Equinix Inc (EQIX) 2018 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Equinix Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Also, today's conference is being recorded. If anyone has any objections, please disconnect at this time.

下午好，歡迎參加 Equinix 第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）另外，今天的會議正在錄製中。如果有人有異議，請此時斷開連接。

I will now turn the call over to your host, Ms. Katrina Rymill, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

現在我將把電話轉給東道主投資者關係副總裁 Katrina Rymill 女士。你可以開始了。

Thank you, and welcome to today's conference call. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that some of the statements we'll be making today are forward-looking in nature and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly from these statements and may be affected by the risk that we identified in today's press release and those identified in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-K filed on February 26, 2018, and 10-Q filed on November 2, 2018. Equinix assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or comment on forward-looking statements made on this call. In addition, in light of Regulation Fair Disclosure, it is Equinix' policy not to comment on its financial guidance during the quarter, unless it is done through explicit public disclosure. In addition, we will provide non-GAAP measures on today's conference call. We provide a reconciliation of those measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and a list of the reasons why the company uses these measures in today's press release on the Equinix' IR page at www.equinix.com. We have made available on the IR page of our website a presentation designed to accompany this discussion, along with certain supplemental financial information and other data.

謝謝，歡迎參加今天的電話會議。在開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們今天將發表的一些聲明本質上是前瞻性的，並且涉及風險和不確定性。實際結果可能與這些聲明有很大差異，並且可能受到我們在今天的新聞稿中確定的風險以及我們向SEC 提交的文件中確定的風險的影響，包括我們於2018 年2 月26 日提交的最新10-K 表格和10- Q 於 2018 年 11 月 2 日提交。Equinix 不承擔任何義務，也不打算更新或評論本次電話會議中的前瞻性聲明。此外，根據公平揭露法規，Equinix 的政策是不對本季的財務指引發表評論，除非透過明確的公開揭露進行評論。此外，我們將在今天的電話會議上提供非公認會計原則措施。我們在今天的 Equinix IR 頁面 www.equinix.com 的新聞稿中提供了這些指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的調節表，以及公司使用這些指標的原因清單。我們在網站的投資者關係頁面上提供了旨在配合本次討論的演示文稿，以及某些補充財務資訊和其他數據。

We'd also like to remind you that we post important information about Equinix on our IR page from time to time, and encourage you to check our website regularly for the most current available information.

我們還想提醒您，我們會不時在 IR 頁面上發布有關 Equinix 的重要信息，並鼓勵您定期查看我們的網站以獲取最新信息。

With us today are Charles Meyers, Equinix' CEO and President; and Keith Taylor, Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we'll be taking questions from sell side analysts. In the interest of wrapping this call up in an hour, we'd like to ask these analysts to limit any follow-up questions to just one.

今天與我們在一起的有 Equinix 執行長兼總裁 Charles Meyers；和財務長基斯·泰勒。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將回答賣方分析師的問題。為了在一小時內結束這次電話會議，我們想請這些分析師將任何後續問題限制為一個。

At this time, I'll turn the call over to Charles.

這時候，我會把電話轉給查爾斯。

Thanks, Kat. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to our fourth quarter earnings call. We had great end of the year delivering our 64th consecutive quarter of revenue growth and eclipsing a key milestone with over $5 billion in revenue for the year. The opportunity for Equinix is as compelling as ever, as digital transformation is reshaping virtually every industry across the globe. Digital and the infrastructure that fuels it have emerged as board-level issues, and this digital imperative is transcending the macroeconomic volatility we see in the market. Customers are thinking differently about how they interact with their customers in every element of their supply chain. And the major tech trends, whether it be AI, IoT, big data or 5G, are all amplifying this digital tailwind. In the wake of this digital transformation wave, a clear architecture of choice has emerged for our customers. That architecture is global, highly distributed, hybrid and multicloud. And for a variety of reasons, customers are increasingly looking to locate this infrastructure at Equinix. Leveraging our interconnected digital edge to achieve performance, security, compliance, flexibility and total cost of ownership benefits that can only be supported by the physics of proximity and the economics of aggregation. These compelling advantages are translating into strong performance in the business and give us solid momentum as we enter 2019 and beyond.

謝謝，凱特。大家下午好，歡迎參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。我們在年底實現了連續第 64 個季度的營收成長，並以超過 50 億美元的年度收入超越了一個重要的里程碑。Equinix 的機會一如既往地引人注目，因為數位轉型正在重塑全球幾乎每個產業。數位化和為其提供動力的基礎設施已經成為董事會層面的問題，而這種數位化的必要性正在超越我們在市場上看到的宏觀經濟波動。客戶對供應鏈各環節與顧客的互動方式有不同的思考。而主要的科技趨勢，無論是人工智慧、物聯網、大數據或5G，都在放大這一數位順風。在這場數位轉型浪潮之後，為我們的客戶出現了一個清晰的選擇架構。該架構是全球性的、高度分散的、混合的和多雲的。由於各種原因，客戶越來越希望在 Equinix 上部署此基礎架構。利用我們的互聯數位邊緣來實現效能、安全性、合規性、靈活性和總擁有成本優勢，而這些優勢只能透過鄰近實體和聚合經濟來支援。這些引人注目的優勢正在轉化為強勁的業務業績，並為我們進入 2019 年及以後提供堅實的動力。

To build on this momentum, we're investing to expand our unmatched global reach, with 36 projects across 25 markets, adding new markets such as Hamburg, Muscat and Seoul. We are committed to designing, building and operating our data centers with high energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. In 2018, we source clean and renewable energy across 90% of our global platform, and we remain committed to our long-term goal of achieving 100%.

為了鞏固這一勢頭，我們正在投資擴大我們無與倫比的全球影響力，在 25 個市場擁有 36 個項目，並增加了漢堡、馬斯喀特和首爾等新市場。我們致力於設計、建置和營運具有高能源效率和環境永續性的資料中心。2018 年，我們全球平台 90% 的區域都採用清潔和再生能源，我們仍然致力於實現 100% 的長期目標。

We're extending our portfolio of interconnection offerings while building on our traditional interconnection portfolio with our market-leading ECX Fabric. And we've developed a roadmap for a number of compelling new services for the year ahead. We're continuing to cultivate high-value ecosystems and we'll scale well past the 10,000 participants currently on our platform, and we're standing behind those ecosystems with our 20-year track record of service excellence.

我們正在擴展我們的互連產品組合，同時利用市場領先的 ECX Fabric 來建立我們的傳統互連產品組合。我們也為未來一年的一些引人注目的新服務制定了路線圖。我們正在繼續培育高價值的生態系統，目前我們平台上的參與者數量將遠遠超過 10,000 名，並且我們憑藉 20 年的卓越服務記錄為這些生態系統提供支援。

We remained focused on the 6 priorities I outlined last quarter, including expanding our go-to-market engine, evolving our portfolio of partners and products and delivering on our HIT strategy, all while remaining steadfast in our commitment to deliver against the revenue, margin expansion and AFFO per share targets laid out at our last Analyst Day.

我們仍然專注於我上季度概述的 6 個優先事項，包括擴大我們的上市引擎、發展我們的合作夥伴和產品組合以及實施我們的 HIT 戰略，同時堅定不移地致力於實現收入和利潤我們在上一次分析師日制定了擴張和AFFO 每股目標。

We ended the year with a very strong fourth quarter, delivering record gross and net bookings, which sets us up nicely for a good start to 2019.

我們以非常強勁的第四季度結束了這一年，總預訂量和淨預訂量均創歷史新高，這為我們為 2019 年的良好開局奠定了良好的基礎。

As depicted on Slide 3, revenues for the full year were $5.1 billion, up 9% year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA was up 7% year-over-year, and AFFO was meaningfully ahead of our expectations. These growth rates are all on a normalized and constant-currency basis. Interconnection revenues continue to outpace colocation, growing 12% year-over-year and multi-deployment metrics increased across the board with robust cross-border bookings driven by continued strength in both cloud and enterprise. Today, over 60% of our recurring revenues comes from customers deployed across all 3 regions, and 86% from customers deployed across multiple metros. Our hyperscale initiative continues to enjoy significant momentum and will allow us to capture strategic large footprint deployments from select customers while mitigating strain on our balance sheet by employing off-balance sheet structures. We're seeing strong success with the initial capacity we brought to market and our customer pipeline is robust. Our Paris 8 asset is more than 60% preleased, and with our London 10 facility, we have pre-sold 20 megawatts of capacity to key hyperscale customers with an average contract tenure of greater than 11 years. We also have several other projects in development, including Tokyo 12, our first dedicated hyperscale project in APAC, and a secured land across a number of other high demand metros, including Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Our discussions with financing partners are progressing well, and we expect to have our first JV executed in the coming months with a compelling collection of assets. We expect the JV structure to have minimal impact on our P&L and other core metrics in 2019 as we continue to ramp up the initiatives. We look forward to providing additional details when we announce the transaction.

如投影片 3 所示，全年營收為 51 億美元，年增 9%。調整後 EBITDA 年成長 7%，AFFO 明顯超出我們的預期。這些成長率均以標準化和固定匯率為基礎。互連收入持續超過託管收入，年增 12%，多部署指標全面成長，在雲端和企業持續強勁的推動下，跨境預訂量強勁。如今，我們超過 60% 的經常性收入來自部署在所有 3 個地區的客戶，86% 來自部署在多個城市的客戶。我們的超大規模計劃繼續保持強勁勢頭，將使我們能夠從選定的客戶那裡獲得戰略性的大規模部署，同時透過採用表外結構減輕我們資產負債表的壓力。我們看到我們推向市場的初始產能取得了巨大成功，而且我們的客戶管道也很強大。我們的巴黎 8 號資產預售率超過 60%，透過倫敦 10 號設施，我們已向主要超大規模客戶預售了 20 兆瓦的容量，平均合約期限超過 11 年。我們還有其他幾個正在開發的項目，包括東京 12，這是我們在亞太地區的第一個專用超大規模項目，以及阿姆斯特丹和法蘭克福等許多其他高需求城市的安全土地。我們與融資合作夥伴的討論進展順利，我們預計將在未來幾個月內執行我們的第一個合資企業，並擁有一系列引人注目的資產。隨著我們繼續加大力度，我們預計合資結構對我們 2019 年損益和其他核心指標的影響最小。我們期待在宣布交易時提供更多細節。

Shifting to interconnection. We have the most comprehensive global interconnection platform, now comprising over 333,000 physical and virtual interconnections, over 4x more than any competitor. In Q4, we added an incremental 8,800 interconnections, including 1,800 virtual connections and are adding more per quarter than other providers do annually. Software-defined networking is acting as a technology catalyst for our interconnection value prop, reducing the friction for buyers and creating a thriving environment that is driving demand across all our interconnection offerings. Customers using virtual connections are also our highest users of physical connections, showcasing the complementary nature of our portfolio.

轉向互聯互通。我們擁有最全面的全球互連平台，目前包含超過 333,000 個實體和虛擬互連，比任何競爭對手多 4 倍以上。在第四季度，我們增加了 8,800 個互連，其中包括 1,800 個虛擬連接，並且每季度增加的數量比其他提供者每年增加的數量還要多。軟體定義網路正在充當我們互連價值支撐的技術催化劑，減少買家的摩擦並創造一個繁榮的環境，推動我們所有互連產品的需求。使用虛擬連線的客戶也是我們實體連線的最高用戶，這展示了我們產品組合的互補性。

For our Internet Exchange Platform, revenues, ports and traffic were all up due to strong global demand and new market growth in EMEA and Brazil. IX peak traffic surpassed 10 terabits per second for the first time, and was up 8% quarter-over-quarter.

對於我們的網路交換平台，由於全球需求強勁以及歐洲、中東和非洲和巴西的新市場成長，收入、連接埠和流量均有所成長。IX 峰值流量首次超過每秒 10 太比特，季增 8%。

Now let me cover some highlights from our verticals. Our network vertical had its second-highest bookings, led by EMEA and fueled in part by continued strength in MSP resale to enterprise customers, with our leading network density and over half our sites along coastal locations, we also continue to win new subsea cable opportunities and have been selected in more than 25 subsea cable projects over the last few years. Wins this quarter included the Curie subsea cable landing station in LA 4, Google's first private subsea cable connecting Los Angeles and Chile as well as cross-lake fibers, connecting the major financial metros of Toronto and New York under Lake Ontario. Our financial services vertical also saw its second-highest bookings, led by insurance and banking as well as strong new logo performance as firms embraced digital transformation. Expansions included a top 10 global asset manager rearchitecting their network and securely connecting across 7 metros as well as a top 15 multinational insurance company, leveraging hybrid multicloud and distributed data in Singapore and Hong Kong.

現在讓我介紹一下我們垂直領域的一些亮點。我們的垂直網路預訂量位居第二，其中以歐洲、中東和非洲地區為首，部分原因是向企業客戶的MSP 轉售持續強勁，憑藉我們領先的網絡密度和超過一半的沿海地區站點，我們還繼續贏得新的海底電纜機會在過去幾年中，已被超過 25 個海底電纜項目選中。本季的勝利包括位於 LA 4 的居里海底電纜登陸站，這是谷歌第一條連接洛杉磯和智利的私人海底電纜，以及連接安大略湖下多倫多和紐約主要金融大都市的跨湖光纖。我們的金融服務垂直領域的預訂量也位居第二，其中以保險和銀行業為首，隨著企業擁抱數位轉型，新標誌也表現強勁。擴張包括利用新加坡和香港的混合多雲和分散式數據，全球排名前 10 的資產管理公司重新建立網路並安全連接 7 個城市以及排名前 15 的跨國保險公司。

In content and digital media, we saw record bookings led by EMEA and strength in the publishing and gaming sub-segments. Customer expansions, included roadblocks, Tencent, Thompson as well as Fastly, a global cloud edge platform that has been upgrading to 100 GB to support continued demand of mobile users across 23 IBXs. Our cloud and IT vertical also delivered record bookings led by the software sub-segment, as the cloud continues to diversify. Expansions included StackPath, a leading provider of edge cloud services, deploying infrastructure across 21 metros as well as a British ERP SaaS provider, expanding to support customer demand for cloud services at the edge. The enterprise vertical which drove a full 1/3 of total bookings in 2018 continues to be our fastest-growing vertical, with bookings in Q4 led by the energy, healthcare and retail sub-segments. New wins included a global grocer, transforming their network for a cloud-first strategy, a Fortune 100 global chemical company rearchitecting their network to transform IT delivery and a top automotive parts manufacturer, leveraging ecosystem partners via ECX.

在內容和數位媒體方面，我們看到歐洲、中東和非洲地區的預訂量創歷史新高，以及出版和遊戲細分市場的實力。客戶擴展包括 Roadblocks、騰訊、Thompson 以及 Fastly，這是一個全球雲端邊緣平台，已升級至 100 GB，以支援 23 個 IBX 行動用戶的持續需求。隨著雲端運算的不斷多元化，我們的雲端運算和 IT 垂直領域也以軟體細分市場為主導，創下了創紀錄的預訂量。擴張包括 StackPath，這是一家領先的邊緣雲端服務供應商，在 21 個城市部署基礎設施，以及英國 ERP SaaS 供應商，進行擴張以支援客戶對邊緣雲端服務的需求。企業垂直領域佔 2018 年總預訂量的 1/3，仍是我們成長最快的垂直領域，第四季的預訂量以能源、醫療保健和零售細分市場為主導。新的勝利包括一家全球雜貨商改造其網路以實施雲端優先策略、一家財富 100 強全球工公司重新建構其網路以改造 IT 交付，以及一家頂級汽車零件製造商透過 ECX 利用生態系統合作夥伴。

Channel sales continue to represent a critical lever for expanding our market reach, delivering our third consecutive quarter with over 20% of bookings, and accounting for half of our new logos, driven by solid performance across all partner types. We are very pleased with our channel progress and continue to build predictable and repeatable deal flow. In 2018, the channel drove over 4,000 deals, a great indication of a significant velocity of our retail selling engine. New channel wins this quarter included a joint win with Verizon for a high-performance semiconductor manufacturer, launching new dev test infrastructure to support the engineering community as well as a partner win with CBRE for a U.S. regional bank using Platform Equinix to lower their total cost of ownership and improve users experience across their 1,700 branches.

通路銷售仍然是擴大我們市場覆蓋範圍的關鍵槓桿，在所有合作夥伴類型的穩健表現的推動下，我們連續第三個季度的預訂量超過 20%，並占我們新徽標的一半。我們對通路進展感到非常滿意，並將繼續建立可預測和可重複的交易流程。2018 年，該通路促成了超過 4,000 筆交易，這充分證明我們零售銷售引擎的快速發展。本季贏得的新管道包括與 Verizon 共同贏得一家高性能半導體製造商、推出新的開發測試基礎設施以支持工程界，以及與 CBRE 合作贏得一家美國地區銀行，使用 Platform Equinix 降低總成本所有權並改善1,700個分支機構的使用者體驗。

Now let me turn the call over to Keith to cover the results for the quarter.

現在讓我把電話轉給基思，介紹本季的業績。

Great. Thanks, Charles. Good afternoon to everyone. As we put a wrap on 2018, it's great to end the year with our financial results beating guidance across every one of our core metrics. As Charles highlighted, revenues eclipsed another key threshold, ending the year at greater than $5 billion, a 9% year-over-year growth rate. AFFO per share was $20.69, a great result showing how we're driving value at the share level and tracking ahead of our key operating metrics, as said at the June 2018 Analyst Day. For the fourth quarter, we had extremely strong bookings across each of our regions, including a record in EMEA while both America and APAC regions had their second best bookings performance to date. Our booking span across more than 3,000 customers, with 1/4 of them buying across multiple metros, highlighting the unique diversity of our retail colocation business. Simply, we're seeing more cross-region, more multimetro deals than at any other time in our history, a reflection of the strength of our platform and the scale of our global footprint.

偉大的。謝謝，查爾斯。大家下午好。當我們結束 2018 年時，我們很高興以我們的每項核心指標的財務表現都超過了預期來結束這一年。正如 Charles 所強調的那樣，收入超越了另一個關鍵門檻，年終收入超過 50 億美元，年成長率為 9%。每股 AFFO 為 20.69 美元，正如 2018 年 6 月分析師日所述，這是一個很好的結果，顯示了我們如何在股票層面推動價值並領先於我們的關鍵營運指標。第四季度，我們每個地區的預訂量都非常強勁，其中歐洲、中東和非洲地區創下了紀錄，而美洲和亞太地區的預訂量則創下了迄今為止第二高的成績。我們的預訂涵蓋 3,000 多名客戶，其中 1/4 跨越多個地鐵站進行購買，凸顯了我們零售託管業務的獨特多樣性。簡而言之，我們看到的跨地區、多都市交易比歷史上任何時候都多，這反映了我們平台的實力和我們全球足跡的規模。

We had net positive pricing actions again this quarter, highlighting the continued strength of our differentiated value proposition. Our sales pipeline remains high. We have a significant number of new Fortune 500 prospects, and we have a very active expansion pipeline with over 36 projects underway and will expand our interconnected digital edge to 55 metros by the end of 2019, effectively twice the number of metros compared to our next largest competitor.

本季我們再次採取了淨積極的定價行動，突顯了我們差異化價值主張的持續優勢。我們的銷售管道仍然很高。我們擁有大量新的財富500 強潛在客戶，並且我們擁有非常活躍的擴張管道，有超過36 個項目正在進行中，並將在2019 年底之前將我們的互聯數位邊緣擴展到55 個地鐵，這實際上是我們下一個地鐵數量的兩倍最大的競爭對手。

Next, I'll cover the quarterly highlights. Know that all growth rates in this section are on a normalized and on a constant-currency basis. As depicted on Slide 4, global Q4 revenues were $1.31 billion, up 8% over the same quarter last year, and above the top end of our guidance range. Q4 revenues net of our FX hedges, included a $2 million negative currency impact when compared to both the Q3 average and the guidance FX rates. Global Q4 adjusted EBITDA was $617 million, up 5% over the same quarter last year, and better than our expectations due to -- partly due to revenue flow-through and lower integration costs. Our Q4 adjusted EBITDA performance net of our FX hedges had a $1 million negative impact when compared to both our Q3 average and guidance FX rates. Global Q4 AFFO was $414 million, including seasonally high recurring capital expenditures, better-than-expected, largely due to lower income expense during in the quarter. Despite the lower income taxes in Q4, as we look forward, we expect our earnings in non-U. S. entities to increase, which, as a result, will increase our cash income tax cost as reflected in our guidance. Q4 global MRR churn was 2.1%, better than our expectations. For 2019, we expect MRR churn to average between 2% and 2.5% per quarter.

接下來，我將介紹季度亮點。請注意，本節中的所有成長率都是標準化且以固定匯率為基礎的。如投影片 4 所示，第四季全球營收為 13.1 億美元，比去年同期成長 8%，高於我們指引範圍的上限。與第三季平均匯率和指導匯率相比，第四季度收入扣除我們的外匯對沖後，包括 200 萬美元的負面貨幣影響。全球第四季調整後 EBITDA 為 6.17 億美元，比去年同期成長 5%，優於我們的預期，部分原因是營收流轉和較低的整合成本。與我們第三季的平均匯率和指導匯率相比，我們在第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 業績（扣除外匯對沖後）產生了 100 萬美元的負面影響。全球第四季 AFFO 為 4.14 億美元，包括季節性高額經常性資本支出，優於預期，這主要是由於本季收入支出下降。儘管第四季度所得稅較低，但正如我們展望的那樣，我們預計我們在非美國地區的收入。美國實體增加，這將增加我們的現金所得稅成本，如我們的指導所反映的。第四季全球 MRR 流失率為 2.1%，優於我們的預期。2019 年，我們預計每季 MRR 流失率平均在 2% 至 2.5% 之間。

Turning to the regional highlights, whose full results are covered on Slides 5 through 7. APAC, EMEA were the fastest-growing regions at 15% and 11%, respectively, on a year-over-year normalized MRR basis, followed by the Americas region at 5%. The Americas region had a strong finish to the year, better-than-expected bookings, increased cross-border deals and lower churn. Net cross-connects stepped up nicely, the best net adds in 2 years. Net cabs billing rebounded, too. The Verizon assets had their best gross quarterly bookings performance since we acquired the assets in part due to the newly open capacity. Verizon assets, as expected, absorbed higher MRR churn in the quarter. We expect these assets to return to growth in 2019. EMEA had a record quarter led by our Dutch and German businesses. We continue to expand with about half our global construction activity in the region weighted towards the flat markets. As mentioned last quarter, we're seeing higher utility prices across many of our EMEA metros. This cost increases partially offset by our utility hedges, which will roll off over the coming quarters and reset at market rates. These higher cost, as reflected in our guidance, are the result of higher unit prices, increased utility taxes and increased consumption from our customers.

轉向區域亮點，幻燈片 5 至 7 涵蓋了其全部結果。亞太地區、歐洲、中東和非洲地區是增長最快的地區，按標準化 MRR 計算，同比分別增長 15% 和 11%，其次是美洲地區5 %。美洲地區今年表現強勁，預訂量優於預期，跨境交易增加，客戶流失率降低。網路交叉連線成長良好，是兩年來最好的網路成長。出租車淨計費也出現反彈。自從我們收購這些資產以來，Verizon 的資產取得了最好的季度總預訂業績，部分原因是新開放的產能。正如預期的那樣，Verizon 資產吸收了本季較高的 MRR 流失率。我們預計這些資產將在 2019 年恢復成長。歐洲、中東和非洲地區在我們的荷蘭和德國業務的帶動下，創下了創紀錄的季度業績。我們繼續擴張，該地區全球建築活動的一半左右都集中在平坦市場。正如上個季度所提到的，我們發現歐洲、中東和非洲許多城市的公用事業價格上漲。這一成本的增加部分被我們的公用事業對沖所抵消，公用事業對沖將在未來幾季滾動並按市場利率重置。正如我們的指導所反映的，這些較高的成本是單價上漲、公用事業稅增加和客戶消費增加的結果。

And Asia Pacific delivered solid bookings across each of the core metrics -- metros. Cabinet billings more than doubled compared to the fourth quarter average, driven by cloud and content deployments. MRR per cabinet moved down, the result of the significant new cabinet deployments and the impact of the Metronode acquisition.

亞太地區在每個核心指標（地鐵）上都實現了穩定的預訂。在雲端和內容部署的推動下，機櫃帳單比第四季平均增加了一倍以上。由於新機櫃的重大部署以及 Metronode 收購的影響，每個機櫃的 MRR 下降。

Turning to our interconnection activity. Net adds were at the high end of the range for both physical and virtual connections. The Americas and Asia-Pacific interconnection revenues were 23% and 14%, respectively, while EMEA was 9% of recurring revenues. From a total company perspective, interconnection revenues were 17% of total recurring revenues.

轉向我們的互連活動。實體連接和虛擬連接的淨添加量都處於範圍的高端。美洲和亞太地區的互連收入分別佔經常性收入的 23% 和 14%，而歐洲、中東和非洲地區則佔經常性收入的 9%。從公司整體角度來看，互連收入佔經常性收入總額的 17%。

And now looking at the capital structure, please refer to Slide 8. Our unrestricted cash balance is approximately $610 million, a decrease over the prior quarter due to our capital expenditures and the quarterly cash dividend. Our net debt leverage ratio was 4.4x at Q4 annualized adjusted EBITDA. We also exercise the remaining portion of our inaugural ATM program in the quarter, raising $114 million. As we've discussed previously, we remain steadfastly committed to driving long-term shareholder value and we'll continue to fund the business primarily through strong operating results, but also accessing the capital markets with the desire to unlock significant value, which becomes -- which includes becoming an investment grade rated company.

現在看看資本結構，請參閱投影片 8。我們的非限制現金餘額約為 6.1 億美元，由於我們的資本支出和季度現金股息，比上一季有所減少。以第四季年化調整後 EBITDA 計算，我們的淨負債槓桿率為 4.4 倍。我們還在本季執行了首個 ATM 計畫的剩餘部分，籌集了 1.14 億美元。正如我們之前討論的那樣，我們仍然堅定地致力於推動長期股東價值，我們將繼續主要透過強勁的經營業績為業務提供資金，但也會進入資本市場，以釋放重大價值，這將成為 - - 其中包括成為投資等級評級公司。

Turning to Slide 9. For the quarter, capital expenditures were approximately $680 million, including recurring CapEx of $70 million. We opened 6 expansions across 5 markets in the quarter, adding about 8,000 cabinets. We announced 12 new expansions, including our Dallas 11 build, which will be adjacent to our Infomart Dallas asset, effectively creating a new and significant campus to support the strategic market. Revenues from owned assets stepped up to 54%, a meaningful increase over the prior quarter, largely due to the conversion of our strategic New York 4, 5 and 6 assets to owned facilities as we entered into a long-term ground lease with our landlord, similar to the Slough campus in our London market. This decision will increase our operating flexibility for future developments while securing the assets over the long term, particularly given the importance of this financial campus. We also purchased our Zurich 5 facility as well as land for development in Frankfurt, Hamburg, Lisbon, Osaka and Rio de Janeiro. All of our real estate activities will help increase the level of revenues from owned assets, our key metric to support our investment-grade aspirations.

轉向幻燈片 9。本季的資本支出約為 6.8 億美元，其中經常性資本支出為 7000 萬美元。本季我們在 5 個市場開設了 6 個擴建項目，增加了約 8,000 個機櫃。我們宣布了 12 個新的擴建項目，包括達拉斯 11 大樓，該大樓將毗鄰我們的達拉斯 Infomart 資產，有效地創建一個新的重要園區來支持戰略市場。自有資產收入上升至 54%，較上一季度大幅增長，這主要是由於我們與房東簽訂長期土地租賃協議，將紐約 4、5 和 6 號戰略資產轉換為自有設施，類似於我們倫敦市場的斯勞校區。這項決定將提高我們未來發展的營運彈性，同時確保長期資產的安全，特別是考慮到這個金融園區的重要性。我們也購買了蘇黎世 5 號工廠以及法蘭克福、漢堡、里斯本、大阪和里約熱內盧的開髮用地。我們所有的房地產活動都將有助於提高自有資產的收入水平，這是我們支持投資等級願望的關鍵指標。

Our capital investments are delivering strong returns, as shown on Slide 10. Our 130 stabilized assets grew revenues 2% year-over-year on a constant-currency basis, largely driven by increasing colocation and interconnection revenues, while continuing to absorb the headwinds we discussed last quarter. These stabilized assets are collectively 84% utilized, and generate a 30% cash on cash return on the gross PP&E invested.

我們的資本投資正在帶來豐厚的回報，如投影片 10 所示。我們的 130 項穩定資產以固定匯率計算，營收年增 2%，這主要是由於託管和互連收入的增加，同時繼續吸收我們上季度討論的不利因素。這些穩定資產總共得到 84% 的利用率，並為 PP&E 投資總額帶來 30% 的現金報酬率。

And finally, please refer to Slides 11 through 16 for our summary of 2019 guidance and bridges. Also note, we've adopted the new leasing standard, ASC 842, the impact of which is highlighted on Slide 12.

最後，請參閱投影片 11 至 16，以了解我們對 2019 年指南和橋樑的總結。另請注意，我們採用了新的租賃標準 ASC 842，其影響在投影片 12 中突出顯示。

Starting with revenues. We expect to deliver a 9% to 10% growth rate for 2019. We expect to start the year with a significant increase in recurring revenues in Q1, largely due to our strong Q4 bookings performance. For the full year, we expect to deliver the largest annual absolute dollar increase in our history, the result of continued strong operating performance and a healthy pipeline. We expect 2019 adjusted EBITDA margins to be 47.7%, excluding integration costs. The result of strong operating leverage in the business offset by significant expansion activities, including new markets, higher EMEA utilities expense and a new leasing accounting standard. Also, we expect to incur $15 million of integration cost in 2019 to finalize the integration of our various acquisitions. 2019 AFFO is expected to grow 10% to 13% compared to the previous year. For 2019, we expect AFFO per share to grow 8% to 11%, excluding financings. Including capital market activities and taking into consideration market conditions and timing, we expect AFFO per share to be greater than 8%, consistent with our AFFO per share growth targets as discussed at the June 2018 Analyst Day. And we expect our 2019 cash dividends to increase approximately $800 million, a 10% increase over the prior year, and an 8% increase on a per share basis.

從收入開始。我們預計 2019 年將實現 9% 至 10% 的成長率。我們預計今年第一季的經常性收入將大幅成長，這主要歸功於我們第四季強勁的預訂表現。就全年而言，我們預計將實現歷史上最大的年度絕對美元增幅，這是持續強勁的經營業績和健康的管道的結果。我們預期 2019 年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 47.7%（不含整合成本）。業務中強大的營運槓桿所帶來的結果被重大擴張活動所抵消，包括新市場、歐洲、中東和非洲公用事業費用的增加以及新的租賃會計標準。此外，我們預計 2019 年將產生 1,500 萬美元的整合成本，以完成我們各項收購的整合。2019年AFFO預計較上年成長10%至13%。2019 年，我們預計 AFFO 每股盈餘將成長 8% 至 11%（不含融資）。考慮到資本市場活動並考慮到市場狀況和時機，我們預計 AFFO 每股將超過 8%，這與我們在 2018 年 6 月分析師日討論的 AFFO 每股成長目標一致。我們預計 2019 年現金股利將增加約 8 億美元，比上年增加 10%，每股增加 8%。

So let me stop there, and I'll turn it back to Charles.

那麼讓我就此打住，我會把它轉回給查爾斯。

Thanks, Keith. In closing, we continue to build our market leadership and cement our position as the trusted center of a cloud-first world. Our reach, scale and innovative product portfolio puts us in a great position to build on a business model that is substantially and durably differentiated from our peers. The market remains in the early innings of the digital transformation journey, and our accelerating ability to both land and expand customers along that journey make us confident that we are playing the best hand in the business. We're excited about the road ahead, and we look forward to updating you on our progress throughout the year. So let me stop here, and open up to questions.

謝謝，基斯。最後，我們將繼續建立我們的市場領導地位，並鞏固我們作為雲端優先世界值得信賴的中心的地位。我們的影響力、規模和創新產品組合使我們處於有利地位，能夠建立一種與同行有實質和持久差異化的商業模式。市場仍處於數位轉型之旅的早期階段，我們在這過程中不斷加速吸引和擴大客戶的能力，使我們相信我們在業務中發揮著最好的作用。我們對未來的道路感到興奮，並期待向您通報我們全年的進展。讓我在這裡停下來，提出問題。

(Operator Instructions) The first question is coming from Phil Cusick, JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Phil Cusick。

I just wanted to follow-up. It seems like a lot of your development -- sorry, this is Richard. A lot of your developments in EMEA and Asia with the big development in Americas coming in Dallas in mid-'20, it seems like in terms of your pipeline and commencements, can you give us a sense of do you feel like you have enough capacity in the United States right now, and you don't have to focus on it and you can spend more capital in EMEA and Asia and kind of balance that growth rate? And two, do you expect the Verizon assets to ramp through the year? Or will it be lumpy? Any kind of following along with all this, your leverage is at 4 4 versus the 3 to 4 target. Do you feel like you need to use a new ATM to fund it or will it just -- will you grow into it as the business expands?

我只是想跟進。看起來你的進步很大——抱歉，我是理查德。你們在歐洲、中東和非洲和亞洲的許多開發項目以及美洲的大型開發項目將於20 世紀20 年代中期在達拉斯進行，就你們的管道和開工而言，您能否讓我們了解一下您是否覺得自己有足夠的能力現在在美國，你不必關注它，你可以在歐洲、中東和非洲和亞洲投入更多資本，並在某種程度上平衡成長率？第二，您預計今年 Verizon 的資產會增加嗎？還是會結塊？任何類型的跟隨以及所有這一切，你的槓桿都是 4 4 而不是 3 到 4 的目標。您是否覺得需要使用新的 ATM 來為其提供資金，還是會隨著業務的擴展而成長？

Okay. There was a lot there. Why don't we start with the development, as sort of the profile of our development portfolio. Actually, I think, pretty much what you're seeing is just that the development profile is following the growth rates. And so we have -- we are in a period now, some pretty significant build activity in EMEA, have continued to see very strong bookings and growth out of the EMEA region. And so we're getting through, I think, sort of a lump of that investment, which will position us extremely well and we continue to extend our market leadership in EMEA. APAC continues to be a very important region for us in the world, and I think you're going to see us continue to invest meaningfully there. In the Americas, as you noted, we're going to start the journey to building out Infomart as a campus, and I think that's going to be a big opportunity for us. But the growth rate is slower. We have made meaningful investments in some key assets in the Americas, and feel very well positioned to continue to feed the bookings engine there. So I think what you're seeing really is just a profile there that, one, runs a little bit in waves; and two, just sort of maps to the sort of region to region growth profile of the business. Second piece was on Verizon. I think, it's a little tough to tell you, but I think the business, at some degree, is always a little bit lumpy. I think, we have now kind of worked our way through the bulk of the lumpier churn, and I think we're seeing those assets stabilize. And when you add in the fact that we've added capacity into some of the critical new markets, where we believe there's strong demand, like NOTA and Houston and et cetera, Culpeper, we feel good about that returning to growth, and we hope that, that will sort of progress positively throughout the year. Then the last piece was on leverage, and so I'll Keith comment on that.

好的。那裡有很多東西。我們為什麼不從開發開始，作為我們開發組合的概況。實際上，我認為，您所看到的幾乎只是發展概況遵循成長率。因此，我們現在正處於歐洲、中東和非洲地區一些相當重要的建設活動的時期，歐洲、中東和非洲地區的預訂量和成長持續非常強勁。因此，我認為我們正在完成這筆投資，這將使我們處於非常有利的位置，我們將繼續擴大我們在歐洲、中東和非洲地區的市場領導地位。亞太地區仍然是我們在世界上非常重要的地區，我認為您將看到我們繼續在那裡進行有意義的投資。在美洲，正如您所指出的，我們將開始將 Infomart 建造為園區的旅程，我認為這對我們來說將是一個巨大的機會。但成長速度較慢。我們對美洲的一些關鍵資產進行了有意義的投資，並且感覺自己處於非常有利的位置，可以繼續為那裡的預訂引擎提供支援。所以我認為你所看到的其實只是一個輪廓，其一，有點波浪狀；第二，只是映射到業務的區域間成長概況。第二篇文章是在 Verizon 上發布的。我想，這有點難告訴你，但我認為業務在某種程度上總是有點不穩定。我認為，我們現在已經解決了大部分不穩定的問題，而且我認為我們正在看到這些資產趨於穩定。事實上，我們已經在一些關鍵的新市場增加了產能，我們相信這些市場的需求強勁，例如 NOTA 和休士頓等地，Culpeper，我們對恢復成長感到滿意，我們希望這將在全年取得積極進展。最後一部分是關於槓桿的，所以我將對此發表評論。

And you will note, sort of we said in the last quarter, we did bump up to 4.4x our annualized Q4 adjusted EBITDA. As we look forward, again, our goal is to get within 3 to 4x net leverage range. We're going to accomplish that in many different ways, but the most easiest way to do that is continue to drive growth on the top line with the strong operating leverage and just by sheer growth, it will naturally delever the business. Simultaneous with that, as we continue to look for ways to raise capital, we're always going to take a balanced view, of course, between the ATM program and whether or not we try and secure any incremental debt, that's also going to help us delever particularly as it relates to the ATM program. And then just overall, collectively, I think, it's important just to elaborate a little bit on our -- our quest has always been -- we have an aspiration to become an investment grade rated company. Just simply put, we think it's worth 75 to 90 basis points on the $10 billion of debt. And so assume -- let's just round it up to $100 million of cash, pretax, when you put our multiple on to that, it's a meaningful amount of value that we can create for our shareholders over a relatively short period of time if we work really well to grow the top line, show the operating leverage and bring our debt balance into the target range, something we certainly shared with the credit ratings agencies and with many of our investors over the years. So this is an area of high focus for us, and we'll continue to have aspirations to get to the investment grade. So we're going to work hard at doing that in 2019.

您會注意到，我們在上個季度說過，我們確實將第四季度調整後 EBITDA 的年化成長率提高到了 4.4 倍。展望未來，我們的目標是將淨槓桿率控制在 3 至 4 倍範圍內。我們將透過許多不同的方式來實現這一目標，但最簡單的方法是繼續透過強大的營運槓桿推動營收成長，僅僅透過純粹的成長，它自然會降低業務的去槓桿化。同時，當我們繼續尋找籌集資金的方法時，當然，我們總是會在 ATM 計劃和我們是否嘗試獲得任何增量債務之間採取平衡的觀點，這也將有所幫助我們特別關注ATM 程序。然後，總的來說，我認為，重要的是要詳細說明我們一直以來的追求，我們渴望成為一家投資級評級公司。簡而言之，我們認為 100 億美元的債務值得 75 到 90 個基點。因此，假設 - 讓我們將稅前現金四捨五入到 1 億美元，當你將我們的倍數計算在內時，如果我們努力工作，我們可以在相對較短的時間內為我們的股東創造大量的價值確實很好地增加了收入，顯示了營運槓桿並將我們的債務餘額控制在目標範圍內，這些年來我們當然與信用評級機構和許多投資者分享了這一點。因此，這是我們高度關注的領域，我們將繼續渴望達到投資等級。因此，我們將在 2019 年努力做到這一點。

The next question is coming from Jordan Sadler, KeyBanc Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 KeyBanc 資本市場部的 Jordan Sadler。

First, can you provide a little bit of granularity on the 2019 revenue growth? I think, interconnection revenue growth slowed to about 10% year-over-year in the fourth quarter versus maybe 18% for the full year. Do you expect this driver to stabilize in 4Q -- or at the 4Q pace in '19? Or will it reaccelerate alongside the increased cross-connect volume you've booked in the fourth quarter? And then second, what is the year-end leverage target, just following up on Richard's question here, that's embedded in the 2019 guide? I kind of noticed that interest expense for the full year guide, it looks like it's down somewhat from the full year 2018 interest expense in the face of rising rates, that seems like maybe you're getting some savings either from lower leverage in issuance or maybe from some other area. Could you maybe shed some light?

首先，能否詳細介紹 2019 年的營收成長？我認為，第四季互連營收年增率放緩至 10% 左右，而全年增速可能為 18%。您預計該驅動因素會在第四季穩定下來，還是以 19 年第四季的速度穩定下來？或者它會隨著您在第四季度預訂的交叉連接量的增加而重新加速嗎？其次，2019 年指引中包含的年底槓桿目標是多少？我注意到全年指南的利息支出，在利率上升的情況下，看起來比 2018 年全年利息支出有所下降，這似乎可能是您透過降低發行槓桿或也許來自其他地區。能透露一些情況嗎？

Thanks, Jordan. I'll let Keith take the second part of that. But as for the interconnection business, we feel like this was really a tremendous quarter and demonstrates continued strength in the interconnection business. We're at the top end of our range in physical interconnections, and now we've started to report virtual interconnections with another 1,800 on top of that. And so we really feel terrific about the interconnection value proposition about the value that our customers are getting for that. In terms of the growth rate, it was 10% as reported, normalized to 12%. And so I think it moves around a little bit depending on some factors, but we feel like that is going to continue to outpace our colocation business and is, obviously, a very attractive business for us in terms of continuing to drive the overall financial performance. And there's a few areas, I think, that represent upside opportunities for us: one, I think, we've kind of begun the process of more sort of normalizing pricing in EMEA on the interconnection, which is something we have talked about since the Telecity transaction. I said, I think, there's opportunity there. I think we're continuing to see an evolution in terms of percentage of revenue that is interconnection-based in the other 2 regions continuing to move positively. And again, the performance in terms of volumes of interconnection in the Americas portfolio continues to be strong as well. So I had expected that's going to -- that is -- again, it's not going to be at that previous 18% level, but I think we're going to see very strong interconnection growth in the business.

謝謝，喬丹。我會讓基斯承擔第二部分。但就互連業務而言，我們認為這確實是一個巨大的季度，並展示了互連業務的持續實力。我們處於實體互連範​​圍的高端，現在我們已經開始報告與另外 1,800 個虛擬互連的關係。因此，我們對客戶從中獲得的互連價值主張感到非常滿意。就成長率而言，報告為 10%，標準化後為 12%。因此，我認為它會根據某些因素而有所變化，但我們認為這將繼續超過我們的託管業務，並且顯然，就繼續推動整體財務業績而言，這對我們來說是一項非常有吸引力的業務。我認為，有幾個領域對我們來說代表著上行機會：一，我認為，我們已經開始在歐洲、中東和非洲地區的互連定價上進行更多類型的標準化過程，這是我們自2017 年以來一直在談論的事情。遠程城交易。我說，我認為，那裡有機會。我認為我們將繼續看到其他兩個地區基於互連的收入百分比的演變，並繼續積極發展。同樣，美洲產品組合的互連量表現也持續強勁。因此，我曾預計，這將不會達到之前 18% 的水平，但我認為我們將看到業務中非常強勁的互連成長。

Okay. And Jordan, let me take the second part of the question. First and foremost, in the prepared remarks, one of the things that we've stated is we're highly focused on delivering growth on an AFFO per share basis. And in respect of our financing, we're going to deliver an AFFO per share growth of 8% or greater. I wanted to highlight that, number one. Number two, as I said, there's a lot of value in getting to -- back into the investment grade window. We're working hard with our ratings agencies and some of our advisers to execute against that strategy. We think there's no better place to create substantial one-off value right out the gate and getting to investment grades. So it is an area of high focus for us. As it relates to your specific questions on what we want to target, let me just say that we are looking at all alternatives. Of course, it's very dependent on market conditions, our quantity, pricing, timing, source of capital. And so suffice it to say, we as a company are going to look at all avenues to make sure that we can execute and maximize our shareholder value. As it relates specifically to the interest rate, as a company, no surprise to you, we work very hard to drive down our interest rate cost. And over the years, as you probably have noted, that we've been able to take our average cost, x basis, so over $10 billion of debt, which is a -- is a notch above 4% for noninvestment graded rated company. But we've also recently done a cross-currency swap with one of our debt loads. And as a result, we were able to shave off some incremental costs into 2019 to the benefit of everybody, and you can see that reflected in the net interest expense. So again, as a company, we're going to continue to drive down as much as possible our cost of capital. I was noting the other day, I just think is worth noting. When you look at the flatness of the yield curve, whether you're 1 month out or you're 30 years out, you're dealing with a 50 basis point spend. We're not overly concerned that interest rates are going to rise up significantly over the near term, and so we'll continue to manage ourselves and maximize, again, the value that we can contribute to our shareholders.

好的。喬丹，讓我回答問題的第二部分。首先也是最重要的，在準備好的發言中，我們已經說過的一件事是我們高度關注以 AFFO 每股為基礎實現成長。在我們的融資方面，我們將實現每股 AFFO 成長 8% 或更高。我想強調這一點，第一。第二，正如我所說，回到投資等級窗口有很多價值。我們正在與我們的評級機構和一些顧問努力合作，以執行該策略。我們認為沒有比這更好的地方可以立即創造大量的一次性價值並達到投資等級。因此，這是我們高度關注的領域。由於這涉及到您關於我們想要實現的目標的具體問題，我只想說，我們正在考慮所有替代方案。當然，這很大程度取決於市場條件、我們的數量、定價、時間安排、資金來源。可以這麼說，作為一家公司，我們將尋找所有途徑，以確保我們能夠執行並最大化股東價值。由於它與利率具體相關，因此作為一家公司，我們非常努力地降低利率成本，這並不奇怪。多年來，正如您可能已經注意到的那樣，我們已經能夠以我們的平均成本 x 為基礎，因此超過 100 億美元的債務，對於非投資評級公司來說，這是高於 4% 的一個等級。但我們最近也對我們的一項債務負擔進行了跨貨幣互換。因此，我們能夠在 2019 年削減一些增量成本，讓所有人受益，您可以看到這反映在淨利息支出中。因此，作為一家公司，我們將繼續盡可能降低資本成本。前幾天我注意到了，我只是覺得值得注意。當你觀察殖利率曲線的平坦度時，無論你是 1 個月還是 30 年，你都會面臨 50 個基點的支出。我們並不太擔心利率在短期內會大幅上升，因此我們將繼續自我管理，並再次最大限度地提高我們可以為股東貢獻的價值。

The next question is coming from Jon Atkin of RBC.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行的喬恩·阿特金。

A question about HITs, and I wondered if you could share some parameters or thoughts around build costs now that you're kind of further along the projects. So basically, financing considerations aside, what you're thinking about in terms of build costs, any updated thoughts there, resiliency level, density versus other wholesale products on the market as well as pricing versus comparable products? And then I was interested in just the network side. You've got, obviously, a bump up in the Americas' cross-connects trend. If can elaborate a little bit more about what's driving that. And then as you network your IBXs together and cities together, even more so, anything you're seeing in terms of customer adoption?

關於 HIT 的問題，我想知道您是否可以分享一些關於建立成本的參數或想法，因為您已經在專案中取得了進一步的進展。所以基本上，除了融資方面的考慮之外，您在構建成本、任何更新的想法、彈性水平、與市場上其他批發產品相比的密度以及與同類產品相比的定價方面正在考慮什麼？然後我只對網路方面感興趣。顯然，美洲的交叉連結趨勢有所上升。如果可以詳細說明是什麼推動了這一點。然後，當您將 IBX 和城市聯網時，更重要的是，您在客戶採用方面看到了什麼？

Sure. Thanks, Jonathan. HIT, again, we feel very good about the progress there, making excellent progress against all legs of the stool, the demand side, the supply side, and the financing side. In terms of build cost, that's going to vary significantly market by market. What I would tell you is we're very confident that we can build in line with the best in the market in terms of because of our sourcing leverage and our engineering capabilities, et cetera. And so we think that, that is -- we're going to continue to be able to do that. Obviously, I think that is going to be meaningfully below our sort of retail build costs just given the nature of those facilities. But we think that we're going to be very much at parity with others in terms of our ability to build at the right price points. In terms of pricing, we've seen fairly stable pricing across the market. So we feel like supply and demand are still, despite a lot of investment in the market, relatively balanced across the globe. We tend to be focused on high demand markets, where we have visibility of the pipeline and access to customers that we think is somewhat advantaged. So we continue to believe that we're going to be able to deliver kind of in-line with or maybe slightly above market as we deliver at more sort of comprehensive value proposition for those customers. So -- but as we've said, we do believe that the hyperscale market is going to be very competitive. We think it's going to generate attractive but more challenged returns than our retail business, which is exactly why we're sort of pursuing it the way we are so that we can minimize our balance sheet exposure to that market, but still have the strategic value of delivering that product to our key customers. So that's what I would say relative to HIT. In terms of the cross-connect trend, particularly in the Americas, yes, you're right, we did see that tick up nicely. I think that is actually an [artifact]. As you might remember, Jon, I talked last time about the thing that I watch most closely is the gross and in terms of are we continuing to really drive gross adds which, to me, tells me that people are resonating with the value proposition and wanting to continue to consume the product. Well, that continued to be very strong, and what I think we saw on the other side of it is that our churn was lower this quarter and I think that was partially due to a bit of a breather around the 10 to 100 GB migration, and that's probably driven by the fact that some of the larger players have moratoriums in their network in the latter part of the year, and that probably gave us a little bit of pause on that. We don't -- unfortunately, don't think that's a permanent pause, but we do think that, that will taper off through the course of the year. And I think what you're seeing, I think, is a glimpse of what's possible given the strength of our gross adds. And so again, we feel super confident and positive about the overall interconnection business. And that's a little bit of the dynamic, I think, we saw in the Americas this quarter.

當然。謝謝，喬納森。哈工大，我們再次對那裡的進展感到非常滿意，在需求方、供應方和融資方的所有方面都取得了出色的進展。就建構成本而言，不同市場的成本會有很大差異。我想告訴您的是，由於我們的採購槓桿和工程能力等，我們非常有信心與市場上最好的產品保持一致。所以我們認為，我們將繼續能夠做到這一點。顯然，考慮到這些設施的性質，我認為這將大大低於我們的零售建設成本。但我們認為，在以合適的價格進行建設的能力方面，我們將與其他公司處於同等水平。在定價方面，我們看到整個市場的定價相當穩定。因此，我們認為，儘管市場上有大量投資，但全球範圍內的供需仍然相對平衡。我們傾向於專注於高需求市場，在這些市場中，我們可以了解管道並接觸到我們認為有一定優勢的客戶。因此，我們仍然相信，隨著我們為這些客戶提供更全面的價值主張，我們將能夠提供與市場一致或略高於市場的產品。因此，正如我們所說，我們確實相信超大規模市場的競爭將非常激烈。我們認為，與我們的零售業務相比，它將產生有吸引力但更具挑戰性的回報，這正是我們以這種方式追求它的原因，以便我們可以最大限度地減少資產負債表對該市場的敞口，但仍具有戰略價值將該產品交付給我們的主要客戶。這就是我相對於 HIT 的看法。就交叉連結趨勢而言，特別是在美洲，是的，你是對的，我們確實看到了這種趨勢的良好發展。我認為這實際上是一個[神器]。你可能還記得，喬恩，我上次談到我最密切關注的事情是總收入，就我們是否繼續真正推動總收入而言，這告訴我，人們正在與價值主張產生共鳴，並且想要繼續消費該產品。嗯，這種情況仍然非常強勁，我認為我們在另一方面看到的是本季度我們的客戶流失率較低，我認為這部分是由於 10 到 100 GB 遷移期間的一些喘息，這可能是由於一些較大的參與者在今年下半年暫停了他們的網絡，這可能讓我們稍微暫停了一下。不幸的是，我們並不認為這是永久性的暫停，但我們確實認為，這種情況將在今年內逐漸減少。我認為你所看到的，我想，是對我們總增加量的實力的可能性的一瞥。再次，我們對整體互連業務充滿信心和積極態度。我認為，這就是我們本季在美洲看到的一些動態。

And then just on strategic products, your old job basically. You have encryption products, and can you maybe talk a little bit about how that's trending, and then other things that you feel that you're making progress on?

然後就策略性產品而言，基本上就是你的舊工作。你們有加密產品，您能否談談它的趨勢，以及您認為正在取得進展的其他事情？

Sure. SmartKey's going great. We've got a ton of customers in trial on that service as well as a number of new customers added over the last quarter. It's not going to be a material differentiator and adder to the overall story, but it is -- it was -- for us, it was a way of demonstrating that we can continue to bring new value-added products that really differentiate our position as a trusted party in assisting customers with their digital transformation. We do think it will be additive but -- to the overall growth story. But we're -- but again, it's not going to be a huge, huge offering. But we do think there are others sort of around the corner in terms of continuing to expand the feature set and reach of our ECX Fabric, which now is becoming meaningful contributor to interconnection business as well as we talked publicly about having our NFE marketplace product, that's not really a product name, but we're working towards sort of finalizing what the actual go-to-market names will be for these offerings. But they are already, from a functional perspective, in advanced pilot stages with customers. And we think those things can be, over time, meaningful contributors as we get attach rates on top of cabinets that are already deployed. And so that's one example. And then there are others that we're working through that will probably begin to give you visibility to in the next few quarters.

當然。SmartKey 進展順利。我們有大量客戶正在試用該服務，並且在上個季度增加了一些新客戶。它不會成為整個故事的實質差異因素和附加因素，但對我們來說，它是一種證明我們可以繼續推出新的增值產品的方式，這些產品真正使我們的地位與眾不同協助客戶進行數位轉型的值得信賴的一方。我們確實認為這將是對整體成長故事的補充。但我們再次強調，這不會是個巨大的產品。但我們確實認為，在繼續擴展我們的ECX Fabric 的功能集和覆蓋範圍方面，還有其他一些事情即將發生，ECX Fabric 現在正在成為互連業務的有意義的貢獻者，並且我們公開談論了擁有我們的NFE 市場產品，這並不是真正的產品名稱，但我們正在努力確定這些產品的實際上市名稱。但從功能角度來看，它們已經與客戶處於高階試點階段。我們認為，隨著時間的推移，這些東西可以成為有意義的貢獻者，因為我們可以在已經部署的機櫃之上獲得附加費率。這就是一個例子。我們正在研究的其他一些內容可能會在接下來的幾個季度內開始讓您了解。

The next question is coming from Aryeh Klein, BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Aryeh Klein。

It seems like you're making a lot of good progress on HIT, but maybe the JV search is taking a little bit longer than expected. Can you maybe provide a little bit more color there? And then what kind of contribution from HIT are you embedding in 2019 guidance?

看來您在 HIT 方面取得了很大進展，但合資企業的搜尋時間可能比預期要長一些。你能在那裡提供更多的顏色嗎？那麼，哈爾濱工業大學在 2019 年的指導中融入了哪些貢獻呢？

Sure. So the -- it's not the search itself that's taking long, believe me, those folks found us pretty fast in terms of wanting to have a discussion about what we were doing. And so we've already had initial dialogues with those and begun to sort of filter through the ones that we think are most philosophically aligned with Equinix' partners. And what is taking a bit longer is just the complexity of this from a standpoint of tax and legal structuring and accounting and various other things. And so, as I -- I think, I mentioned this last time, those are, I think, some of the things that, frankly, perhaps we underestimated at some level in terms of our ability to get this thing finally executed and off the ground. The good news is the demand side of the business is progressing in terms of building pipeline sort of independent of that or in parallel with that, I guess, I should say, in addition to the supply side in terms of sourcing land and making sure that we're positioned for the JV to really be effective in ramping quickly once established are all moving in parallel. So the team has done a phenomenal job. Our tax, REITs, accounting teams, have literally been sort of just heads down trying to get this done. I think, we're -- as I said, I think, we're going to have this done in the coming months. We're going to shortlist down to a very small set of players that we think are most, as I said, most philosophically aligned with us and have the kind of reach and capabilities that we would want to see in a partner. And we think that will happen in the next couple months.

當然。因此，相信我，並不是搜尋本身花了很長時間，那些人很快就找到了我們，並希望討論我們正在做的事情。因此，我們已經與這些人進行了初步對話，並開始篩選那些我們認為在理念上與 Equinix 合作夥伴最一致的人。從稅收、法律結構、會計以及其他各種事情的角度來看，需要更長的時間只是因為它的複雜性。因此，正如我——我想，我上次提到的那樣，坦率地說，我認為，我們在某種程度上可能低估了我們最終執行這件事並擺脫困境的能力。地面。好消息是，除了供應方面在採購土地和確保我們的定位是，合資企業一旦建立，就能真正有效地快速發展，所有工作都是並行的。所以這個團隊做得非常好。我們的稅務、房地產投資信託基金、會計團隊實際上一直在埋頭努力完成這項工作。我認為，正如我所說，我們將在未來幾個月內完成這項工作。正如我所說，我們將篩選出一小部分參與者，我們認為這些參與者在理念上與我們最一致，並且具有我們希望在合作夥伴中看到的影響力和能力。我們認為這將在未來幾個月內發生。

And then same-store revenue growth was 2% this quarter, similar to the last quarter. Can you maybe provide that number ex-Verizon? And then what do you think that number will look like in 2019?

本季同店營收成長 2%，與上季類似。您能提供 Verizon 的號碼嗎？那麼您認為 2019 年這個數字會是什麼樣子呢？

Sure. Yes, you're right. We're a little light again this quarter and as we really dig into the metric and the underlying drivers, we really see a number of factors at work. One of them you've mentioned, which is Verizon, and that's having a meaningful sort of suppressant effect on that metric. It is also a bit of a tough compare still. So we're going to need to lap that compare. But the last fourth quarter had some elevated NRR in our stabilized assets. And so we think that once you normalize for Verizon and some of that tough compare that you're probably looking at another maybe 150 to 200 bps, so a normalized same-store number would be in the 3.5% to 4% range. It's also being impacted a little bit, as I mentioned last time, by us actively managing customer migrations out of a select set of sites that are in the stabilized portfolio. And so altogether, we're keeping a close eye on that, but we expect it will probably persist a bit towards the lower end of our historical range, even on a normalized basis for a period of time.

當然。你是對的。本季我們再次變得有點輕鬆，當我們真正深入研究指標和潛在驅動因素時，我們確實看到了許多因素在起作用。您提到的其中之一是 Verizon，它對該指標產生了有意義的抑製作用。這仍然是一個有點艱難的比較。所以我們需要進行比較。但去年第四季我們的穩定資產的 NRR 有所上升。因此，我們認為，一旦對 Verizon 進行標準化，並進行一些艱難的比較，您可能會考慮另一個 150 到 200 bps 的數據，因此標準化的同店數字將在 3.5% 到 4% 的範圍內。正如我上次提到的，我們積極管理客戶從穩定產品組合中選定的一組網站的遷移，這也受到了一些影響。因此，總的來說，我們正在密切關注這一點，但我們預計，即使在一段時間內的正常化基礎上，它也可能會持續接近歷史區間的下限。

The next question is coming from Colby Synesael from Cowen and Company.

下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的 Colby Synesael。

I guess, just following up on that last question. I think, last quarter, there was an expectation that, that would improve as early as this quarter, and that didn't happen. And then when I look at your organic growth for 2019, you're expecting 8% to 9% versus the 9% you just did in '18, yet you are now expecting Verizon to be a growth driver. So I think there was an expectation that could be the same, if not slightly higher. Just hoping you can dive a little bit more into that. And then on interconnect pricing, can you just talk about what your strategy is there, particularly for some of your network partners and for those specifically who are potentially connecting customers from the other data centers into your facility and what you could potentially do to help monetize that maybe in a more efficient way?

我想，只是跟進最後一個問題。我認為，上個季度，人們預計這種情況最早會在本季有所改善，但這並沒有發生。然後，當我查看你們 2019 年的有機成長時，你們預計將成長 8% 到 9%，而 18 年則為 9%，但你們現在預計 Verizon 會成為成長動力。所以我認為人們的期望可能是相同的，甚至略高一些。只是希望你能更深入地了解這一點。然後，關於互連定價，您能否談談您的策略，特別是對於您的一些網路合作夥伴，以及那些可能將客戶從其他資料中心連接到您的設施的合作夥伴，以及您可以採取哪些措施來幫助實現盈利也許以更有效的方式？

Sure. On the growth picture, again, we provide that range. I think, we're going to continue to drive hard in terms of continuing to drive the business. I do think that the stabilized asset growth being kind of where it is, is somewhat of a contributor, I think, that's driven by not only the factors that we think are probably more temporal in nature, but there is also some level, as we talked about, in terms of churn is a bit more concentrated in the stabilized assets. And at some level, I think, you're seeing either some repricing activity or some churn associated with moving select workloads to public cloud. All of that's consistent though with our view of long-term architecture of choice for customers, and we believe it will have positive impacts over time on yield as we replace larger footprints with more of the sweet spot business. But I think what you're seeing is really a continued transition phase of the business to really this trusted center of the cloud-first world kind of mindset in terms of the types of deployment, the level of interconnection that we're going to see. Those are a bit longer sales cycles. But once landed, I think they tend to deliver very attractive cab yields and levels of interconnection. So I think the growth profile of businesses has continued upside opportunity, both as some of those underlying headwinds subsist -- or subside, I do think that we're trying to be appropriately conservative about the pace at which Verizon returns to growth throughout the year. But that's, I think, the overall dynamic. We feel very good about the overall growth profile of the business and kind of what it's going to look like over the next several years. And we think, as I said, I think, particularly as we add new services and look at the potential to add attach rate to existing deployments, but I think that's going to be a multiyear process. In terms of interconnection pricing, look, the network providers continue to be major partners for us, and we are always in active engagement with them about how to make sure that our product meets their needs effectively. And I'm sure there's always discussions about price points, but we've -- we feel good about the value proposition that we deliver. We have been creative about trying to deliver sort of volume benefits to some of our customers as well as give them greater degrees of flexibility in how to use the interconnection portfolio more comprehensively and creatively across their business. And so I think that there's really good momentum with not only the network providers but also the clouds and the other service providers and of course, with the enterprise. Actually, enterprise is our fastest-growing segment. Enterprise to cloud is our fastest-growing interconnection segment, and I think again, that's a reflection of, I think, the strength of our value proposition in the cloud.

當然。關於成長情況，我們再次提供了該範圍。我認為，我們將繼續努力推動業務發展。我確實認為，穩定的資產成長在某種程度上是一個貢獻者，我認為，這不僅是由我們認為本質上可能更暫時的因素所驅動的，而且還有一定程度的因素，因為我們講到，流失方面更集中在穩定資產方面。我認為，在某種程度上，您會看到一些重新定價活動或一些與將選定工作負載轉移到公有雲相關的流失。所有這些都與我們對客戶選擇的長期架構的看法是一致的，我們相信，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們用更多的最佳業務取代更大的佔地面積，這將對產量產生正面影響。但我認為您所看到的實際上是業務的持續過渡階段，在部署類型和我們將看到的互連水平方面，真正成為雲優先世界的值得信賴的中心。 。這些是更長的銷售週期。但一旦落地，我認為它們往往會提供非常有吸引力的計程車產量和互連水平。因此，我認為企業的成長狀況持續存在上行機會，因為一些潛在的不利因素仍然存在或消退，我確實認為我們正在努力對 Verizon 全年恢復成長的速度保持適當保守。但我認為這就是整體動態。我們對該業務的整體成長狀況以及未來幾年的前景感到非常滿意。正如我所說，我們認為，特別是當我們添加新服務並考慮為現有部署增加附加率的潛力時，但我認為這將是一個多年的過程。在互連定價方面，網路供應商仍然是我們的主要合作夥伴，我們始終與他們積極接觸，以確保我們的產品有效滿足他們的需求。我確信人們總是在討論價格點，但我們對我們提供的價值主張感到滿意。我們一直創造性地嘗試為我們的一些客戶帶來一定的批量效益，並為他們在如何在其業務中更全面、更創造性地使用互連產品組合方面提供更大程度的靈活性。因此，我認為，不僅是網路供應商，而且雲端和其他服務供應商，當然還有企業，都有著非常好的勢頭。事實上，企業是我們成長最快的部分。企業到雲端是我們成長最快的互連領域，我再次認為，這反映了我們在雲端中的價值主張的強度。

The next question is coming from Sami Badri, Crédit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸銀行的 Sami Badri。

You gave us a good amount of context in your prepared remarks regarding virtual cross-connects and the traction you're seeing there in your business. Can you just give us some color on how billing rates differ between the virtual connections and the physical connections since you did make the comment that your -- I guess, you'd say big customer that are using physical connections are also opting into virtual connections. Can you just give us any color on how we should we be thinking about that as you project out your model?

您在準備好的評論中向我們提供了有關虛擬交叉連接以及您在業務中看到的吸引力的大量背景資訊。您能否給我們一些關於虛擬連接和實體連接之間的計費費率差異的信息，因為您確實發表了評論，我猜您會說使用實體連接的大客戶也選擇使用虛擬連接。您能否告訴我們，當您設計模型時，我們應該如何考慮這個問題？

Sure. Yes, it's interesting because we get the question a lot, and I think the way I'd like to summarize it is actually the unit economics are not radically different between the 2. Because as we look at how people consume on the virtual fabric, typically they buy a port, sometimes, they can buy that as a full buy-out port or they can buy virtual circuits individually onto the port. And when we look at it in terms of our average unit price per connection from customers when you take into account the port price as well as the virtual CIRC price, which is, on a unit basis, meaningfully lower than a cross-connect. But as you look at them right now, there's not a huge gap. And both are good. The cost of goods on a switched fabric is slightly higher for sure than it is just the basic physical cross-connect, which has very low cost of goods. But what we're seeing is that the way we are pricing them and the way customers are using them does not represent a dramatically different economic profile across those. And to your point, we're seeing it as very complementary. Generally, it is not, oh, I was using a physical cross-connect and now, I'm going to use a virtual cross-connect. It is, hey, I have a range of use cases. Physical cross-connect is very appropriate for me in certain instances particularly with large and repeatable traffic flows. And then virtual cross-connects are really substantially better in an environment that is more dynamic where people need to be turning up and down capacity or moving workloads or traffic between endpoints. And so -- and then, of course, you augment that with IX, and we have many of our more complex customers who use across the entire portfolio, so they have a lot of Layer 3 traffic that they're peering through the fabric, and then as they see it -- as they see traffic being exchanged with peers in high volumes, they strip that off to cross-connects. And then when they want private interconnection to the cloud, for example, they might use a cross-connect in a direct connect way directly to Amazon, or they would use the ECX Fabric and Express route to get to Azure. So it's really a very diverse portfolio that tends to serve complex needs of customers extremely well. And again, we're not seeing a dramatic difference in terms of the overall economic profile and return on capital that we see across the interconnection portfolio.

當然。是的，這很有趣，因為我們經常遇到這個問題，我想我想總結的方式實際上是兩者之間的單位經濟學並沒有根本不同。因為當我們觀察人們如何在虛擬結構上消費時，通常他們會購買一個端口，有時，他們可以將其作為完整的買斷端口購買，或者他們可以在端口上單獨購買虛擬電路。當我們考慮客戶每個連接的平均單價時，考慮到連接埠價格以及虛擬 CIRC 價格，按單位計算，該價格明顯低於交叉連接。但當你現在看它們時，差距並不大。兩者都很好。交換結構上的商品成本肯定比基本實體交叉連接稍高，而基本實體交叉連接的商品成本非常低。但我們看到的是，我們定價的方式和客戶使用它們的方式並不代表這些產品之間有顯著不同的經濟狀況。就您的觀點而言，我們認為這是非常互補的。一般情況下是不會的哦,我之前用的是物理交叉,現在我要用虛擬交叉,.嘿，我有一系列用例。在某些情況下，實體交叉連接非常適合我，特別是對於大量且可重複的流量。然後，在人們需要增加和減少容量或在端點之間移動工作負載或流量的動態環境中，虛擬交叉連接確實要好得多。所以，當然，你可以透過 IX 來增強這一點，我們有許多更複雜的客戶，他們在整個產品組合中使用，因此他們有大量的第 3 層流量，可以透過結構進行查看，然後，當他們看到與同行大量交換流量時，他們將其剝離為交叉連接。然後，例如，當他們想要與雲端進行私人互連時，他們可能會使用交叉連接以直接連接方式直接連接到 Amazon，或者他們會使用 ECX Fabric 和 Express 路由來到達 Azure。因此，它確實是一個非常多樣化的產品組合，能夠很好地滿足客戶的複雜需求。同樣，我們在整個互連投資組合中看到的整體經濟狀況和資本回報率方面並沒有看到顯著差異。

Got it. Very good clarification. And then the second question is, what percentage of the revenues are currently coming in from the channel versus direct to customer?

知道了。非常好的澄清。第二個問題是，目前來自通路的收入與直接面對客戶的收入的百分比是多少？

Yes. We said that we're about 20% of our bookings. We have not cited the actual revenue necessarily, but we did talk about it that way. I think, we've had our third consecutive quarter north of 20% of bookings. And by the way, it generates more than half of our total new logo volume. And so it just gives you a real insight into the fact that, look, when we talked about our -- one of the things that I think is really driving my optimism about the future of Equinix is what I think is a really massive increase in the total addressable market. I think, it is meaningfully larger than what we've provided in our last Analyst Day, or our last couple Analyst Days, and I think that is being driven by a really substantially larger enterprise market opportunity than we had previously given credit to. And I think that's being fueled that -- our optimism about that is being fueled by real feedback from our customers and real implementation of use cases. These are not just theories, these are 4,000 deals that are flowing through the channel. And what you realize is that you -- this opens up the addressable market into hundreds and hundreds of thousands of addressable customers. But we can't get to them. We're going to add to our go-to-market engine this year, but let me tell you, we're not going to reach all those customers. And so the way to reach them is really through the channel. And so we have now really gotten our sales teams heads wrapped around working with partners as a key way to reach those customers, and they're really -- I think, they've gotten over the initial reluctance of thinking that somebody was about to steal their account. And now they're working very effectively with channel partners and we're seeing great channel partners like AT&T and Orange Business, and those kind of folks really driving significant volumes for us, Telstra. And then also sell with activity with our cloud partners, whether that's Microsoft, Amazon, Google, others, where we're seeing their customers say, look, we need a hybrid cloud solution. We want to engage with Equinix, and we're often being brought into those. Cisco's another one. Their secure Agile exchange is really seeing tremendous traction with large customers, and we partnered with them on some very big enterprise wins. So super excited about what's going on in the channel and, as I said, more than 20% of our bookings coming from that, I expect that number to go north from there.

是的。我們說我們的預訂量約為 20%。我們不一定引用實際收入，但我們確實這樣談論過。我認為，我們的預訂量已連續第三個季度超過 20%。順便說一句，它產生了我們新徽標總量的一半以上。因此，它只是讓您真正了解這樣一個事實，看，當我們談論我們的時，我認為真正推動我對 Equinix 的未來持樂觀態度的事情之一是，我認為，總的潛在市場。我認為，它比我們在上一個分析師日或最近幾個分析師日中提供的內容要大得多，而且我認為這是由比我們之前所認為的要大得多的企業市場機會所推動的。我認為，我們對此的樂觀情緒是由客戶的真實回饋和用例的實際實施所推動的。這些不僅僅是理論，而是正在透過該管道進行的 4,000 筆交易。你意識到，這為數百上千的潛在客戶打開了潛在市場。但我們無法接近他們。今年我們將增加我們的上市引擎，但讓我告訴你，我們不會涵蓋所有這些客戶。因此，接觸他們的方式實際上是透過管道。因此，我們現在確實讓我們的銷售團隊全神貫注於與合作夥伴合作，將其作為接觸這些客戶的關鍵方式，而且他們真的——我認為，他們已經克服了最初不願意認為有人會這樣做的情況.竊取他們的帳戶。現在他們正在與通路合作夥伴非常有效地合作，我們看到了 AT&T 和 Orange Business 等優秀的通路合作夥伴，這些人確實為我們 Telstra 帶來了巨大的銷售。然後也與我們的雲端合作夥伴一起進行銷售，無論是微軟、亞馬遜、谷歌或其他公司，我們看到他們的客戶說，看，我們需要一個混合雲解決方案。我們希望與 Equinix 合作，我們經常被帶入其中。思科是另一家。他們的安全敏捷交換確實受到了大客戶的巨大關注，我們與他們合作贏得了一些非常大的企業勝利。我對頻道中發生的事情感到非常興奮，正如我所說，我們超過 20% 的預訂來自該頻道，我預計這個數字會從那裡開始增加。

The next question is coming from Erik Rasmussen of Stifel.

下一個問題來自 Stifel 的 Erik Rasmussen。

Maybe just circling back, Charles, on the comment you just made, and it was kind of what I was thinking. On the enterprise segment, it sounds like you're then seeing a change in behavior, and it seems to be more of a sense of urgency. Would you support that sort of commentary? And also, does that then support their move towards implementing more of these hybrid architectures? Just want to get some further thoughts on that as you see that, especially as we look into 2019 and you see them moving more quickly?

也許只是回想一下，查爾斯，你剛才發表的評論，這正是我的想法。在企業領域，聽起來您正在看到行為的變化，而且似乎更多的是一種緊迫感。你會支持這樣的評論嗎？而且，這是否支持他們實施更多此類混合架構？只是想在您看到這一點時得到一些進一步的想法，特別是當我們展望 2019 年時，您發現它們進展得更快？

Yes, absolutely. I would say yes, but. Because -- yes, I see a sense of urgency. Yes, I see a clear sense of consensus emerging around the architecture of choice being hybrid and multicloud. But what I also see is a very deliberate sense of action and timing. And so these are careful people with jobs that require them to be careful. And so I think they are moving. They are figuring out which workloads they can use to sort of test that architecture. They are absolutely embracing cloud, but they are also embracing it in a very measured way. And so that's why we're seeing longer sales cycles for sure, and we're seeing average deal sizes being smaller. And so that's why I think we would love it if these were translating immediately into substantial sort of inflection points or changes in slope on our growth rates. I don't think that -- that's not yet happening, but I also think when you look at our land and expand activity, as people get more comfortable and as they increase their pace of deployment in these hybrid architectures, I think, that's when we're going to really bear the fruit from our efforts. And so I think the answer is yes, there is a sense of urgency. There's -- increasingly, CSS is relevant to solving their problem. They're engaging with us but longer sales cycles, smaller deal sizes, and so we're having to work through that in terms of how that translates into our overall financials. But again, we feel very good about the business and what the long-term opportunity looks like and about our ability to continue to really be relevant to them.

是的，一點沒錯。我會說是的，但是。因為——是的，我看到了一種緊迫感。是的，我看到圍繞著混合和多雲架構的選擇出現了明顯的共識。但我也看到了一種非常刻意的行動感和時機感。因此，這些人都是小心謹慎的人，他們的工作需要他們小心謹慎。所以我認為他們正在行動。他們正在弄清楚可以使用哪些工作負載來測試該架構。他們絕對擁抱雲，但他們也以一種非常謹慎的方式擁抱它。這就是為什麼我們肯定會看到銷售週期更長，而且平均交易規模更小。因此，這就是為什麼我認為如果這些立即轉化為實質的拐點或成長率斜率的變化，我們會喜歡它。我不認為——這還沒有發生，但我也認為，當你看到我們的土地並擴大活動時，隨著人們變得更加舒適，並且隨著他們加快在這些混合架構中的部署步伐，我認為，那就是我們的努力將會真正結出果實。所以我認為答案是肯定的，有一種緊迫感。CSS 越來越多地與解決他們的問題相關。他們正在與我們合作，但銷售週期更長，交易規模更小，因此我們必須解決如何將其轉化為我們整體財務狀況的問題。但我們再次對這項業務、長期機會以及我們繼續與他們真正相關的能力感到非常滿意。

And maybe just as my follow-up. Back to Verizon. You previously talked about building capacity in 5 markets. But in 2019, is there anything else that you would see that maybe you can make further investments that could potentially get some growth or turn that growth faster into Verizon? Or maybe see a better return on that investment?

也許就像我的後續行動一樣。回到威瑞森。您之前談到了在 5 個市場進行產能建設。但在 2019 年，您是否會看到其他任何事情，也許您可以進行進一步的投資，從而有可能獲得一些增長或將這種增長更快地轉化為 Verizon？或者也許會看到更好的投資回報？

Well, one, it's been a damn good return on that investment. We're super excited about the return that we saw and the level of the value creation and accretion that came from the Verizon transaction. So super happy about that. I know it seems like our time here is over in the last several quarters, has been dominated more by the fact that we saw the elevated churn and flat growth from those but again, we've made the investments where we believe that the fill rates and the utilization level warranted that. NAP of the Americas, I was just down at that facility recently. Terrific group of people, very excited about serving customers as part of Equinix. Culpeper. We think the Federal business is going to continue to be an opportunity. That's an area where I would say investment, I think, could yield outsized results. And so we're going to track that carefully. Met with the team that's doing that, an amazing group of people, really energized about what they're doing. We talked about Denver, Bogotá. So we're making those investments where the fill rates and the utilization warrant it, we'll continue to invest in them. But I do think we've made the investments that we think are key to sort of driving the engine right now, and we're going to watch it carefully in the coming quarters.

嗯，第一，這項投資的回報非常好。我們對所看到的回報以及來自 Verizon 交易的價值創造和增值水平感到非常興奮。對此非常高興。我知道，在過去的幾個季度裡，我們在這裡的時間似乎已經結束，更多的是因為我們看到了這些因素帶來的客戶流失率上升和成長持平，但我們再次進行了投資，我們相信填充率利用率水準證明了這一點。美洲 NAP，我最近剛去過那個設施。這是一群很棒的人，對於作為 Equinix 的一部分為客戶提供服務感到非常興奮。卡爾佩珀。我們認為聯邦業務將繼續是一個機會。我認為，在這個領域進行投資可以產生巨大的成果。因此我們將仔細跟踪這一點。會見了正在做這件事的團隊，這是一群了不起的人，他們對他們正在做的事情充滿了活力。我們談了丹佛、波哥大。因此，我們將在填充率和利用率保證的情況下進行投資，我們將繼續對其進行投資。但我確實認為我們已經進行了我們認為對目前推動引擎至關重要的投資，我們將在未來幾季仔細觀察它。

The next question is coming from Mike Rollins of Citi.

下一個問題來自花旗銀行的麥克羅林斯。

Curious if you could discuss the longer term opportunity for margins. And if you can maybe give us a bridge in terms of how the company looks at building some operating leverage with the investments that have been made over the last few years?

很好奇您是否可以討論利潤的長期機會。您能否為我們提供一個橋樑，讓我們了解公司如何利用過去幾年的投資建立一些營運槓桿？

You bet, Mike. Yes, I fully expect to be talking about that on the call to some degree. I think -- frankly, I would have loved to have this on this call saying, here is the margin expansion we're going to deliver in '19. I realize we didn't do that and that's disappointing, at some level, to you and probably to us as well. But I think it's really important to put the guide into the appropriate context. At Analyst Day, we talked about our long-term margin aspirations and shared our view that we can hit the 50% target sometime in that timeframe into between now and 2023. And that was based on the assumption that we continue to drive operating leverage into the business which, I can assure you, we're doing at a very meaningful level. It also took into account, though, our need to invest in key elements of the business, and we've talked about that go-to-market expansion, continued product and service development investments. Those are really the key areas as well as overcoming some of the increased level of expansion drag. It should be no surprise to anybody, when you look at -- if you just plot our profile of our CapEx spend over the last several years, it came up substantially. And that turns into new projects and new cabinets that it takes time to fill. And in some cases, particularly if those are first phases, that it creates some sort of meaningful expansion drag. And so when you look at those factors, we believe we could do that, still overcome those things and deliver in margin expansion. The sort of new things that came at us, were the 30 bps, as we sized the lease accounting impact. And then also -- but more significantly, the utilities cost. And one thing to really understand, I know, Mike, you understand this, but I think that the utilities flow through our business in a very different way than most of our wholesale competitors, for example, who pass through power. And so the impact of the increased utility expenses really chewed up what we had hoped to deliver in terms of drop-to-the-bottom-line kind of margin expansion. So that was a very long answer to the question. But what I would say is we continue to believe the 50% margin target is achievable. I think, we're going to have to look at whether or not the utility impacts moderate over time, and then we'll have to -- and then we'll also -- I think we'll grow through, hopefully, our expansion drag. Although if the business continues to be as robust as it is, we're going to continue to invest behind it. But I think the margin target of 50% is still achievable. It's a question, I think, of time line, if we can continue to get hit by the utility impacts.

你敢打賭，麥克。是的，我完全希望在電話會議上在某種程度上談論這個問題。我認為 - 坦率地說，我希望在這次電話會議上說，這是我們將在 19 年實現的利潤擴張。我意識到我們沒有這樣做，這在某種程度上讓您感到失望，也可能讓我們感到失望。但我認為將指南置於適當的背景中非常重要。在分析師日，我們討論了我們的長期利潤率願望，並分享了我們的觀點，即我們可以在從現在到 2023 年的時間範圍內實現 50% 的目標。這是基於我們繼續提高業務營運槓桿的假設，我可以向您保證，我們正在以非常有意義的水平開展工作。不過，它也考慮到了我們對業務關鍵要素進行投資的需要，我們已經討論了進入市場的擴張、持續的產品和服務開發投資。這些確實是關鍵領域，也是克服一些增加的擴張阻力的關鍵領域。如果你只是繪製我們過去幾年資本支出的概況，那麼任何人都不會感到驚訝，它大幅上升。這會變成新的項目和新的內閣，需要時間來填補。在某些情況下，特別是如果這些是第一階段，它會產生某種有意義的擴張阻力。因此，當你考慮這些因素時，我們相信我們可以做到這一點，仍然克服這些問題並實現利潤率擴張。當我們衡量租賃會計影響時，我們遇到的新事物是 30 個基點。還有——但更重要的是，公用事業成本。需要真正理解的一件事是，我知道，麥克，你明白這一點，但我認為公用事業在我們業務中的流動方式與我們大多數批發競爭對手（例如透過電力的方式）非常不同。因此，公用事業費用增加的影響確實削弱了我們希望實現的利潤率擴張的目標。這是對這個問題的一個很長的回答。但我想說的是，我們仍然相信 50% 的利潤率目標是可以實現的。我認為，我們將不得不考慮隨著時間的推移，公用事業的影響是否會減弱，然後我們必須——然後我們也將——我認為我們將通過我們的膨脹阻力。儘管如果業務繼續保持目前的強勁勢頭，我們將繼續對其進行投資。但我認為50%的利潤率目標還是可以實現的。我認為，這是一個時間軸問題，我們是否可以繼續受到公用事業影響的打擊。

Mike, let me just add one other thing to what Charles said. The expansion drag in and of itself is we track that every year, and it's not -- we recognize that we're always in the business of expanding. But what was different this year, in particular relative to the prior years, is the size and scale. What Charles and I refer to the fact there's 36 projects that are underway of size and many other smaller projects around the world. And in addition, we're going to a number of new markets. And as a result, the drag in of itself just for expansion is 50 basis points this year. And so when you take that into context, you're going to get the benefit of that further down the road and you've got to absorb it this year, and we're going to bear fruit from these investments. The second thing, I think, is important to note is, as we guide to EBITDA this year, there's roughly a 20 basis point delta. Charles referred to utilities as 1 example, that's roughly 80 basis points. Expansion drag is 50 basis points. The new lease accounting is 30 basis points. But as we look through the year, you should expect, all else being equal, that margins will continue to improve throughout the year. Q1 is always seasonally soft because of some seasonal costs. But as we get to the back end of the year, I think, you'd see us more exiting the year at higher margin profile than what we exited in 2018.

麥克，讓我在查爾斯所說的基礎上補充一件事。擴張拖累本身是我們每年都會追蹤的，但事實並非如此——我們意識到我們一直在從事擴張業務。但今年的不同之處在於規模和規模，特別是與往年相比。Charles 和我提到的事實是，全球有 36 個規模較大的專案正在進行中，還有許多其他較小的專案。此外，我們也將開拓一些新市場。因此，今年光是擴張本身就拖累了 50 個基點。因此，當您考慮到這一點時，您將在未來進一步受益，並且今年必須吸收它，我們將從這些投資中取得成果。我認為，值得注意的第二件事是，正如我們今年對 EBITDA 的指導，大約有 20 個基點的增量。查爾斯以公用事業為例，大約是 80 個基點。擴張阻力為50個基點。新的租賃會計為30個基點。但當我們回顧這一年時，你應該預期，在其他條件相同的情況下，全年利潤率將繼續提高。由於一些季節性成本，第一季總是季節性疲軟。但我認為，當我們進入今年年底時，你會看到我們今年結束時的利潤率會高於 2018 年。

Our last question is coming from Brett Feldman of Goldman Sachs.

我們的最後一個問題來自高盛的布雷特·費爾德曼。

During the discussion of the work you're doing to form the JV, you made a point that once you have this in place, everyone will have a chance to see just how great this asset portfolio is or can be. And I actually want to get some understanding of that statement. The way I heard it, it sounded like there might be some considerable degree of assets in the JV when it is originally formed. I know you'd have talked about maybe putting in some of your existing assets, like Paris 8. I'm curious maybe as you've had discussions, you realize there may be more of your existing assets that would be appropriate for the venture. And also, are the JV partners you're talking to, are they really primarily passive financial partners? Or have you discovered that these partners may also have assets that they can contribute to this JV, such that, on day 1, it might be more of an operating vehicle than we would have guessed. And now sort of the third part to this question which is once it's up and running, are you capitalizing this primarily to be a business that you grow organically? Or do you actually see it as a M&A vehicle, meaning there could be assets in the past you wouldn't have wanted to own because they didn't align with your IBX model, but maybe now, there's a different approach you could take to M&A?

在討論您為組建合資企業所做的工作時，您指出，一旦落實到位，每個人都將有機會看到這個資產組合有多棒或可以有多棒。我實際上想對這句話有所了解。聽起來，合資公司成立之初，可能就有相當規模的資產。我知道您曾討論過可能會投入一些現有資產，例如巴黎 8 號。我很好奇，也許在您進行討論時，您意識到可能有更多現有資產適合該合資企業。另外，與您交談的合資夥伴是否真的主要是被動的金融合作夥伴？或者您是否發現這些合作夥伴也可能擁有可以為該合資企業貢獻的資產，因此，在第一天，它可能比我們想像的更像是營運工具。現在這個問題的第三部分是，一旦它啟動並運行，你是否主要利用它來成為你有機成長的業務？或者您實際上是否將其視為併購工具，這意味著您過去可能不想擁有某些資產，因為它們與您的 IBX 模型不符，但也許現在，您可以採取不同的方法？

Okay. A lot there. I'll try to tackle some of them, and then Keith can jump in and help me. In terms of the assets that might go into the JV, I won't go too far in terms of getting out over my skis, but I would simply say that, yes, there are assets that we believe are appropriate to include in the JV. And those assets have some level of existing, either pre-leasing and/or stabilization already, making them very attractive parts of the portfolio. And so -- and in fact, we believe that, that might also represent an opportunity at some point during the year for us to repatriate capital back into the Equinix system. And so we're excited about that. We think it's a really compelling story. That is the feedback we are getting from partners. In terms of partner types, I would say simply that we want good financial partners who are philosophically aligned with what we want to accomplish, and ones that understands strategically what we're trying to accomplish, understand that proximity to the Equinix' ecosystem and interconnectedness to it is important. And so we'll be tackling -- we'll be attracting and working with those types of partners. And then as to whether it's a -- whether the vehicle would in itself act as something that would drive other transactions, I don't know over time. I think that's something -- that's certainly not on our radar right now. We are fully consumed with getting a JV structure agreed upon and how decision-making would proceed with a partner and what the assets would look like and how we can start meeting customer needs, because that's what we're really focused on. And so I think that's a little bit more color. Anything else in there to add, Keith?

好的。那裡有很多。我會嘗試解決其中的一些問題，然後基斯就可以介入並幫助我。就可能進入合資企業的資產而言，我不會在滑雪方面走得太遠，但我只想說，是的，我們認為有些資產適合納入合資企業。這些資產具有一定程度的現有資產，無論是預租賃還是穩定資產，這使得它們成為投資組合中非常有吸引力的部分。因此，事實上，我們認為，這也可能是我們在今年某個時候將資本回流至 Equinix 系統的機會。所以我們對此感到興奮。我們認為這是一個非常引人注目的故事。這是我們從合作夥伴那裡得到的回饋。就合作夥伴類型而言，我想說的是，我們需要良好的金融合作夥伴，他們在理念上與我們想要實現的目標一致，並且在戰略上理解我們想要實現的目標，並了解與Equinix 生態系統的接近度和互聯性這很重要。因此，我們將吸引這些類型的合作夥伴並與之合作。至於車輛本身是否會推動其他交易，我不知道隨著時間的推移。我認為這確實不在我們的關注範圍內。我們全神貫注於就合資企業結構達成一致、如何與合作夥伴進行決策、資產是什麼樣子以及我們如何開始滿足客戶需求，因為這才是我們真正關注的重點。所以我認為這有點更多的色彩。基思，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

One of the things I just want to highlight. It's really important for us, as we said before, we want to keep this off balance sheet. So recognizing there's the partnership, there's the arrangement on the ownership, there's also the fee structuring. And so it's very -- as Charles alluded to, there's a lot of complexity behind the organization of this JV structure. And this is the initial -- this is the first of what we think could be many. And as a result, we've got to be mindful of avoiding consolidation, simultaneously dealing with the complexity around tax. So we're looking forward to spending more time talking to everybody about this. As you can tell by Charles' tone, he's excited, we're excited. We're making great progress, and stay tuned.

我只想強調的一件事。正如我們之前所說，這對我們來說非常重要，我們希望將其保留在資產負債表之外。因此，要認識到存在合作夥伴關係、所有權安排以及費用結構。因此，正如查爾斯所提到的，這個合資企業結構的組織背後存在著許多複雜性。這是最初的——這是我們認為可能發生的許多事情中的第一個。因此，我們必須注意避免合併，同時處理稅務方面的複雜性。因此，我們期待花更多時間與大家討論這個問題。從查爾斯的語氣你可以看出，他很興奮，我們也很興奮。我們正在取得巨大進展，敬請期待。

That concludes our Q4 call. Thank you for joining us.

我們的第四季電話會議到此結束。感謝您加入我們。

This will conclude today's conference. All parties may disconnect at this time.

今天的會議到此結束。此時各方都可以斷開連線。