Anixter International (NYSE: AXE) is a Fortune 500 (#404, Fortune 2009) company based in Glenview, Illinois, USA and founded in 1957. Anixter is a leading global supplier of communications and security products, electrical and electronic wire and cable, fasteners and other small components. Anixter has physical presence in 50 countries and has more than 5,000,000 square feet (460,000 m²) of warehouse space. In 2011, the company had $6,14 billion in revenue with a global presence that includes locations in 271 cities in 50 countries. The company operates with three major divisions:

(Aerospace Hardware, once considered the fourth division, was sold by Anixter in 2011 to Greenbriar Equity. [12]

In 1957, two brothers started a business with a $10,000 loan from their mother. They had an idea that would ultimately change the electrical wire and cable business. Until that time, distributors and wholesalers had to buy cable in bulk quantities directly from manufacturers. Lead times were long, quantities were fixed and flexibility was short. Those two brothers soon revolutionized the wire and cable business by having an inventory of cabling on hand.