Additionally, such actions could affect the operations of our suppliers or customers, resulting in loss of access to products, potential losses on supplier programs, loss of business, higher losses on receivables or inventory, and/or other disruptions in our business, which could negatively affect our operating results. We do not carry broad insurance covering such terrorist or military actions, and even if we were to seek such coverage, the cost would likely be prohibitive.

Narrow profit margins – Our narrow margins significantly impact our operating results.

Our industry is highly competitive and characterized by narrow gross and operating margins. As a result, we have significant price competition that results in narrow gross profit and operating profit margins. Because these margins are narrow, fluctuations in sales can have a significant impact on our overall operating results.

Competition – We experience intense competition in all of our markets. Such competition could result in reduced margins and loss of our market share.

The markets that we operate in are highly competitive. We compete on the basis of price, product availability, speed and accuracy of delivery, effectiveness of sales and marketing programs, credit availability, ability to tailor solutions to the needs of our customers, quality and breadth of product line and services, and availability of technical and product information. Our competitors include regional and national wholesale distributors as well as hardware manufacturers (including most of our vendors) that sell directly to resellers and to end users. In addition, we compete with master resellers that sell to franchisees, third party dealers and end-users. Certain of our current and potential competitors have greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we have and may be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements. Certain smaller, regional competitors, who are specialty two-tier or mixed model master resellers, may also be able to respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and changes in

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customer requirements. Competition has increased for our sales units as broad line and other value-added distributors have entered into the specialty technology markets. Such competition could result in price reductions, reduced margins and loss of our market share. As a result of intense price competition in our industry, our gross margins and our operating profit margins have historically been narrow and we expect them to be narrow in the future. To remain competitive we may be forced to offer more credit or extended payment terms to our customers. This could result in an increase in our need for capital, increase our financing costs, increase our bad debt expenses and have a negative impact on our financial results.

Growth strategies – If we fail to effectively manage and implement our organic growth strategies, we may experience a negative effect on our business and financial results.

A significant component of our growth strategy has been to add new vendors and products, and we expect to be able to enter new product markets in the future. Expansion of our existing product markets and entry into new product markets divert the use of our resources and systems, require additional resources that might not be available (or available on acceptable terms), result in new or more intense competition, may require longer implementation times or greater start-up expenditures than anticipated, and may otherwise fail to achieve the desired results in a timely fashion, if at all. In addition, while we have been very successful in adding new vendors in the past, we already represent most of the significant vendors in our primary areas of focus, and there is regular consolidation among our vendors. As a result, there may be fewer expansion opportunities of this nature in the future. If we are unable to increase our sales and earnings by expanding our product offerings in a cost effective manner, then our revenues may not grow.

Our ability to successfully manage our growth will require continued enhancement of our operational, managerial, and financial resources and controls. Our failure to effectively manage our growth could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Additionally, our growth may increase our working capital requirements and as a result, we may require additional equity or debt financing. Such financing may not be available on terms that are favorable to us, if at all.

Acquisitions – Our growth strategy includes potential acquisitions of companies that complement or expand or existing business. Acquisitions involve a number of risks and uncertainties.

We have and expect to continue to acquire companies that complement or expand our business in the United States or internationally. Acquisitions may involve significant risks and uncertainties including distraction of management’s attention away from normal business operations; sufficient revenue generation to offset liabilities assumed and expenses associated with the acquisition; difficulty in the integration of acquired businesses, including new employees, business systems and technology; inability to adapt to challenges of new markets, including geographies, products and services, or to attract new sources of profitable business from expansion of products or services; exposure to new regulations; and issues not discovered in our due diligence process. Our operations may be adversely impacted by an acquisition that (i) is not suited for us, (ii) is improperly executed, or (iii) substantially increases our debt. Any of these factors could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition.

Inventory – The value of our inventory may be adversely affected by market and other factors.

Our business, like that of other distributors, is subject to the risk that the value of our inventory will be adversely affected by price reductions by manufacturers or by technological changes affecting the usefulness or desirability of our products. Under the terms of most of our vendor agreements and the policy of most manufacturers of specialty technology products, we have some price protection and stock rotation opportunities with respect to slow moving or obsolete inventory items. However, these protections are limited in scope and do not protect against all declines in inventory value, excess inventory, or product obsolescence, and in some instances we may not be able to fulfill all necessary conditions or successfully manage such price protection or stock rotation opportunities. In addition, these industry practices are sometimes not reflected in vendor

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agreements and their application in a particular situation is dependent upon negotiations between our vendors and us. As a result, from time-to-time we are required to write down the value of excess and obsolete inventory, and should any of these write-downs occur at a significant level, they could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Should the current economic downturn persist, it is possible that prices may decline due to an oversupply of product, and therefore, there may be a greater risk of declines in inventory value. In addition, our vendors may become insolvent and unable to fulfill their product obligations to us. Significant declines in inventory value in excess of established inventory reserves or dramatic changes in prevailing technologies could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Laws and regulations – Changes in tax laws, and other laws and regulations may adversely impact us.

We are subject to a wide range of local, state and federal laws and regulations both in the United States and in the other countries in which we operate. While we plan our operations based upon existing and anticipated laws and regulations, we cannot anticipate every change and can have only little, if any, impact on others. We are particularly susceptible to changes in income and other tax laws, laws regulating international trade, and accounting and securities disclosure laws and regulations. To a lesser degree, changes in environmental regulation, including electronic waste recovery legislation, may impact us. In each case, a change in the laws or regulations that we are required to comply with could have an adverse impact on our business operations or financial results.

Accounting rules – Changes in accounting rules or standards could have a significant adverse affect on our reported earnings.

Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. These principles are subject to interpretations by various governing bodies including the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the Public Accounting Oversight Board, the SEC and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These governing bodies create and interpret appropriate accounting standards. Future periodic assessments required by current or new accounting standards may result in additional non-cash charges and/or changes in presentation or disclosure. A change from current accounting standards could have a significant adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.

Quarterly fluctuations – Our net sales and operating results are dependent on a number of factors. Our net sales may fluctuate from quarter to quarter and these fluctuations may cause volatility in our stock price.

Our net sales and operating results may fluctuate quarterly as a result of changes in demand for our products and services, the introduction of new technology, actions by our competitors, changes in vendors’ prices or price protection policies, changes in vendors’ business practices or strategies, changes in freight rates, the timing of the addition of operating expenses to support our growth, the timing of major marketing or other service projects, product supply shortages, changes in product mix, and the general economic factors referenced above. In addition, a substantial portion of our net sales in each quarter results from orders booked in that quarter, which are difficult to accurately forecast in advance. As a result, our performance in one period may vary significantly from our performance in the preceding quarter, and may differ significantly from our forecast of performance from quarter to quarter. The impact of these variances may cause volatility in our stock price.

Third-party freight carriers – We are dependent on third-parties for the delivery of a majority of our products. Changes in shipping terms or the failure or inability of our third-party shippers to perform could have an adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

We are dependent upon major shipping companies, including Federal Express and United Parcel Service, for the shipment of our products to and from our centralized warehouses. Changes in shipping terms, or the

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inability of these third-party shippers to perform effectively (whether as a result of mechanical failure, casualty loss, labor stoppage, or any other reason), could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. From time to time, we have experienced significant increases in shipping costs due to increases in fuel costs. If our shipping costs increase, it may adversely affect our financial results if we are unable to pass on these higher costs to our customers.

Litigation – We routinely are involved in litigation that can be costly and lead to adverse results.

In the ordinary course of our business, we are involved in a wide range of disputes, some of which result in litigation. In addition, as a public company with a large shareholder base, we are susceptible to class-action and other litigation resulting from disclosures that we make and our other activities. Litigation is expensive to bring and defend, and the outcome of litigation can be adverse and significant. Not all adverse outcomes can be anticipated, and applicable accounting rules do not always require or permit the establishment of a reserve until a final result has occurred or becomes probable and estimable. In some instances we are insured for the potential losses; in other instances we are not. An uninsured adverse outcome in significant litigation could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Liquidity and capital resources – Market factors may increase the cost and availability of capital. Additional capital may not be available to us on acceptable terms to fund our working capital needs and growth.

Our business requires significant levels of capital to finance accounts receivable and product inventory that is not financed by trade creditors. We have an increased demand for capital when our business is expanding, including through acquisitions. Changes in payment terms with either suppliers or customers could increase our capital requirements. We have historically relied upon cash generated from operations, borrowings under our revolving credit facility, secured and unsecured borrowings, and, to a lesser extent, borrowings under a subsidiary’s line of credit to satisfy our capital needs and to finance growth. While we believe that our existing sources of liquidity will provide sufficient resources to meet our current working capital and cash requirements, if we require capital to meet our future business needs, such capital may not be available to us on terms acceptable to us, or at all. Changes in how lenders rate our credit worthiness, as well as macroeconomic factors such as the current economic downturn and global economic instability may restrict our ability to raise capital in adequate amounts or on terms acceptable to us, and the failure to do so could harm our ability to operate our business.

In addition, our cash and cash equivalents are deposited with various financial institutions located in the various countries in which we operate. We endeavor to monitor these financial institutions regularly for credit quality; however, we are exposed to risk of loss on such funds or we may experience significant disruptions in our liquidity needs if one or more of these financial institutions were to suffer bankruptcy or similar restructuring.