Ciena Corp (CIEN) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Ciena's Fiscal Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please also note, today's event is being recorded.

大家早上好，歡迎參加 Ciena 2023 年第三季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）另請注意，今天的活動正在錄製中。

And at this time, I'd like to turn the floor over to Gregg Lampf, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在，我想請投資者關係副總裁 Gregg Lampf 發言。請繼續。

Thank you, Jamie. Good morning, and welcome to Ciena's 2023 Fiscal Third Quarter Results Conference Call. On the call today is Gary Smith, President and CEO; and Jim Moylan, CFO. Scott McFeely, our Senior Vice President of Global Products and Services, is also with us for Q&A.

謝謝你，傑米。早上好，歡迎參加 Ciena 2023 財年第三季度業績電話會議。今天的電話會議由總裁兼首席執行官加里·史密斯 (Gary Smith) 主持。和首席財務官吉姆·莫伊蘭。我們的全球產品和服務高級副總裁 Scott McFeely 也與我們一起進行問答。

In addition to this call and the press release, we have posted to the Investors section of our website an accompanying investor presentation that reflects this discussion as well as certain highlighted items from the quarter. Our comments today speak to our recent performance, our view on current market dynamics and drivers of our business as well as a discussion of our financial outlook.

除了本次電話會議和新聞稿之外，我們還在網站的投資者部分發布了一份隨附的投資者演示文稿，其中反映了本次討論以及本季度的某些重點項目。我們今天的評論涉及我們最近的業績、我們對當前市場動態和業務驅動因素的看法以及對我們財務前景的討論。

Today's discussion includes certain adjusted or non-GAAP measures of Ciena's results of operations. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to our GAAP results is included in today's press release.

今天的討論包括 Ciena 運營業績的某些調整後或非公認會計原則衡量標準。今天的新聞稿中包含了這些非公認會計準則衡量指標與我們的公認會計準則結果的協調表。

Before turning the call over to Gary, I'll remind you that during this call, we'll be making certain forward-looking statements. Such statements, including our quarterly and annual guidance and our long-term financial outlook, and discussion of market opportunities and strategy, are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions regarding the company and its markets, which include risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements discussed today. Assumptions relating to our outlook, whether mentioned on this call or included in the investor presentation that we will post shortly after, are an important part of such forward-looking statements, and we encourage you to consider them.

在將電話轉給加里之前，我要提醒您，在這次電話會議中，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述。此類聲明，包括我們的季度和年度指導以及我們的長期財務展望，以及對市場機會和戰略的討論，均基於有關公司及其市場的當前預期、預測和假設，其中包括可能導致實際情況的風險和不確定性。結果與今天討論的聲明存在重大差異。與我們的前景相關的假設，無論是在本次電話會議中提到的，還是包含在我們不久後發布的投資者演示文稿中的，都是此類前瞻性陳述的重要組成部分，我們鼓勵您考慮它們。

Our forward-looking statements should also be viewed in the context of the risk factors detailed in our most recent 10-K filing and in our upcoming 10-Q filing, which will be filed with the SEC by September 7. Ciena assumes no obligation to update the information discussed in this conference call, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. As always, we will offer as much Q&A as possible today. (Operator Instructions) For those in the investment community who will be attending ECOC, Jim Moylan and I will be meeting with investors on October 2 and 3. Please reach out to us if you're interested.

我們的前瞻性陳述還應結合我們最近的 10-K 文件和即將於 9 月 7 日向 SEC 提交的 10-Q 文件中詳述的風險因素來看待。Ciena 不承擔任何義務更新本次電話會議中討論的信息，無論是由於新信息、未來事件還是其他原因。與往常一樣，我們今天將提供盡可能多的問答。 （操作員說明） 對於那些將參加 ECOC 的投資界人士，我和 Jim Moylan 將於 10 月 2 日至 3 日與投資者會面。如果您有興趣，請與我們聯繫。

With that, I'll call -- turn the call over to Gary.

這樣，我就會打電話——把電話轉給加里。

Thanks, Gregg, and good morning, everyone. Today, we reported strong fiscal third quarter results, including quarterly revenue of $1.07 billion, an increase of 23% year-over-year. Our results included solid profitability metrics with quarterly adjusted operating margin of 12% and adjusted EPS of $0.59.

謝謝格雷格，大家早上好。今天，我們公佈了強勁的第三財季業績，其中季度收入為 10.7 億美元，同比增長 23%。我們的業績包括穩健的盈利指標，季度調整後營業利潤率為 12%，調整後每股收益為 0.59 美元。

We are delivering a very strong year with 22% revenue growth year-to-date as we continue to capture market share. And in fact, we are confident as we look forward, particularly given that secular demand for bandwidth continues to increase. In fact, bandwidth growth has remained consistent for years, even through the recent period of supply chain constraints. And the underlying drivers of that strong growth are very durable over the long term. These include mobility, 5G, cloud, automation and more recently, artificial intelligence applications as they move out towards the network.

隨著我們繼續佔領市場份額，我們今年的收入增長了 22%，表現非常強勁。事實上，我們對未來充滿信心，特別是考慮到對帶寬的長期需求持續增長。事實上，即使最近一段時間供應鏈受到限制，帶寬增長也一直保持穩定。從長遠來看，這種強勁增長的根本驅動力非常持久。其中包括移動、5G、雲、自動化以及最近向網絡邁進的人工智能應用。

These market dynamics in turn drive direct demand for our industry-leading technology and services, which we measure through 3 indicators: #1 is customer pipeline and forecasts; #2 is orders; and #3 is backlog and ultimately shipments, which collectively reflect demand in our business, not just a single element of these. So I thought it might be helpful for me to provide some insights into what we're seeing across each of these indicators of demand.

這些市場動態反過來推動了對我們行業領先的技術和服務的直接需求，我們通過 3 個指標來衡量：#1 是客戶渠道和預測； #2是命令；第三是積壓訂單和最終發貨量，它們共同反映了我們業務的需求，而不僅僅是其中的一個因素。因此，我認為對我們在每個需求指標中看到的情況提供一些見解可能會有所幫助。

Starting firstly with pipeline. We are very encouraged by the level of overall customer activity that we are seeing across all regions and segments. Most notably, we are seeing early signs of near-term requirements with our customers as they work to ensure their network readiness for machine learning and AI traffic coming out of the data center and into the WAN.

首先從管道開始。我們對所有地區和細分市場的整體客戶活動水平感到非常鼓舞。最值得注意的是，我們看到了客戶近期需求的早期跡象，因為他們正在努力確保其網絡為從數據中心進入廣域網的機器學習和人工智能流量做好準備。

With respect to orders, the flow of new orders in recent quarters has been directly impacted by several factors. Specifically, customers ordering decisions in the prior supply-constrained environment resulted in both large order backlog and then higher than typical customer inventory levels. In addition, the recent rapid compression of our lead times has reduced the need for customers to place advanced orders. As a result, new order flow over the past couple of quarters has been meaningfully below revenue and we expect this to continue for another couple of quarters. Therefore, this order flow in isolation has not really been a good reflection of underlying demand.

從訂單來看，近幾個季度的新訂單流量直接受到多種因素的影響。具體來說，客戶在之前供應受限的環境中的訂購決策導致大量訂單積壓，然後高於典型的客戶庫存水平。此外，最近交貨時間的快速壓縮減少了客戶提前下訂單的需要。因此，過去幾個季度的新訂單流量明顯低於收入，我們預計這種情況將持續幾個季度。因此，這種孤立的訂單流並不能真正很好地反映潛在需求。

Now, however, we are starting to see an uptick in new orders, led by cloud providers. Overall orders were slightly up in Q3, and we expect higher orders in Q4. Importantly, we believe that this recent uptick in orders from cloud customers is a leading indicator of a rebalancing of supply and demand, which we believe will begin to flow through to our service provider customers in the coming quarters.

然而現在，我們開始看到以雲提供商為首的新訂單有所增加。第三季度整體訂單略有增加，我們預計第四季度訂單量將會增加。重要的是，我們認為最近雲客戶訂單的增加是供需重新平衡的領先指標，我們相信這一趨勢將在未來幾個季度開始流向我們的服務提供商客戶。

And finally, backlog. We have had and continue to have an outsized backlog resulting from the previous period of supply constraints and the resulting elongation of lead times. I would remind everyone that our backlog is still larger in both absolute and relative terms than any of our competitors, which is testament to our increasing competitive advantage. And as we turn this backlog into revenue, it is translating into significant market share gains, which so far this year have been in approximately the mid-single digits.

最後，積壓。由於前一段時間的供應限制以及由此導致的交貨時間延長，我們已經並將繼續積壓大量訂單。我想提醒大家，我們的積壓訂單無論是絕對數量還是相對數量都比我們的任何競爭對手都要大，這證明了我們的競爭優勢日益增強。當我們將積壓的訂單轉化為收入時，它正在轉化為顯著的市場份額收益，今年到目前為止，市場份額約為中個位數。

We now expect that we will exit FY '23 with backlog that is approximately $2.7 billion, even with our strong revenue year. And I think this is very encouraging on several levels. Fundamental demand drivers for our business are strong and improving, customer activity is increasing and supply versus demand is gradually coming into alignment. Against this backdrop, Ciena has never been better positioned to deliver faster than market growth through trusted customer relationships and increasing technology leadership, new platform introductions and considerable market expansions over time.

現在，我們預計 23 財年結束時，即使收入強勁，積壓訂單仍將達到約 27 億美元。我認為這在幾個層面上都是非常令人鼓舞的。我們業務的基本需求驅動力強勁且不斷改善，客戶活動不斷增加，供需關係逐漸趨於一致。在此背景下，Ciena 處於前所未有的有利地位，通過值得信賴的客戶關係、不斷增強的技術領先地位、新平台的推出以及隨著時間的推移進行的大幅市場擴張，能夠比市場增長更快地實現增長。

Before turning it over to Jim, I'll run through some quick highlights from the quarter. Optical revenue was 27% up year-over-year. As expected, much of the growth in the quarter was in our optical line systems. Specifically, Q3 was a record quarter in revenue and shipments for our 6500 reconfigurable line systems, RLS, driven by cloud and content provider network expansions. RLS is, in fact, the only next-gen line system in the industry that is shipping at scale and serves as a strong indicator of future revenue growth and margin expansion opportunity.

在將其交給吉姆之前，我將簡要介紹一下本季度的一些亮點。光學收入同比增長27%。正如預期的那樣，本季度的增長大部分來自我們的光線路系統。具體來說，在雲和內容提供商網絡擴張的推動下，我們的 6500 個可重構線路系統 RLS 在第三季度的收入和出貨量創下了紀錄。事實上，RLS 是業內唯一大規模發貨的下一代生產線系統，可作為未來收入增長和利潤擴張機會的有力指標。

We added 18 new customers in Q3 for WaveLogic 5 Extreme, bringing our total customer count to 246. And we also received our first order for WaveLogic 6 in the quarter, well before it is even generally available. Routing and Switching revenue was also up 27% year-over-year, with the addition of more than 30 new customers for the portfolio in the quarter, a clear example of our technology leadership and the growing pipeline. The increase in Q3 was primarily driven by sales of our access and aggregation platforms.

我們在第三季度為 WaveLogic 5 Extreme 增加了 18 名新客戶，使我們的客戶總數達到 246 家。我們還在本季度收到了第一筆 WaveLogic 6 訂單，甚至在它正式上市之前就已經收到了。路由和交換收入也同比增長 27%，本季度該產品組合增加了 30 多個新客戶，這是我們技術領先地位和不斷增長的渠道的明顯例子。第三季度的增長主要是由我們的接入和聚合平台的銷售推動的。

We also continue to advance our TAM expansion efforts in this general technology area, and particularly around coherent routing, broadband access and PON opportunities. We also secured our first customer for the wave router platform this quarter.

我們還繼續推進在這一通用技術領域的 TAM 擴展工作，特別是圍繞相干路由、寬帶接入和 PON 機會。本季度我們還獲得了 Wave 路由器平台的第一個客戶。

Notably, our Platform Software and Services revenue was up 24% year-over-year. This reflects strong growth in software maintenance services, primarily related to our domain controller MCP. And as we know, MCP is the industry's leading multilayer domain controller now with nearly 800 customers worldwide and more than 1/4 of those customers leverage the advanced apps on the platform. In fact, in Q3, we added 18 customers for these advanced apps.

值得注意的是，我們的平台軟件和服務收入同比增長 24%。這反映出軟件維護服務的強勁增長，主要與我們的域控制器 MCP 相關。眾所周知，MCP 是業界領先的多層域控制器，目前在全球擁有近 800 家客戶，其中超過 1/4 的客戶利用該平台上的高級應用程序。事實上，在第三季度，我們為這些高級應用程序增加了 18 個客戶。

Shifting to customers. We had one 10% customer in the quarter, which is a cloud provider. Overall, direct cloud provider revenue increased 39% year-to-date, well above our overall revenue growth in the same period.

轉向客戶。本季度我們有一個 10% 的客戶，這是一家云提供商。總體而言，直接雲提供商收入今年迄今增長了 39%，遠高於同期我們的整體收入增長。

Panning out a little further. Total non-telco revenue was 46% year-over-year in the quarter to $487 million, a record high. Further, subsea revenue was up 21% year-over-year in the quarter to $76 million. Revenue from service provider customers was up 9% year-over-year, which included one Tier 1 customer that came in just under 10% threshold in Q3, and we continue to win with this important segment. By way of example, we have recently secured a multiyear strategic expansion of our relationship with a major U.S. Tier 1 service provider for our full portfolio, including routing and switching as they continue to enhance their network, another example of growing customer activity and pipeline.

進一步平移一點。該季度非電信總收入同比增長 46% 至 4.87 億美元，創歷史新高。此外，本季度海底收入同比增長 21%，達到 7600 萬美元。來自服務提供商客戶的收入同比增長 9%，其中包括第三季度略低於 10% 閾值的一個一級客戶，我們繼續在這一重要細分市場中獲勝。舉例來說，我們最近與一家主要的美國一級服務提供商就我們的完整產品組合（包括路由和交換）進行了多年的戰略擴展，因為他們不斷增強其網絡，這是客戶活動和管道不斷增長的另一個例子。

And finally, with respect to geographic regions, Asia Pacific was again a solid contributor at nearly 16% of total revenue in Q3, up more than 30% year-over-year. And in that region, India remains very strong, with year-to-year revenue in FY '23 of just over $200 million compared to just under $170 million for all of last fiscal year, and we expect this growth to continue. EMEA also continued to perform well. Importantly, as our pipeline grows, we secured several new design wins across the region in Q3, which we expect to begin taking revenue on in FY '24.

最後，就地理區域而言，亞太地區再次成為重要貢獻者，佔第三季度總收入的近 16%，同比增長超過 30%。在該地區，印度仍然非常強勁，23 財年的年收入略高於 2 億美元，而上一財年全年收入略低於 1.7 億美元，我們預計這種增長將持續下去。歐洲、中東和非洲地區也繼續表現良好。重要的是，隨著我們的產品線不斷增長，我們在第三季度在該地區獲得了幾項新的設計勝利，我們預計將在 24 財年開始獲得收入。

So in summary, we believe we are executing well and are confident as we look forward. We are benefiting from strong secular demand and growing our pipeline with increased customer activity. We are increasing our competitive advantage, bringing new platforms to market and expanding our TAM, and we are converting backlog to revenue and gaining market share.

總而言之，我們相信我們執行得很好，並對未來充滿信心。我們受益於強勁的長期需求，並隨著客戶活動的增加而擴大我們的產品線。我們正在增強我們的競爭優勢，將新平台推向市場並擴大我們的 TAM，並且我們正在將積壓訂單轉化為收入並贏得市場份額。

With that, I will turn it over to Jim to speak more about all of these elements and provide additional detail on the Q3 financial results. Jim?

接下來，我將把它交給吉姆，讓他更多地討論所有這些要素，並提供有關第三季度財務業績的更多細節。吉姆？

Thanks, Gary. Good morning, everyone. We delivered outstanding fiscal third quarter financial results. Total revenue in Q3 was $1.07 billion, at the high end of our expectations, up 23% over Q3 of 2022. Adjusted gross margin in the quarter was 42.7%, reflecting the product mix shift towards line systems that we expected, and Q3 adjusted operating expense was $328 million.

謝謝，加里。大家，早安。我們取得了出色的第三季度財務業績。第三季度的總收入為10.7 億美元，處於我們預期的高端，比2022 年第三季度增長23%。該季度調整後的毛利率為42.7%，反映了我們預期的產品組合向生產線系統的轉變，以及第三季度調整後的運營費用為 3.28 億美元。

With respect to profitability measures, in Q3, we delivered adjusted operating margin of 12%, adjusted net income of $89.1 million and adjusted EPS of $0.59. In addition, we generated $9 million in cash from operations and adjusted EBITDA of $151.3 million.

在盈利能力方面，第三季度，我們的調整後營業利潤率為 12%，調整後淨利潤為 8910 萬美元，調整後每股收益為 0.59 美元。此外，我們還從運營中產生了 900 萬美元的現金，調整後的 EBITDA 為 1.513 億美元。

Finally, we ended the third quarter with approximately $1.3 billion in cash and investments. Inventory levels in Q3 went up $94 million from last quarter, as a result of changes in the mix of products delivered to customers from that which we expected. We also saw an increase in deferred cost of sales on product delivered to customers but not yet taken to revenue.

最後，我們在第三季度結束時擁有約 13 億美元的現金和投資。由於交付給客戶的產品組合與我們預期的不同，第三季度的庫存水平比上季度增加了 9400 萬美元。我們還發現，交付給客戶但尚未計入收入的產品的遞延銷售成本有所增加。

We expect total inventory to be down in Q4. And at the end of this fiscal year, we expect it to be roughly equal to that of Q4 of '22. We repurchased approximately 1.4 million shares for $61 million during the fiscal third quarter. Since the end of Q3, we have repurchased an additional $40 million in shares, bringing our year-to-date total to approximately $100 million in value. We continue to expect that we will repurchase an aggregate of approximately $250 million in shares during this fiscal year.

我們預計第四季度總庫存將下降。到本財年末，我們預計將大致等於 22 年第四季度的水平。我們在第三財季以 6100 萬美元回購了約 140 萬股股票。自第三季度末以來，我們又回購了 4000 萬美元的股票，使我們今年迄今的總價值達到約 1 億美元。我們仍然預計本財年將回購總計約 2.5 億美元的股票。

Turning now to guidance. As a reminder, the outlook I'm about to provide reflects all the key assumptions that we detailed in our earnings presentation. Our expectations for Q4 are consistent with the fiscal full year guidance that we provided on the last earnings call. Specifically, for the fiscal fourth quarter, we expect to deliver revenue in a range of $1.06 billion to $1.14 billion, adjusted gross margin in the low to mid-40s range and adjusted operating expense of approximately $335 million.

現在轉向指導。提醒一下，我即將提供的前景反映了我們在收益報告中詳細說明的所有關鍵假設。我們對第四季度的預期與我們在上次財報電話會議上提供的全年財政指引一致。具體來說，我們預計第四財季的收入將在 10.6 億美元至 11.4 億美元之間，調整後毛利率在 40 多歲至 40 多歲之間，調整後運營費用約為 3.35 億美元。

With respect to fiscal year 2024, as is our normal practice, we will provide a detailed view of our expectations for next year when we report our Q4 results in December. But it's important to remember the context we provided when we laid out our 3-year targets last December. Specifically, we said that revenue compound annual growth rate over the 3-year period from fiscal year '22 to fiscal year '25 would be 10% to 12% and would not be linear, particularly given our expectations for outsized revenue growth in fiscal '23, which we will deliver. We are still comfortable with those projections for that 3-year period. Specifically, we expect fiscal '24 to be a growth year. We also expect to grow faster than the market and to take market share.

對於 2024 財年，按照我們的慣例，我們將在 12 月報告第四季度業績時詳細介紹明年的預期。但重要的是要記住我們去年 12 月制定 3 年目標時提供的背景。具體來說，我們表示，從第22 財年到第25 財年的3 年期間，收入複合年增長率將為10% 至12%，並且不會是線性的，特別是考慮到我們對第22財年收入大幅增長的預期。 23，我們將交付。我們仍然對這三年期間的預測感到滿意。具體來說，我們預計 24 財年將是增長年。我們還期望增長速度快於市場並佔據市場份額。

Before we close out the call, I want to highlight our recent announcement of science-based environmental targets, which support and strengthen our sustainability commitments to stakeholders. Our science-based targets commit us to reduce our direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions. They also align our decarbonization efforts with the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Importantly, the achievement of our goals will help drive down the environmental impact both of Ciena and of our customers' networks across the globe. I encourage you to review this recent announcement.

在結束電話會議之前，我想強調一下我們最近宣布的基於科學的環境目標，這些目標支持並加強我們對利益相關者的可持續發展承諾。我們基於科學的目標致力於減少直接和間接溫室氣體排放。他們還將我們的脫碳努力與《巴黎氣候協定》保持一致，將全球變暖限制在比工業化前水平高 1.5 攝氏度的範圍內。重要的是，我們目標的實現將有助於降低 Ciena 以及我們全球客戶網絡對環境的影響。我鼓勵您查看最近的公告。

In closing, I will say that demand for bandwidth is strong and growing and that demand is reflected in our pipeline and in the recent trends in orders. We expect a strong close to the year in Q4 and continued growth in revenue going forward, both in absolute terms and in market share.

最後，我要說的是，對帶寬的需求強勁且不斷增長，這種需求反映在我們的管道和最近的訂單趨勢中。我們預計第四季度將實現強勁增長，並且未來收入無論是絕對值還是市場份額都將持續增長。

Jamie, we will now take questions from the sell-side analysts.

傑米，我們現在將回答賣方分析師的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today will come from David Vogt of UBS.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題將來自瑞銀集團的 David Vogt。

Great. Can you maybe talk about what you're seeing directly from web scale? What's sort of driving sort of this inflection that you're speaking of from an orders perspective? Is it just under investment and optimization that's been sort of transpiring for the last 4 to 6 quarters? Or is it maybe AI related or a combination of maybe the digestion in AI? I just would love to get some more color on what you're seeing there in terms of the order inflection and then why you think maybe [SPE] orders follow closely thereafter from an inflection point perspective.

偉大的。您能談談您直接從網絡規模看到的情況嗎？從訂單的角度來看，您所說的這種變化的驅動因素是什麼？過去 4 到 6 個季度是否只是在進行投資和優化？或者它可能與人工智能有關，或者可能是人工智能消化的組合？我只是想進一步了解您在訂單拐點方面所看到的情況，以及為什麼您認為從拐點的角度來看，[SPE] 訂單可能會緊隨其後。

Yes, David, I would say, generally, the sort of chronology of the last few quarters as we've gone through this supply/demand alignment issues is the web scale that were the first to kind of reschedule and pull back in terms of deployment for their absorption. They were the first to do that.

是的，大衛，我想說，一般來說，過去幾個季度我們經歷的供需調整問題的時間順序是網絡規模，它是第一個在部署方面進行重新安排和縮減的網絡規模以供其吸收。他們是第一個這樣做的。

I think what's encouraging now is they're working their way through that, probably still got a little more to go. They're beginning to see new applications and new drivers and specific things that we're seeing for Q4, which are new orders to be shipped in Q4 in addition to their existing backlog that we've got, was driven by really the need to start preparing for machine learning and AI traffic coming out of the data center. It's the first time we've seen that sort of tagged, specifically in the cloud players. So that's super encouraging.

我認為現在令人鼓舞的是他們正在努力解決這個問題，可能還有更多的路要走。他們開始看到新的應用程序和新的驅動程序以及我們在第四季度看到的具體內容，除了我們現有的積壓訂單之外，還有第四季度要發貨的新訂單，這些都是由真正的需求驅動的開始為來自數據中心的機器學習和人工智能流量做好準備。這是我們第一次看到這種標記，特別是在雲播放器中。所以這非常令人鼓舞。

And generally speaking, I think the sort of general flow of traffic and activity will reflect the fact that the cloud providers were the first to go into this challenge. They're the first to come out of it, which makes sense. And typically, the service providers will flow through that. I mean, not least of which from the traffic growth in cloud generally spills through to the service providers a couple of quarters later, just generally.

一般來說，我認為流量和活動的總體流量將反映出雲提供商是第一個應對這一挑戰的事實。他們是第一個走出困境的人，這是有道理的。通常，服務提供商將通過該流程。我的意思是，尤其是雲中流量的增長通常會在幾個季度後蔓延到服務提供商，只是一般而言。

So I think our perspective is that this is very encouraging and is really the first leading indicator that we're getting alignment now around orders, lead times and user ultimate demand.

因此，我認為我們的觀點是，這是非常令人鼓舞的，並且實際上是我們現在在訂單、交貨時間和用戶最終需求方面取得一致的第一個領先指標。

Our next question today will come from Tim Long of Barclays.

今天我們的下一個問題將來自巴克萊銀行的蒂姆·朗。

I was hoping kind of a 2-parter on the service provider telco piece. First, Gary, you mentioned the U.S. Tier 1 kind of renewal, which included some switching and routing. Could you just talk a little bit to that as far as kind of scope of that extension or new agreement? Any new use cases, particularly on the switch and routing side, any changes there?

我希望在服務提供商電信領域能有兩方合作。首先，Gary，您提到了美國 Tier 1 類型的更新，其中包括一些交換和路由。您能否簡單談談延期或新協議的範圍？有什麼新的用例，特別是在交換機和路由方面，有什麼變化嗎？

And then secondly, maybe just following on, as you were talking about the cycle for the web scalers, where do you think we are in that for the service provider and telco service providers? When do you think they'll get in to the phase where -- it looks like the web-scale players are at currently?

其次，也許只是繼續，當您談論網絡擴展器的周期時，您認為我們在服務提供商和電信服務提供商的周期中處於什麼位置？您認為他們什麼時候會進入網絡規模玩家目前所處的階段？

Yes, Tim, let me take the last one first and then I'll address the issue about the Tier 1 service providers. Our best view of it, and we're pretty close, obviously, with a lot of the large. Really when we talk about Tier 1, let me qualify a little bit more service providers. We're really talking about North America. This dynamic of further ordering out ahead given supply chain, we did not really see that dynamic internationally with the service providers.

是的，蒂姆，讓我先討論最後一個，然後我將解決有關一級服務提供商的問題。我們能看到它的最佳視角，顯然，我們已經非常接近了，有很多大型的。確實，當我們談論一級時，讓我對更多的服務提供商進行資格認證。我們真正談論的是北美。在給定供應鏈的情況下，我們並沒有真正看到國際服務提供商的這種進一步訂購的動態。

So I would really target my reply here to the Tier 1 North American players. I think we're very close with them in understanding around what their absorption challenges are around deployment of people, equipment, et cetera. I would suspect, really, Tim, that we've got another couple of quarters of that. So sort of mid-'24, something like that with the Tier 1 service providers. We're beginning to see some encouraging signs with them as well. But I do think it will be a couple of more quarters before we see them catch up and get into alignment with the reduced lead times that are now in market for us. Scott, do you want to take that.

所以我在這裡的回复主要針對北美一級玩家。我認為我們與他們非常接近，了解他們在人員、設備等部署方面面臨的挑戰。蒂姆，我真的懷疑我們還有另外幾個季度的時間。大概是 24 年中期，一級服務提供商的情況類似。我們也開始在他們身上看到一些令人鼓舞的跡象。但我確實認為，我們還需要幾個季度才能看到他們迎頭趕上，並與我們目前市場上縮短的交貨時間保持一致。斯科特，你想接受這個嗎？

Yes. And, Tim, on the scope of the relationship agreement with the Tier 1 service provider, the way to think of it basically is an extension of a relationship that we have with them for their fiber-based infrastructure across their core and their metro. And it includes transitioning that infrastructure to all of our next-generation technologies and extension obviously in time as well. So it's a very whole cost relationship with them, not so much new use cases, but the next-generation technology evolution.

是的。而且，蒂姆，關於與一級服務提供商的關係協議的範圍，基本上可以認為它是我們與他們之間的關係的延伸，涉及他們的核心和城域的基於光纖的基礎設施。它還包括將該基礎設施過渡到我們所有的下一代技術，並及時進行擴展。因此，與它們之間存在著非常完整的成本關係，與其說是新的用例，不如說是下一代技術的演變。

Our next question today will come from George Notter of Jefferies.

今天我們的下一個問題將來自傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的喬治·諾特 (George Notter)。

I was definitely interested in the commentary about the content provider strength and the order improvement. Can you talk about the magnitude of the order improvement? You said that orders were soft -- quite soft, it sounds like the last few quarters, and they've improved, I presume, sequentially here. Is it a significant sequential improvement? Maybe you can give us a book-to-bill ratio? Just give us some kind of sense for the scale of the order improvement? And then also, I'm just curious about where backlog levels wound up at the end of the quarter and then also where you are on product lead times.

我對內容提供商實力和訂單改進的評論非常感興趣。您能談談訂單改善的幅度嗎？你說訂單很軟——相當軟，聽起來就像過去幾個季度一樣，而且我認為它們已經有所改善，我認為，這裡連續。這是一個顯著的連續改進嗎？也許你能給我們一個訂單出貨比？只是讓我們對訂單改善的規模有一些了解嗎？另外，我只是好奇季度末的積壓水平以及產品交付週期的情況。

George, it's Jim. I'll take that. First of all, backlog at the end of Q3 was $3.1 billion, very much in line with our expectations. We believe now that backlog at the end of the year will be more like $2.7 billion plus or minus as opposed to the slightly lower backlog that we had called last quarter. And that really expresses the higher orders that we expect to get in Q4.

喬治，是吉姆。我會接受的。首先，第三季度末的積壓訂單為 31 億美元，非常符合我們的預期。我們現在認為，今年年底的積壓將更像是 27 億美元上下，而不是我們上季度所說的略低的積壓。這確實體現了我們預計在第四季度獲得的更高訂單。

We do believe that orders in Q4 will be below our revenue. As Gary said, that phenomenon is going to continue for a few quarters. But with those numbers, I think you can sort of back into the range of what the increase in orders is from Q3 to Q4.

我們確實相信第四季度的訂單將低於我們的收入。正如加里所說，這種現象將持續幾個季度。但通過這些數字，我認為您可以回到第三季度到第四季度訂單增長的範圍。

Got it. That's great. And then product lead times, just curious about where those are now.

知道了。那太棒了。然後是產品交付週期，只是好奇現在的情況。

Yes, George, on product lead times, as you'll remember, we said we entered the fiscal year approximately 52 week lead times. Last quarter, we set that in half and we'd expect them to continue to improve. As we sit here today, there -- the average is probably in the high teens across the portfolio. There's standard deviations on that, but it shows continuous improvement there, and we would expect those to continue to reel in quarter-over-quarter.

是的，喬治，關於產品交付時間，您會記得，我們說過我們進入本財年的交付時間約為 52 週。上個季度，我們將其設定為一半，我們預計他們會繼續改善。當我們今天坐在這裡時，整個投資組合的平均值可能在十幾歲左右。雖然存在標準偏差，但它顯示出持續的改善，我們預計這些情況將繼續逐季度出現下滑。

Our next question today is from Simon Leopold of Raymond James.

今天我們的下一個問題來自雷蒙德·詹姆斯的西蒙·利奧波德。

I wanted to sort of get a little bit more granularity on how you see the hyperscale is trending in that. It sounds like you had some strength this quarter and you've got long-term optimism. I'm just wondering whether or not there's any kind of pause or transition over the next couple of quarters before the ramp or whether it's a more linear expectation. And just a quick clarification. On the 10% customers, is that a customer that has been over 10% in a full year in the past, if you could let us know?

我想更詳細地了解超大規模的趨勢。聽起來你這個季度有一些實力，而且你對長期樂觀。我只是想知道在接下來的幾個季度中是否會出現任何形式的暫停或過渡，或者這是否是一個更線性的預期。快速澄清一下。就10%的客戶而言，是不是過去一整年都超過10%的客戶，您能告訴我們嗎？

The answer to your last question is yes, George (sic) [Simon]. I would say on the hyperscaler, as just a reminder to everybody, I mean, we're close to 40% revenue growth with these guys this year. So despite the sort of public issues around your efficiency and all the rest of it, they're still clearly prioritizing the network because that's the lifeblood for them. Regardless of what the applications happen in their data center, it lives when it gets into the network into the cloud. So we've not seen really any back off in terms of their commitment to build out the networks for that very reason.

你最後一個問題的答案是肯定的，喬治（原文如此）[西蒙]。我想說的是，關於超大規模，我只是提醒大家，我的意思是，今年我們與這些人的收入增長接近 40%。因此，儘管存在有關效率和其他所有問題的公共問題，但他們仍然明確優先考慮網絡，因為這是他們的命脈。無論應用程序在數據中心發生什麼，它在進入網絡和雲時都會存在。因此，我們並沒有看到他們因此而對建設網絡的承諾有任何退縮。

And I think if you look at the dynamics around machine learning and AI, et cetera, who knows how that will play out and the timing of it and the modeling of the network piece. But you have to believe that, that traffic will be incremental to what we've already seen over some point in time here. So we're not seeing any let up from the cloud players. We've got a lot of backlog that Jim talked about for a proportion of that is cloud providers that they want as we go through next year. So we expect to have a strong year with them next year. Now because of the rule of large numbers, it's not going to be 40% growth at that rate, but we still expect a very strong year from the cloud providers.

我認為，如果你看看機器學習和人工智能等領域的動態，誰知道這將如何發揮作用、它的時間安排以及網絡部分的建模。但你必須相信，流量將會增加到我們在某個時間點已經看到的水平。因此，我們沒有看到雲廠商有任何鬆懈。吉姆談到，我們有很多積壓的訂單，其中一部分是他們明年需要的雲提供商。因此，我們預計明年將與他們一起度過一個強勁的一年。現在，由於大數法則，按照這個速度增長不會達到 40%，但我們仍然預計雲提供商將迎來非常強勁的一年。

Great. And then just a quick follow-up. Remaining performance obligations, where are they now? And how did they trend in the quarter versus the prior?

偉大的。然後進行快速跟進。剩餘的履約義務現在在哪裡？與上一季度相比，本季度的趨勢如何？

They are slightly down, but still strong. $2.1 billion from $2.4 billion.

他們略有下降，但仍然強勁。從 24 億美元增至 21 億美元。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question today will come from Michael Genovese of Rosenblatt Securities.

（操作員指令）今天我們的下一個問題將來自羅森布拉特證券公司的邁克爾·吉諾維斯。

Congratulations on the improving outlook here or actually consistent outlook, I should say. But in terms of the 3-year CAGR, as we talk about '24 versus '25, are you thinking about those years being fairly even with each other? Or is there a reason, for instance, '24 would be lower coming off the strength of '23?

我應該說，恭喜您的前景有所改善，或者說前景實際上保持一致。但就 3 年復合年增長率而言，當我們談論“24 年”與“25 年”時，您是否認為這些年彼此相當？或者是否有某種原因，例如，“24”會比“23”的強度更低？

All I'd say today is that we said the average over the next 3 years is going to be 10% to 12%. And you can back into what the average rate of growth is in '24 and '25 to get to that 10% to 12% based on whatever you think we're going to do for this year. Speculating on how it trends between those 2 years is not something we're going to do right now, Mike.

今天我想說的是，我們說未來 3 年的平均增長率將是 10% 到 12%。你可以回顧 24 年和 25 年的平均增長率，根據你認為我們今年要做什麼，達到 10% 到 12%。邁克，我們現在不會猜測這兩年的趨勢。

Okay. Well, I take that to be a good thing, meaning that there's confidence in '24. That's it for me.

好的。嗯，我認為這是一件好事，這意味著人們對 24 充滿信心。對我來說就是這樣。

And our next question today will come from Samik Chatterjee of JPMorgan.

今天我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的 Samik Chatterjee。

I have a couple. But maybe if I can start with the growth outlook or just the comments that you made that next year will be a growth year. And not to get into specifics, but how much of that confidence should I interpret as coming from recent uptick that you're seeing in cloud orders? Or is there confidence given sort of the activity you're seeing outside the Tier 1 telcos as well, the telco as well as the vertical grows next year? Any thoughts around that, please? And then I have a quick follow-up.

我有一對。但也許我可以從增長前景或您發表的評論開始，明年將是增長的一年。不談具體細節，但我應該將這種信心在多大程度上解釋為來自您最近看到的雲訂單的上升？或者，對於您在一級電信公司之外看到的某種活動是否有信心，電信公司以及垂直行業明年都會增長？請問對此有什麼想法嗎？然後我會進行快速跟進。

The way Gary described demand, I think, captures our confidence because we said that it's a combination of pipeline, which is customer activity, and customer activity is very strong. We're in conversations with a lot of customers around the world for what they want to do next year. And we're in the middle of a lot of equivalent to RFP.

我認為，加里描述需求的方式抓住了我們的信心，因為我們說這是管道的組合，即客戶活動，而客戶活動非常強勁。我們正在與世界各地的許多客戶討論他們明年想要做什麼。我們正在進行許多與 RFP 類似的工作。

So first of all, activity is strong. Secondly, we did start to see a trend upward in orders, and they were from the web scale players. And thirdly, we expect a lot of that backlog, which still remains high to convert to revenue next year. So it's really all 3 elements of demand that we feel very good about, Samik.

所以首先，活動性強。其次，我們確實開始看到訂單呈上升趨勢，而且它們來自網絡規模的參與者。第三，我們預計會有大量積壓，明年轉化為收入的數量仍然很高。所以，Samik，我們確實對這三個需求要素感到非常滿意。

Okay. Great. And Jim, I guess the follow-up was for you in terms of -- you're sticking to your 10% to 12% 3-year outlook, which sort of means that generally, the other parts of that plan should hold. When we think about inventory that you want to carry through that plan, how does that compare to what you were sort of carrying pre-pandemic, which was more like $300 million or so and right now, you're tracking by the end of the year, about $900 million plus? So how are you thinking about like, is that plan still intact to get back to a pre-pandemic level? Or how do you want to plan around inventory exiting that window?

好的。偉大的。吉姆，我想後續行動是針對你的——你堅持 10% 到 12% 的 3 年前景，這意味著一般來說，該計劃的其他部分應該保持不變。當我們考慮您想要通過該計劃執行的庫存時，這與您在大流行前持有的庫存相比如何，這更像是 3 億美元左右，而現在，您在年底之前正在跟踪年，大約9億美元以上？那麼，您如何看待這個計劃是否仍然完好無損，可以恢復到大流行前的水平？或者您想如何計劃庫存退出該窗口？

Yes, without commenting on what our revenue is going to be next year, we do expect a good year, and we do expect our inventory levels to come down very significantly next year. That's our expectation as we sit here today. I won't give you an exact number.

是的，在不評論明年的收入情況的情況下，我們確實預計明年會是個好年，而且我們確實預計明年的庫存水平將大幅下降。這是我們今天坐在這裡的期望。我不會給你一個確切的數字。

I will say that given what the supply chain has gone through and the changes in the supply chain that we will likely carry a bit more inventory as compared to revenue than we have in the past. You'll recall that we used to -- for many quarters, we ran at about 6x. I don't believe, given our need for buffer stocks going forward that we will run at 6x. The question is where we end up below that, and it's probably going to be between 4 and 5x. I don't know exactly where in that range. But that means that, that inventory will come down next year, we believe.

我想說的是，考慮到供應鏈所經歷的情況以及供應鏈的變化，與收入相比，我們的庫存可能會比過去多一些。您可能還記得，我們曾經在許多季度中以大約 6 倍的速度運行。考慮到我們未來對緩衝庫存的需求，我不相信我們會以 6 倍的速度運行。問題是我們最終會低於這個值，而且可能會在 4 到 5 倍之間。我不知道這個範圍的具體位置。但這意味著，我們相信明年庫存將會下降。

Next question today will come from Alex Henderson of Needham.

今天的下一個問題將來自尼達姆的亞歷克斯·亨德森。

So clearly, the optical line systems was a key driver of shipments in the period, and those carry significantly lower margins. They often generate future orders of transceivers 2, 3 quarters, 4 quarters out. So can you talk about how you think the mix of the shipments will change over time as you've been shipping out the optical line systems here and whether that implies some improvement in the margins in the forward periods as the mix shifts to transceivers going forward? Should we expect a couple of hundred basis points of margin expansion at some point over the next year?

顯然，光學線路系統是這一時期出貨量的關鍵驅動因素，而這些系統的利潤率明顯較低。他們經常生成 2 個、3 個季度、4 個季度的收發器未來訂單。那麼，您能否談談您認為隨著時間的推移，發貨組合將如何變化，因為您一直在此處發貨光纖線路系統，以及隨著組合轉向收發器，這是否意味著未來時期的利潤率會有所改善？我們是否應該預期明年某個時候利潤率會增長幾百個基點？

I would say this, Alex. I mean, I think the dynamic that you highlighted is exactly the right one. I mean it's very encouraging that we're putting all this track out there basically. And RLS -- the adoption of RLS has been terrific. And we're now in a position we can ship it in large scale. So I think that's very encouraging because that will translate into modems over time. And I would expect, again, we're not in a position to sort of guide for next year, but I would expect generally improving margins because of this dynamic.

我想說的是，亞歷克斯。我的意思是，我認為你強調的動態是完全正確的。我的意思是，我們基本上把所有這些曲目都放在那裡，這非常令人鼓舞。 RLS——RLS 的採用效果非常好。我們現在可以大規模發貨。所以我認為這非常令人鼓舞，因為隨著時間的推移，這將轉化為調製解調器。我再次預計，我們無法為明年提供某種指導，但我預計由於這種動態，利潤率普遍會提高。

And also, you haven't got the associated cost of the supply chain is beginning to ameliorate. So I think the combination of those 2 things, a better mix overall from a margin point of view, as we take advantage to all the track that we're laying plus a little bit more of a normalization of costs from a supply chain point of view should point to higher gross margins going forward.

而且，供應鏈的相關成本也沒有開始改善。因此，我認為這兩件事的結合，從利潤的角度來看，整體上是一個更好的組合，因為我們利用了我們正在鋪設的所有軌道，再加上從供應鏈的角度來看成本標準化觀點應該指向未來更高的毛利率。

Can you quantify the impact of the supply chain on '23 gross margins?

您能量化供應鏈對'23毛利率的影響嗎？

We set a couple of hundred basis points this year, 200 or 300, and it will get better next year.

今年我們定了幾百個基點，200、300，明年會好一些。

And the last question, OpEx. I assume this is a managerial decision. So can you give us some sense of what your psychology is relative to spending on OpEx as we progress through the end of the year and into next year? Just conceptually.

最後一個問題是運營支出。我認為這是一個管理決定。那麼，隨著年底和明年的進展，您能否告訴我們您對運營支出支出的心理有何看法？只是概念上的。

As we've said over many quarters, Alex, we intend to invest through this cycle. We have the leading position in optical technology, and we will continue to invest there. But we are a challenger in the routing and switching space, and it's important that we increase our investment in that space. That's where our increase in R&D has come, in routing and switching. And we expect to continue to have a very active R&D program in both optical and in routing and switching going forward.

正如我們在多個季度中所說的那樣，亞歷克斯，我們打算在這個週期進行投資。我們在光學技術方面處於領先地位，我們將繼續在這方面進行投資。但我們是路由和交換領域的挑戰者，因此增加在該領域的投資非常重要。這就是我們在路由和交換方面加大研發力度的地方。我們預計未來將在光纖、路由和交換方面繼續開展非常活躍的研發計劃。

Our next question today will come from Meta Marshall of Morgan Stanley.

今天我們的下一個問題將來自摩根士丹利的梅塔·馬歇爾。

Great. Maybe just on kind of your commentary about believing service providers will improve kind of in the coming quarters. I guess, is that -- just trying to get how important that is by just having a greater sense of what their inventory levels are versus kind of what new projects are actually taking place. And just I guess the impetus of that question is, can you guys grow into next year just by virtue of them working through inventory this year?

偉大的。也許只是您關於相信服務提供商將在未來幾個季度有所改善的評論。我想，就是——只是想通過更好地了解他們的庫存水平與實際正在進行的新項目來了解這一點的重要性。我想這個問題的推動力是，你們能僅僅憑藉今年的庫存工作來成長到明年嗎？

And then the second question is on the cloud and kind of that improving cloud commentary, is that pretty uniform across the cloud? Or are there still kind of some puts and takes between various cloud vendors?

第二個問題是關於雲的，以及改進云評論的方式，整個雲中的情況是否相當統一？或者各個雲供應商之間是否仍然存在一些妥協？

Meta, let me take the first part of that. In terms of the service providers, again, I want to qualify this, we're talking North American Tier 1 service providers here when I answer this through the lens of this question. It's a confluence of elements. It's visibility into their activity and pipeline and projects. And obviously, we're very close to these folks. We have strategic relationships with all of them.

Meta，讓我先講第一部分。就服務提供商而言，我再次想對此進行限定，當我通過這個問題回答這個問題時，我們在這裡談論的是北美一級服務提供商。這是多種元素的融合。這是他們的活動、管道和項目的可見性。顯然，我們與這些人非常接近。我們與他們所有人都建立了戰略關係。

We now have a good handle on their inventory and what their absorption rates are and the various elements of manpower and things that have got to be deployed to do that. So we have pretty good visibility to that. And obviously, we still have large backlog with them as well. So it's all of those elements. I think it will be another couple of quarters, before that sort of gets broadly into alignment. But I think they're continuing to see strong demand there from a capacity point of view, I would stress that. This is really about the rate of absorption in its broadest sense. So I think we have a pretty good view to those folks.

我們現在已經很好地掌握了他們的庫存、吸收率以及為此必須部署的各種人力和物品。所以我們對此有很好的了解。顯然，我們仍然有大量積壓的訂單。所以這就是所有這些元素。我認為還需要幾個季度才能達成廣泛一致。但我認為，從產能的角度來看，他們繼續看到強勁的需求，我想強調這一點。這實際上是最廣泛意義上的吸收率。所以我認為我們對這些人有很好的看法。

And obviously, we can continue to grow even through that period. I mean we've just demonstrated as we're coming through the height of that period as it will, we're putting up 22% revenue growth. And even with the carriers, the service providers globally just at 9% of that. So you can see the balance of our business around subsea, high-growth areas such as India and the cloud players gives us a much more balanced business that we can withstand those kinds of shorter-term challenges.

顯然，即使在那段時期我們也可以繼續增長。我的意思是，我們剛剛證明，隨著我們即將度過那個時期的高峰期，我們將實現 22% 的收入增長。即使算上運營商，全球服務提供商也只佔其中的 9%。因此，您可以看到我們在海底、印度等高增長地區的業務平衡，而云玩家為我們提供了更加平衡的業務，使我們能夠承受這些短期挑戰。

I would say the cloud providers, to your question about how widespread, I think we're seeing that with 2 to 3 of the large players. So we have evidence, it's not just one. Now they're all very deep in terms of their dynamics, I would say that. We talk about them homogeneously, but their networks are very different, their business models are very different. But we are encouragingly seeing it across a number of them, Meta.

對於你關於雲服務有多廣泛的問題，我想說的是雲提供商，我認為我們在 2 到 3 個大型參與者中看到了這一點。所以我們有證據，而不僅僅是一個。我想說，現在他們的動力都非常深厚。我們談論它們是同質的，但他們的網絡非常不同，他們的商業模式也非常不同。但令人鼓舞的是，我們在其中許多地方看到了這一點，Meta。

Our next question today will come from Greg Mesniaeff of WestPark Capital.

今天我們的下一個問題將來自 WestPark Capital 的 Greg Mesniaeff。

You mentioned that orders are clearly picking up at this point. And the DSO number for the quarter was pretty on the high side at 96. I was wondering if you can give us some view on the linearity of the quarter, how you see linearity progressing in the next quarter and beyond?

您提到目前訂單明顯增加。本季度的 DSO 數字相當高，為 96。我想知道您是否能給我們一些關於本季度線性度的看法，您如何看待下個季度及以後的線性度進展？

It's just fact that our quarters tend to be back-end loaded. That's just the way the business works. And as a result, we end up with big shipments in the last month of the quarter, and DSOs reflect that. We don't collect those shipments in that same sort of in that month. So that's why our DSOs are high. They're actually down slightly from the previous quarter. And it's the linearity of the quarter, frankly, which drives that number more than anything else.

事實上，我們的宿舍往往是後端負載的。這就是企業的運作方式。結果，我們最終在本季度的最後一個月出貨量很大，DSO 反映了這一點。我們不會在該月以同樣的方式收集這些貨物。這就是我們的 DSO 很高的原因。實際上比上一季度略有下降。坦率地說，這個季度的線性比其他任何因素都更能推動這一數字。

Got it. And just as a quick follow-up, as you draw down your backlog and continue to do so, can you give us any indication or metrics or data points regarding any cancellations? I'm assuming there haven't been many, but if you could just give us some indication of that.

知道了。作為快速跟進，當您減少積壓並繼續這樣做時，您能否向我們提供有關任何取消的任何指示、指標或數據點？我假設這樣的情況並不多，但如果您能給我們一些指示的話。

Early on, as the supply chain started to improve, the companies that had put big advanced orders on us looked at the new lead times and they looked at the amount of orders that they had put on us. And at first, as Gary said, starting with the cloud players, they started to push some amounts of orders out, that was followed by the service providers who pushed them out. They held on to the orders, but they pushed the delivery dates. We did also have a small number of cancellations from a very few customers, was not material to our backlog. Our backlog is -- has high integrity. They just have sort of changed the way they view the delivery dates.

早期，隨著供應鏈開始改善，那些向我們下了大筆提前訂單的公司會考慮新的交貨時間，也會考慮向我們下的訂單數量。一開始，正如加里所說，從雲廠商開始，他們開始推送一些訂單，隨後服務提供商也將訂單推送出去。他們保留了訂單，但推遲了交貨日期。我們確實也有極少數客戶的少量取消，這對我們的積壓來說並不重要。我們的積壓訂單具有高度的完整性。他們只是改變了看待交貨日期的方式。

But I would add, Greg, we have not seen that dynamic for -- that has ameliorated that dynamic over the last few quarters, both in terms of cancel -- any small cancellations, absolutely. We have not -- that's been de minimis, absolutely. What we have seen is even the rate of change of pushing stuff out has slowed considerably. So we have pretty good visibility into what they want and when.

但我想補充一點，格雷格，我們還沒有看到這種動態 - 這在過去幾個季度改善了這種動態，無論是在取消方面 - 絕對是任何小規模的取消。我們沒有——絕對是微不足道的。我們所看到的是，推出產品的變化速度也大大放緩。因此，我們可以很好地了解他們想要什麼以及何時想要。

Our next question will come from Dave Kang of B. Riley of CR.

我們的下一個問題將來自 CR B. Riley 的 Dave Kang。

My question is on India. What inning are we in? Is it mainly Jio? What about your position with the other 2 major service providers there?

我的問題是關於印度的。我們現在處於第幾局？主要是Jio嗎？你們在其他兩家主要服務提供商中的地位如何？

I think to use a cricket -- sparkling cricket analogy, I would say that we're -- if you're into test cricket, we're just on the first day of the 5-day sparkling cricket match. So it's got a long way to go. I mean you're basically in the fastest-growing Internet market in the world. You're talking about where they're consuming it from a mobile perspective, most of the Internet. And there's still a very, very long way to go with that.

我想用板球——閃閃發光的板球類比來說，我會說我們——如果你喜歡板球測試，我們只是在為期 5 天的閃閃發光板球比賽的第一天。所以還有很長的路要走。我的意思是，您基本上處於世界上增長最快的互聯網市場中。你談論的是他們從移動角度消費它的地方，大部分是互聯網。這還有非常非常長的路要走。

And I would also say, Dave, that it's broadly based now. I think the structure from an industry point of view has settled down. You've got 3 major players, and we're seeing growth across all 3 major telcos, plus all of the cloud activity there, both directly and indirectly. You're also -- I think it's the fastest growing connectivity from a subsea system point of view landing in India as well, which we obviously got #1 market share in there. And then you're also seeing our position. We've been there for a long time. So things like the government, Ministry of Defense networks based on Ciena.

我還要說，戴夫，它現在已經有了廣泛的基礎。我認為從行業角度來看，結構已經確定。現在有 3 個主要參與者，我們看到所有 3 個主要電信公司以及所有直接和間接的雲活動都在增長。我認為從海底系統的角度來看，這也是印度增長最快的連接，我們顯然在那裡獲得了第一的市場份額。然後你也會看到我們的立場。我們已經在那里呆了很長時間了。像政府、國防部這樣的網絡都是基於 Ciena 的。

So we're seeing very strong activity, orders and shipments across the whole of that spectrum. I think it's very broad-based. And I think we're in a multiyear growth opportunity with these folks.

因此，我們看到整個範圍內的活動、訂單和發貨量都非常強勁。我認為它的基礎非常廣泛。我認為我們正與這些人一起享受多年的增長機會。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Tim Savageaux of Northland Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）我們的下一個問題將來自 Northland Capital Markets 的 Tim Savageaux。

It looks like your backlog came down much less significantly than last quarter. So what I'm seeing is a pretty significant uptick in orders in Q3 in the order of 30% sequential. I just want to make sure I'm reading that right.

看起來您的積壓訂單下降幅度比上季度要小得多。因此，我看到第三季度的訂單量顯著增加，環比增加了 30%。我只是想確保我讀得正確。

And to the extent that's from cloud, I guess, what I really want to ask is what was your book-to-bill in cloud in the quarter? And given how concentrated you are there, almost one customer, almost 50%, how concentrated was that? And if you could comment on applications at all, whether we're talking about data center interconnects, more long-haul type stuff, subsea, what might be driving that? And I'll count that all as my follow-up.

我想，就來自云的程度而言，我真正想問的是，本季度您在雲中的訂單到賬單是多少？考慮到您在那裡的集中程度，幾乎只有一名客戶，幾乎 50%，那麼集中程度如何？如果您可以對應用程序進行評論，無論我們談論的是數據中心互連、更多長途類型的東西還是海底，是什麼推動了這一點？我會將這一切視為我的後續行動。

Thanks, Tim. Let me take the first of the multi questions. I would say -- I would describe it as a slight order uptick. I wouldn't describe it as large. Our backlog did go up. And obviously, we -- our orders came in. I think the point is we really think it's bottomed out on the orders and is heading in the right direction now from an alignment point of view. And I think that will gather more momentum in Q4 as well.

謝謝，蒂姆。讓我回答多個問題中的第一個問題。我想說——我會將其描述為訂單略有增加。我不會形容它那麼大。我們的積壓確實增加了。顯然，我們的訂單進來了。我認為重點是，我們確實認為訂單已經觸底，並且從調整的角度來看，現在正朝著正確的方向前進。我認為這也將在第四季度聚集更多動力。

In terms of the uptick, it was cloud-based, but the service providers were reasonably solid as well, which gives us some comfort that we think that over the next couple of quarters will begin to come out. I would also say from a cloud point of view that it's broadly based amongst the cloud players, it's not just one, which also gives us some encouragement across the various applications that we're seeing.

就增長而言，它是基於雲的，但服務提供商也相當穩定，這給了我們一些安慰，我們認為在接下來的幾個季度中將開始出現。我還想說，從雲的角度來看，它廣泛存在於雲廠商中，而不僅僅是一個，這也給我們所看到的各種應用程序帶來了一些鼓勵。

Scott, in terms of particular applications...

斯科特，就特定應用而言......

Tim, I mean our position across that customer set really falls into 3 applications. Their Metro campus data center interconnect where they can own their own infrastructure. We participate strongly in their backbone. And then obviously, on the submarine segment where they have private installs as well on cables, we are seeing growth across all three of those and that's what sort of sums up to the 39% year-to-date growth in that broader segment.

蒂姆，我的意思是我們在該客戶群體中的地位實際上分為 3 個應用程序。他們的 Metro 園區數據中心互連，他們可以擁有自己的基礎設施。我們積極參與他們的骨幹活動。顯然，在海底領域，他們有私人安裝以及電纜，我們看到這三個領域都在增長，這就是該更廣泛領域今年迄今為止增長 39% 的總和。

In addition to that, there are quite a few parts around the world where they have chosen not to or are not able to own their own infrastructure. So they have a significant indirect pull on the service provider revenue, particularly outside of North America.

除此之外，世界上有相當多的地方他們選擇不或無法擁有自己的基礎設施。因此，它們對服務提供商的收入有顯著的間接拉動，尤其是在北美以外的地區。

At this time, we will conclude the question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Gregg Lampf, Vice President of Investor Relations, for any closing remarks.

至此，我們的問答環節就結束了。我想將會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁格雷格·蘭普夫 (Gregg Lampf) 發表閉幕詞。

Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate it. We look forward to speaking with you during the day and seeing you at various events over the next several weeks. Also, again, as a reminder, Jim and I will be at ECOC. If you're interested in meeting with us while we're there, please reach out and we'll be happy to do so. Thank you.

謝謝。謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們很感激。我們期待在白天與您交談，並在接下來幾週的各種活動中見到您。另外，再次提醒一下，吉姆和我將在 ECOC。如果您有興趣在我們在那裡期間與我們會面，請聯繫我們，我們將很樂意這樣做。謝謝。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。