Top 40 IT distributors you need to know: Part Three

Doug Woodburn
clock • 28 min read

The UK's top 40 IT distributors generated nearly £13bn revenues in their latest years, CRN research has found. Here we count down those ranked 10th to 1st...

"Our billing platform, X-OD, is doing extremely well"

7. Exclusive Networks

Revenues: £339m (+13%)

UK headcount: 210

Specialism: Security

Key vendors: Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Nutanix, Rubrik, Extreme Networks

UK HQ: Alton, Hampshire

This pan-global VAD owes its UK presence to the 2009 and 2011 acquisitions of Arc Technology and VADition.

Now present in over 50 countries, the Paris-based Fortinet and Palo Alto partner saw global revenues power up eight per cent to €2.6bn in its year to 31 December 2020.

Slightly dusty 2019 UK accounts show a revenue of £339m, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.

"Quickfire Q&A with UK country manager Graham Jones

What specialism is your firm known for, and what sets you apart from your peers?

Exclusive Networks is known as a true VAD, but with scale. Our vision is a totally trusted digital world for all people and organisations.  

What's the biggest misconception about distribution?

That "credit and shipping" is all we do! Support, value and a services-first ideology whilst getting the basics right is what Exclusive Networks prides itself on.

How would you summarise the health of the distribution sector in 2021?

Distributors that truly add value are in great health and growing, whilst others are having to look at their cost base.

What's been your biggest disappointment of the last year?

Distribution, more than any business, is people-centric, so not being able to get out and meet people has been the biggest disappointment.

At first glance, the rise of cloud must be pretty devastating for distributors if there is no physical product to ship. How have you adapted?

We launched X-OD, our billing platform, and IaaS, our data centre offering, in the last year, both of which are doing extremely well. Meanwhile, we have also just extended our warehouse.

Tell us one thing most people won't know about your company?

We operate a flat organisational structure for management as opposed to hierarchical, which makes us more agile and easy to do business with. Management is here to help, not to shout.

Which distributor is betting on Infoblox, Menlo and Crowdstrike as emerging vendors in 2021? Find out on next page...

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