Exclusive Networks Expands Vendor Lineup with NetApp, Druva

Exclusive Networks is eyeing opportunities beyond its core cybersecurity business with a couple of new data vendor signings.

UKI managing director Rob Tomlin joined Exclusive from Dell in March. He said the business he inherited was built on core vendors such as Palo Alto, Fortinet and latterly, Rubrik, SentinelOne and Mimecast. Now the distributor is extending that list this week with new deals with NetApp, Druva and Gigamon.

“My job has been to ready us for what’s next,” he said. “We took the business in the UK and Ireland to such a great position, and now it’s to really kick on and to take that experience out to more partners, more vendors.

“Exclusive has been very successful in the world of cyber resilience and data security for the past number of years," he continued. "The reality is that to do cybersecurity well, your data needs to be absolutely organised, and it needs to be secured, and you can’t take one without the other. So, when we looked at where our growth in the future is, the world of cybersecurity and cyber resilience and data security, they all interlock.”

Tomlin described NetApp as a “really big signing for us.”

He said: “They are the world’s most secure data management brand. They have native data management and then AWS and Azure, which means customers can move from traditional on prem storage to data management in the cloud or on prem. And the reality is, NetApp fits perfectly for our partners.”

Druva ‘Ticks All Boxes’

Exclusive is also extending its relationship with Druva. Previously distributing the vendor in ANZ and Southern Europe, Exclusive is opening that up to the rest of Europe and the UK.

“We like doing business with vendors … that are really relevant, that are really disruptive, that are easy to sell simple, give the partners a good margin return and are going to have a relatively quick sales cycle. Druva ticks all those boxes,” said Tomlin.

Also this week, Exclusive expanded an existing partnership with Gigamon, broadening channel coverage across EMEA, adding technical resources, and go-to-market support.

However, 2025 will see Excusive seek out more AI companies to add to its portfolio of vendors.

“There are so many vendors out there that are not in our portfolio that we don’t know who they are. There are so many startups coming out of that whole area, and those AI startups still need same things that most traditional vendors need," said Tomlin. "They need someone who's going to help them enable their channel, someone who's going to help them take them to market, monetize their business, and that’s where we will come in. Over the next few years, there are going to be number of unicorns that get created in the AI boom, and we’ll be well positioned, whether they are in perimeter security or data security or platform security.”

Value-Added Marketplaces vs. 'Burndown' Businesses

When asked about the growth of online marketplaces mounting a challenge to distribution, Tomlin believes there is a place in the market for both.

“We are embracing Microsoft and AWS. We have collaboration with both already. I think that if you look at what the marketplace-only distributors are doing, they’re obviously investing heavily to get to a level of relevance. The value of marketplace is something that we see as well. But at the moment, there are true value-added marketplace business, and then there's "burndown" business of customer commitments. And we’re trying to encourage true business development activities in the marketplace, with those hyperscalers. We’ve got a number of initiatives that we’re doing with our core vendors where we are their exclusive distributor, and they see benefit from it. There are ways of unlocking spend through the marketplace, which done correctly can add a lot of value to the customer and to our partners and obviously to our vendors. So, it potentially is a threat, but [if] it is done correctly, it’s more of an opportunity.”