NURTURING PARTNERS and positioning them for success is a “”huge part”” of what specialty distributor Exclusive Networks does, according to Alex York-Wright (pictured), director of vendor business development, who points to programs that “”help partners go from VAR to MSP to MSSP.””
Founded in 2003 with global headquarters in France, Exclusive Networks focuses exclusively on cybersecurity and cloud computing, with a small line card anchored by Fortinet plus complementary solutions.
“”We have a very strong portfolio, with Fortinet as our lead,”” York-Wright says. “”They have a great number of what they call ‘fabric ready’ partners, so there’s known integrations with them.””
Exclusive Networks ships to more than 185 countries and as of March was working with over 13,000 resellers of all sizes, including MSPs, MSSPs, telcos, and systems integrators, to which it offers dedicated, one-to-one support for every account. “”Irrespective of your annual revenue, or what your … business profile looks like, you still get the same dedicated resources and access to all of our bespoke training,”” York-Wright stresses.
Partners can also leverage global professional services, as well as white-labeled engineers. “”We invest in engineers,”” she says. “”A lot of times in SMB, there’s a gap in the market for skills. [Partners] can leverage all of our engineers for their opportunities, their conversations with their customers, and we can help plug the gaps for them.””
Exclusive Networks runs demos in its labs in San Jose, Calif., and Miami to help partners “”see how [a product] actually works in the field,”” York-Wright notes, adding that Exclusive Networks was the first distributor to have Fortinet solutions and Gigamon network analytics software running in the same environment.
“”We like to innovate and disrupt at scale,”” York-Wright says. “”We like to be ahead of the curve. We like to create programs that make partners relevant and current with their customer audience.””