Exodus Shares The Wealth
by John Moore, Sm@rt Reseller
23 May 2000 - Exodus Communications wants to put more money in its partners' pockets.
The hosting company this week will announce a series of initiatives designed to drive business to its network of 700 partners, which includes networking giant Cisco Systems and integrator Andersen Consulting. The cornerstone of the partner push is an extranet that will maintain partner profiles and provide a means for channeling leads to and from the company's network.
Exodus officials believe there's plenty of work to go around.
Each of the company's 22 Internet data centers represents a US$2 billion-plus economy, in which data-center customers purchase equipment, software and consulting services, among other items. "The money is being spent," says Chris Arisian, VP of worldwide alliances at Exodus. "The only question is where will they spend it."
Arisian would like them to spend it with Exodus partners. To that end, the company is readying an extranet that will help customers find the right partner for a given task.
The extranet will profile the Exodus partner base, providing such details as technical certification, solution focus, product focus and geographic location. The profiling extranet will let customers "use detailed search criteria and find the right partner in the right geography," says Arif Razvi, director of worldwide alliance programs at Exodus.
The extranet also will serve as a pipeline through which Exodus will provide leads to partners. In a beta test of the extranet, Exodus delivered more than 600 logged leads to partners, according to Arisian.
Partners can use the extranet to reciprocate. Exodus already generates about a third of its business through partner referrals. And the value of referred business is soaring: Exodus expects partner-derived revenue to hit US$270 million this year, up from US$24 million in 1998.
Exodus' extranet is based on Allegis Corp.'s partner relationship management system, which has been customized to reflect Exodus' referral model. Allegis hosts and maintains the extranet.
That should spell more business for partners targeting Exodus' growing data- center empire.