Exclusive Networks has launched its infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offering to channel partners as the distributor steps up support for those looking to increase their cloud and licensing revenues.
The firm indicated last week, during its Festival event, that it was reacting to changes in the market that had seen licensing account for a third of its revenues and would be introducing a number of initiatives to support partners as a result.
The first is its IaaS offering, which has been designed to give resellers the chance to offer customers access to a consumption-based way of procuring hyper-converged infrastructure, based on Nutanix technology.
“We are trying to move more opportunity into the channel. This is the first of a few things in our as-a-service strategy,” said Graham Jones, regional director, UK&I, at Exclusive Networks.
He added that the distributor wanted to continue to evolve its offering for resellers and arm them with the tools to reach out to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and revealed that it had been making plans for the IaaS launch for the past six to nine months.
“SMEs especially lack the skills to navigate the complexity of public cloud services, and have zero appetite for their unpredictable volume-based costs. Public cloud also provides limited commercial incentive for partners. IaaS is different, providing simple access to a powerful platform on a fixed-cost basis, delivering far higher margins and great opportunities to expand the cloud journey,” said Jones.
“Public cloud provides limited commercial incentive for partners. IaaS is different, providing simple access to a powerful platform on a fixed-cost basis, delivering far higher margins and great opportunities to expand the cloud journey”
Graham Jones, Exclusive Networks
The distributor has invested time and money in IaaS and will be providing a partner programme with training, support, enablement and marketing resources.
Richard Foulkes, solutions consultant at Exclusive Networks UK, said it had designed its IaaS offering with security in mind to make it both easy and secure.
“It is based on a repeatable, easy-to-deliver pricing model,” he added, saying it provided predictability to both partners and customers. “When people start seeing it, they get it, and it’s an easier approach,” he added. “If I’m an SME, I can have it and pay for what I need.”
The distie will hold a Webex session later this week to talk partners through the experience.
Jones said resellers should view the IaaS offering as a chance to gain additional revenues because it was profitable to make it an add-on sale.
“You can buy it the old way...but you can also buy a product as a service,” he added. “Resellers can ask a customer about how they want to consume it.”
Exclusive Networks held a Festival last week to share its thoughts around the greater shift towards services. Jones said it had received some positive feedback from partners around the event.
“There have been no shows or exhibitions or vendor conferences, and we thought we had to do something. We have had some very good feedback and we tried to both lift the spirits and share some basics if they had got a bit rusty,” he said.
