Specialism: Cybersecurity
Key vendors: Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Mimecast, Infoblox, Rubrik, SentinelOne, Thales, Netskope, Gigamon, Forescout
UK revenue: £591.1m (+7%)
UK headcount: 290
The UK arm of this Paris-based cybersecurity VAD clocked up another year of growth in calendar 2023, as revenues hiked 7% to £591m.
Adding in the contribution of 2020 and 2021 acquisitions Nuaware and Ignition (the latter of which we have profiled separately), Exclusive is a £720m-plus revenue business in the UK.
Exclusive earlier this month added NetApp to its UK&I linecard, amid a major push into the data management and cyber resilience space, UK&I MD Rob Tomlin told IT Channel Oxygen.
Globally, Exclusive posted gross sales of €1.33bn in its recently announced Q3 results.
Despite listing on the Euronext Paris just three years ago, the Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks and Rubrik ally was this summer tapped up by a group of investors who want to take it private again.
“I would love to go back in time and spend a week in VADition and Arc”
Q&A With UK&I MD Rob Tomlin
Which product, service or vendor has stood out for you in 2024?
Our onvoice and payment solution (XPS) – it’s our answer to the CFO’s hesitation.
If you could change one thing about your business at the stroke of a wand, what would it be?
That the channel shares the same beliefs around the importance of office working. When we’re together, we’re at our best.
When will the UK distribution market return to growth?
We’re building towards a strong 2024. Our relentless focus on cybersecurity and delivering tangible value for our vendors and partners is what drives us every day.
Name one area of your business where you are expecting to add staff in 2025
Where we can make our difference, when our people are involved good things happen. People delivering technical services, identifying new customer opportunities and ensuring our vendors and partners receive an exceptional experience.
At its Channel Forums EMEA in October, Canalys characterised AWS Marketplace as one of the world’s largest distributors, owing to its growing third-party software business. On balance, do you agree?
I wouldn’t say they are the biggest distributor, but certainly the biggest enabler of software consumption.
If you could undertake a secret, two-week apprenticeship at another distributor to see how they roll, which would you choose?
I would love to go back in time and spend a week in VADition and Arc to see where the culture of Exclusive was born from.
See who made the wider Oxygen 50 Must-Know IT Distributors 2024 here.
