Exclusive Networks opens up on partnership with Vodafone's 'incubation engine'

Distributor partners with Vodafone’s venture arm to bring new tech to market

Exclusive Networks is partnering with Vodafone venture Tomorrow Street to introduce new technologies to the latter's portfolio and the wider channel.

Tomorrow Street is a joint venture between the telecoms giant and the Luxembourg government and seeks to find disruptive startups to add to its portfolio.

Andy Travers, EVP worldwide sales and marketing at Exclusive Networks, told CRN that Tomorrow Street is an "incubation engine" for Vodafone and that the distie's role will be to help these small vendors "globalise quickly".

"We'll provide exposure for startup organisations into Tomorrow Street and we'll work with them to highlight, particularly in the cybersecurity and cloud transformation spaces, suitable technologies for them to bring into the Tomorrow Street portfolio," he said.

"Tomorrow Street has itself highlighted a number of technologies that it would like to introduce to the Vodafone go-to-market and by the fact that these companies are at the start of their growth journeys we are helping these companies globalise quickly; we are providing global services around implementation, support, professional services, maintenance and general distribution to help them globalise around the Vodafone footprint."

Travers was keen to add that the partnership will not preclude partners from availing of any new technologies that are discovered and that Exclusive will continue to share the disruptive technologies it finds with its channel community.

"The relationship will be Vodafone-centric, but through our continual evaluation and selection of new vendors we won't just be bringing them to Tomorrow Street," he explained.

"This specific agreement is around the journey into the Vodafone portfolio but clearly we will be evaluating products and services that have a wider reach and are appropriate for the wider channel."

Kenneth Graham, Tomorrow Street's CEO, added: "Exclusive Networks and Tomorrow Street have a shared goal to identify innovative startups and work with them to scale their businesses.

"Tomorrow Street's ecosystem, combined with Exclusive's reputation for innovation, go-to-market skills and global distribution channels, will be a huge advantage to help startups scale their tech across the globe."