Exinda launches first channel program

Australian network traffic management appliance provider Exinda Networks has rolled out its first formal global channel program following year-on-year growth rates of between 250 and 300 percent.

The Melbourne-headquartered company – which has partners in the US and UK – manufactures “Optimiser”, an appliance that lets network administrators allocate priority to critical network applications and fix things that slow down a network.

The four-year old company had been in “sales mode” since 2003. It had sold 1000 units of Optimiser worldwide and was adding 50 to 60 units per month globally, of which half were being sold in Australia, said Con Nikolouzakis, executive director at Exinda.

The Global Partner Program groups resellers and service providers into “Authorised Partner” and “Premium Partner” categories.

Authorised status is achieved when a partner undertakes technical and sales training and buys "not for resale" demonstration equipment. There is no revenue target required for this status.

“Authorised partners are typically people that have a commitment to promoting our technology over other brand. They wouldn’t have a competitive brand,” said Nikolouzakis.

They would also be involved in joint marketing initiatives with the vendor and have named contacts within the Exinda organisation, he said.

Market development funds (MDF) would be considered on a case-by-case basis and often issued through its distributors Firewall Systems and TechPlus. Authorised partners needed to have one technical and one sales person.

Premium partners were required to hit annual sales targets. While this target was not a “fixed figure”, Nikolouzakis indicated the figure would be “north of $100,000” in Exinda sales per annum.

It the US, it would be upwards of US$300,000 per annum.

“We aspire to have two to three premium partners in the region,” he said, adding that the company was already working with one telecommunications service provider with premium status.

Premium partners were also required to work on business and marketing plans for Exinda sales. They would need two trained “network associates”, one optimisation specialist and at least three sales staff.

Exinda would provide dedicated account managers at premium partners’ locations. These managers would provide partners with pre-sales and product training.

In June, Exinda signed Optimizedwan.com, IPtimize and Webspy in the United States and IT Channel Group of Canada to resell its equipment.

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