Exclusive Networks is launching its subscription platform X-OD which aims to turn any distributed product or service into a flexibly-billed operation. It is starting in the UK, France and the Netherlands, and with Exclusive Networks vendors Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint and Google Cloud’s Chronicle.
New CEO Jesper Trolle says he expects this to help lift Exclusive’s current 15%-20% delivered by subscription to over half in the next two years. It will offer to buy products from vendors to be delivered as a service and with revenue-based returns, so financing the deal.
He emphasised that this is not a “marketplace” but a replacement platform designed to take multiple ‘content’ feeds (i.e. vendor’s hardware, and software applications) from multiple providers, integrated with the service provider’s/resellers’ added value services or third-party products at point of consumption. It aims to be delivered as an unified, simplified, blended product/service/price/proposition, and with multitudes of subscription choices, and with the partner’s own services, as a “white-box” solution.
The distributor will roll it out across its geographies, Germany being on a priority list, and with discussions ongoing with all its vendors.
Asked about the reasons for doing it now , he said that the company had actually been expanding in 2020, increasing headcount by some 15%, and with business growing. The move to the revenue model was in response to demands from end-user customers looking for flexibility in IT buying models. And it would support the growth in apps, where he estimated that the current 100k available would quickly rise to over a half million, mainly delivered using a SaaS model.
