F5 Inc (FFIV) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the F5, Incorporated Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2022 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) And please be advise that this call is being recorded. And finally, if anyone has any objections, please disconnect at this time. And now at this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Ms. Suzanne DuLong, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, ma'am.

女士們先生們，下午好。歡迎參加 F5, Incorporated 2022 財年第四季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此通話正在錄音中。最後，如果有人有異議，請此時斷開連接。現在這個時候，我想把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Suzanne DuLong 女士。請繼續，女士。

Hello, and welcome. I'm Suzanne DuLong, Vice President of Investor Relations. Francois Locoh-Donou, F5's President and CEO; and Frank Pelzer, F5's Executive Vice President and CFO, will be making prepared remarks on today's call. Other members of the F5 executive team are also on hand to answer questions during the Q&A session. A copy of today's press release is available on our website at f5.com, where an archived version of today's audio will be available through January 24, 2023.

你好，歡迎光臨。我是投資者關係副總裁 Suzanne DuLong。 F5 總裁兼首席執行官 Francois Locoh-Donou； F5 執行副總裁兼首席財務官 Frank Pelzer 將在今天的電話會議上發表事先準備好的講話。 F5 執行團隊的其他成員也將在問答環節現場回答問題。今天新聞稿的副本可在我們的網站 f5.com 上獲取，今天音頻的存檔版本將在 2023 年 1 月 24 日之前提供。

Visuals accompanying today's discussion are viewable on the webcast and will be posted to our IR site at the conclusion of our call. To access the replay of today's call by phone, dial (800) 770-2030 or (647) 362-9199 and use meeting ID 3209415. The telephonic replay will be available through midnight Pacific Time, October 26, 2022. For additional information or follow-up questions, please reach out to me directly at s.dulong@f5.com.

今天討論的圖片可在網絡廣播中觀看，並將在我們的電話會議結束時發佈到我們的 IR 網站。要通過電話收聽今天電話會議的重播，請撥打 (800) 770-2030 或 (647) 362-9199 並使用會議 ID 3209415。電話重播將在太平洋時間 2022 年 10 月 26 日午夜之前提供。如需更多信息或後續問題，請直接通過s.dulong@f5.com與我聯繫。

Our discussion today will contain forward-looking statements, which include words such as belief, anticipate, expect and target. These forward-looking statements involve uncertainties and risks that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. Factors that may affect our results are summarized in the press release announcing our financial results and described in detail in our SEC filings. Please note that F5 has no duty to update any information presented in this call.

我們今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述，其中包括信念、預期、預期和目標等詞語。這些前瞻性陳述涉及不確定性和風險，可能導致我們的實際結果與這些陳述明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。可能影響我們結果的因素在宣布我們財務結果的新聞稿中進行了總結，並在我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中進行了詳細描述。請注意，F5 沒有義務更新此電話中提供的任何信息。

With that, I will turn the call over to Francois.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給弗朗索瓦。

Thank you, Suzanne, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I will speak first to our fourth quarter results before discussing fiscal year '22 and our outlook for fiscal year '23. Against the backdrop of a rapidly changing environment, our team delivered fourth quarter revenue at the top end of our guidance and earnings per share above the high end of our guided range.

謝謝你，蘇珊娜，大家好。感謝您今天加入我們。在討論 '22 財年和我們對 '23 財年的展望之前，我將首先談談我們的第四季度業績。在瞬息萬變的環境背景下，我們的團隊在第四季度實現了我們指導範圍的上限和每股收益高於指導範圍的上限。

As Q4 progressed, we witnessed increased budget scrutiny from customers and elongating selling cycles, particularly related to new projects and new architectural rollouts. These dynamics were especially evident in our Q4 software revenue. While we had a strong pipeline for new multiyear subscriptions headed into the quarter, customers' macro concerns led to lower close rates and lower software growth than we expected.

隨著第四季度的進展，我們目睹了客戶對預算審查的增加和銷售週期的延長，尤其是與新項目和新架構推出相關的情況。這些動態在我們第四季度的軟件收入中尤為明顯。雖然我們在進入本季度時擁有強大的新多年訂閱渠道，但客戶的宏觀擔憂導致收盤價和軟件增長低於我們的預期。

We had some customers pause large-scale digital transformation projects in favor of business as usual. We also had customers resized projects with more conservative initial usage estimates. And we saw foreign exchange headwinds contribute to budget and spending challenges with customers in both EMEA and APAC, including customers who delayed projects with the hope that currency would stabilize.

我們有一些客戶暫停了大規模的數字化轉型項目，轉而支持一切照舊。我們還讓客戶使用更保守的初始使用估計來調整項目大小。我們看到外匯逆風導致 EMEA 和 APAC 客戶的預算和支出挑戰，包括那些希望貨幣穩定而推遲項目的客戶。

Conversely, Q4 marked a significant improvement in our systems revenue versus prior quarters, thanks to better availability of several critical components in the broker market. These scarce components came at higher costs, which are reflected in our Q4 product gross margins. However, our priority was and will remain fulfilling customer demand for systems, which stayed strong throughout the year. We were able to partially offset higher product costs and continued operating discipline and a favorable tax rate enabled us to outperform our Q4 earnings per share target in the quarter.

相反，由於經紀商市場幾個關鍵組件的可用性提高，第四季度我們的系統收入與前幾個季度相比有了顯著改善。這些稀缺組件的成本更高，這反映在我們第四季度的產品毛利率中。然而，我們的首要任務是並將繼續滿足客戶對系統的需求，這一需求在全年保持強勁。我們能夠部分抵消較高的產品成本和持續的經營紀律，而優惠的稅率使我們能夠在本季度超越我們的第四季度每股收益目標。

When I step back and look at FY '22 as a whole, I readily acknowledge that the year did not look the way we envisioned when we began it. Despite supply chain challenges and growing customer caution beginning in Q4, we saw persistent customer demand and our sales teams drove record-breaking bookings for the year. In addition, we achieved several important milestones. First, with portfolio and consumption model diversification, we drove our product mix to 51-49 software hardware, a noteworthy accomplishment in our transformation journey and very different from where we were just 5 years ago when software represented less than 15% of our product revenue; second, with the expansion of our application security portfolio and increasing demand for securing applications and APIs, we have grown our security business to $1 billion in revenue.

當我退一步審視整個 22 財年時，我欣然承認這一年並不像我們開始時設想的那樣。儘管從第 4 季度開始供應鏈面臨挑戰並且客戶越來越謹慎，但我們看到了持續的客戶需求，我們的銷售團隊推動了今年破紀錄的預訂。此外，我們還實現了幾個重要的里程碑。首先，通過產品組合和消費模式的多樣化，我們將產品組合推向了 51-49 種軟件硬件，這是我們轉型過程中的一項值得注意的成就，與我們 5 年前的情況截然不同，當時軟件占我們產品收入的比例不到 15% ;其次，隨著我們應用程序安全產品組合的擴展以及對保護應用程序和 API 的需求不斷增加，我們的安全業務收入已增長到 10 億美元。

Security-related revenue now represented 37% of our FY '22 total revenue; third, 69% of our total revenue was recurring in FY '22 with a double-digit 3-year compound annual growth rate. Over time, higher levels of recurring revenue will continue to add predictability and stability to our model. Finally, we launched 3 significant new platforms during the year, leveraging customer-focused innovation across the continuum of deployment models.

與安全相關的收入現在占我們 22 財年總收入的 37%；第三，我們總收入的 69% 在 22 財年以兩位數的 3 年復合年增長率出現。隨著時間的推移，更高水平的經常性收入將繼續增加我們模型的可預測性和穩定性。最後，我們在這一年推出了 3 個重要的新平台，在整個部署模型中利用以客戶為中心的創新。

These launches included expanding and unifying our SaaS offerings through F5 distributed cloud services as well as our next-generation rSeries and VELOS systems. These milestones are representative of how significantly we have evolved F5 over the last 5 years. F5 is stronger and better balanced with a more resilient revenue base and an operating model capable of delivering significant leverage. Over the next year, our business is likely to benefit from tailwinds to our systems business as a result of improving component availability.

這些發布包括通過 F5 分佈式雲服務以及我們的下一代 rSeries 和 VELOS 系統擴展和統一我們的 SaaS 產品。這些里程碑代表了我們在過去 5 年中 F5 取得了多麼顯著的發展。 F5 更強大，更好地平衡了更具彈性的收入基礎和能夠提供顯著影響力的運營模式。明年，由於組件可用性的提高，我們的業務可能會受益於系統業務的順風。

It's also likely to bear some weight from macroeconomic headwinds. In the balance, we expect to deliver FY '23 revenue growth of 9% to 11%. We also expect the combination of revenue growth and operating leverage will enable us to deliver non-GAAP earnings growth in the low to mid-teens, which means we also expect to deliver on our Rule of 40 benchmark in FY '23. Further, we are committed to operating the business to maintain the Rule of 40 and double-digit earnings growth on an annual basis going forward.

它也可能承受一些來自宏觀經濟不利因素的影響。總而言之，我們預計 23 財年的收入增長將達到 9% 至 11%。我們還預計收入增長和運營槓桿的結合將使我們能夠實現非 GAAP 盈利增長在中低端，這意味著我們也預計在 23 財年實現我們的 40 條基準。此外，我們致力於經營業務以保持 40 條規則和每年兩位數的收益增長。

Frank will speak to our outlook in greater detail in his remarks. Before I pass the call to him though, I will talk to several of the reasons why we believe we will deliver strong revenue and earnings growth this year. First, hybrid IT is here to stay. Our multi-cloud infrastructure-agnostic approach means we can create a more unified experience across customers' disparate environments. We are enhancing automation and driving operational efficiencies and corresponding cost efficiencies. Our ability to create a more seamless application environment for our customers is already an advantage. It is likely to become even more so as customers look to reduce operating costs and complexity; second, demand for security use cases is likely to remain resilient.

弗蘭克將在他的講話中更詳細地談到我們的前景。不過，在我將電話轉給他之前，我將談談我們相信今年將實現強勁收入和盈利增長的幾個原因。首先，混合 IT 將繼續存在。我們的多雲基礎架構不可知論方法意味著我們可以在客戶的不同環境中創建更統一的體驗。我們正在增強自動化並提高運營效率和相應的成本效率。我們為客戶創建更加無縫的應用程序環境的能力已經是一種優勢。隨著客戶希望降低運營成本和復雜性，它可能會變得更加如此；其次，對安全用例的需求可能會保持彈性。

Customers rely on our security solutions, including DDoS protection, advanced vulnerability defense with web application firewall and bot fraud abuse and API protection to protect them across what feels like an ever-increasing attack surface. With the February launch of our SaaS-based F5 distributed cloud services, we are now a form-factor in a rapidly growing segment of the overall security market; third, we expect the combination of a resilient systems business and gradually improving component supply will contribute to drive systems revenue growth in fiscal year '23.

客戶依賴我們的安全解決方案，包括 DDoS 保護、使用 Web 應用程序防火牆的高級漏洞防禦以及機器人欺詐濫用和 API 保護來保護他們免受感覺不斷增加的攻擊面。隨著我們在 2 月推出基於 SaaS 的 F5 分佈式雲服務，我們現在已成為整個安全市場快速增長部分的重要組成部分；第三，我們預計彈性系統業務與逐漸改善的組件供應相結合將有助於推動 23 財年的系統收入增長。

Beyond 2023, with customers embracing hybrid IT, we expect hardware demand will prove more resilient and longer lived than expected just a few years ago. Near term, we also see the opportunity to take share from traditional hardware competitors undergoing structural change; fourth, our breadth of form factors and consumption models makes us an ideal partner for customers who are likely to be prioritizing their investments, optimizing costs and may want to shift from one consumption model to another, whether hardware, software, SaaS or managed service, perpetual license or subscription via an OpEx or CapEx budget approach, we are flexible.

到 2023 年以後，隨著客戶採用混合 IT，我們預計硬件需求將證明比幾年前的預期更具彈性且壽命更長。近期，我們還看到了從正在進行結構變革的傳統硬件競爭對手那裡搶占市場份額的機會；第四，我們廣泛的形式因素和消費模式使我們成為可能優先考慮投資、優化成本並可能希望從一種消費模式轉變為另一種消費模式（無論是硬件、軟件、SaaS 還是託管服務）的客戶的理想合作夥伴，通過 OpEx 或 CapEx 預算方法的永久許可或訂閱，我們很靈活。

In an environment of shifting priorities, removing friction and enabling customers to consume how and when they want is a distinct advantage. And finally, we are a trusted and operationalized partner of the largest enterprises, service providers and government entities around the world. In good times and especially when faced with adversity, organizations tend to rely heavily on the partners they know and trust. We have worked for decades to earn that trust.

在優先事項不斷變化的環境中，消除摩擦並使客戶能夠以他們想要的方式和時間消費是一個明顯的優勢。最後，我們是全球最大的企業、服務提供商和政府實體值得信賴的運營合作夥伴。在順境中，尤其是在逆境中，組織往往會嚴重依賴他們認識和信任的合作夥伴。為了贏得這種信任，我們已經努力了幾十年。

Our customers count on us on our deep understanding of how to protect and optimize their application and on our continuous innovation. It's these factors, among others, including our very sticky installed base and our growing base of recurring revenue, which helped give us confidence in our outlook for next year.

我們的客戶依靠我們對如何保護和優化他們的應用程序的深刻理解以及我們不斷的創新。正是這些因素，包括我們非常粘性的安裝基礎和我們不斷增長的經常性收入基礎，幫助我們對明年的前景充滿信心。

Before I conclude, I will highlight 2 interesting customer use cases from Q4. The first is an example of a multiyear subscription renewal with a sizable expansion. In this case, a customer, a global retailer had a goal of automatically flexing its capacity into its public cloud environments as spiky traffic demands warranted.

在結束之前，我將重點介紹第 4 季度的 2 個有趣的客戶用例。第一個是一個多年訂閱續訂的例子，並有相當大的擴展。在這種情況下，一家全球零售商的客戶有一個目標，即根據高峰流量需求自動將其容量擴展到其公共雲環境中。

The customer augmented its existing on-premise big IP hardware with scalable virtualized BIG-IP software in the public cloud. With our deep automation capabilities, we fully automated the deployment and configuration of the F5 stack, enabling them to burst capacity as needed. Automation also simplified how their developers consume infrastructure and best-of-breed cloud services.

該客戶使用公有云中的可擴展虛擬化 BIG-IP 軟件增強了其現有的本地大 IP 硬件。憑藉我們的深度自動化功能，我們完全自動化了 F5 堆棧的部署和配置，使他們能夠根據需要擴展容量。自動化還簡化了他們的開發人員使用基礎架構和同類最佳雲服務的方式。

In an example of an F5 distributed cloud services SaaS win in the quarter, we worked with a global transport company based in South America that needed to protect its multi-cloud applications, but did not want the complexity or inefficiency of disparate cloud native services.

在本季度 F5 分佈式雲服務 SaaS 獲勝的一個例子中，我們與一家位於南美洲的全球運輸公司合作，該公司需要保護其多雲應用程序，但不希望復雜或低效的不同雲原生服務。

The customer selected F5 distributed cloud services as a one-stop comprehensive security solution, including web application firewall, advanced bot defense, API security and DDoS. With F5, the customer gained more consistent security across its multi-cloud environments, improved protection against bots and is now more self-sufficient for its security and traffic management with a single platform to support expansion to other regions.

客戶選擇 F5 分佈式雲服務作為一站式綜合安全解決方案，包括 Web 應用防火牆、高級機器人防禦、API 安全和 DDoS。借助 F5，客戶在其多雲環境中獲得了更一致的安全性，改進了對機器人程序的保護，現在通過單一平台支持擴展到其他地區，在安全性和流量管理方面更加自給自足。

In both of these use case examples, F5 delivered automated multi-cloud solutions that dramatically simplified our customers' operations and improved their ability to scale their businesses. And we did so with a form-factor and consumption model that best fit their needs.

在這兩個用例示例中，F5 交付了自動化的多雲解決方案，極大地簡化了客戶的運營並提高了他們擴展業務的能力。我們使用最適合他們需求的外形和消費模型來做到這一點。

Now I will turn the call to Frank. Frank?

現在我將把電話轉給弗蘭克。坦率？

Thank you, Francois, and good afternoon, everyone. I will review our Q4 results before moving on to briefly recap FY '22 results. I will then speak to our FY '23 and first quarter outlook. We delivered fourth quarter revenue of $700 million, reflecting 3% growth year-over-year with 3% product revenue growth and 2% global services growth. Product revenue represented 50% of total revenue in the quarter and was split 49% software, 51% systems. Q4 software revenue grew 13% to $172 million, systems revenue of $178 million was down 5% year-over-year. Rounding out our revenue picture, global service delivered $350 million in revenue.

謝謝弗朗索瓦，大家下午好。在繼續簡要回顧 22 財年的結果之前，我將回顧我們的第四季度結果。然後我將談談我們的 23 財年和第一季度展望。我們第四季度的收入為 7 億美元，同比增長 3%，其中產品收入增長 3%，全球服務增長 2%。產品收入佔本季度總收入的 50%，軟件收入佔 49%，系統收入佔 51%。第四季度軟件收入增長 13% 至 1.72 億美元，系統收入為 1.78 億美元，同比下降 5%。完善我們的收入情況，全球服務帶來了 3.5 億美元的收入。

Let's take a closer look at our software growth. Our software revenue is comprised of subscription-based and perpetual license sales. Subscription-based revenue, which includes term subscriptions, our SaaS offerings and utility-based revenue totaled $131 million or 76% of Q4's total software revenue, the remaining 24% or $41 million came from perpetual license sales. Let's talk first about subscriptions and their performance in the quarter, multiyear subscription renewals and our SaaS solutions performed as expected.

讓我們仔細看看我們的軟件增長。我們的軟件收入包括基於訂閱和永久許可的銷售。基於訂閱的收入，包括定期訂閱、我們的 SaaS 產品和基於實用程序的收入總計 1.31 億美元，佔第四季度軟件總收入的 76%，其餘 24% 或 4100 萬美元來自永久許可銷售。讓我們首先談談訂閱及其在本季度的表現、多年訂閱續訂以及我們按預期執行的 SaaS 解決方案。

However, as Francois noted, as the quarter progressed, we began to see increased budget scrutiny from customers and elongating selling cycles, particularly related to new projects and new architectural rollouts. While we had a strong pipeline of new multiyear subscriptions headed into the quarter, these dynamics led to lower close rates on new deals. We believe budget pressures also led to a strong mix of perpetual software sales in Q4 with an increasing number of customers preferring CapEx-based consumption models. Revenue from recurring sources, which includes term subscriptions, SaaS and utility-based revenue as well as the maintenance portion of our services revenue totaled 67% of revenue in Q4.

然而，正如 Francois 指出的那樣，隨著本季度的推進，我們開始看到客戶對預算的審查越來越嚴格，銷售週期也越來越長，尤其是與新項目和新架構推出相關的情況。雖然本季度我們有大量新的多年期訂閱，但這些動態導致新交易的成交率降低。我們認為，預算壓力也導致第四季度永久軟件銷售的強勁組合，越來越多的客戶更喜歡基於資本支出的消費模式。來自經常性來源的收入，包括定期訂閱、SaaS 和基於公用事業的收入以及我們服務收入的維護部分，在第四季度總計佔收入的 67%。

On a regional basis, Americas delivered 6% revenue growth year-over-year, representing 61% of total revenue. EMEA declined 3%, representing 23% of revenue, and APAC declined 2%, representing 17% of revenue. Enterprise customers represented 66% of product bookings in the quarter. Service providers represented 13% and government customers represented 21%, including 12% from U.S. Federal. I will now share our Q4 operating results.

按地區劃分，美洲地區收入同比增長 6%，佔總收入的 61%。歐洲、中東和非洲地區下降 3%，佔收入的 23%，亞太地區下降 2%，佔收入的 17%。企業客戶佔本季度產品預訂的 66%。服務提供商佔 13%，政府客戶佔 21%，其中 12% 來自美國聯邦。我現在將分享我們第四季度的經營業績。

GAAP gross margin was 78.9%. Non-GAAP gross margin was 81.4%. This was below our guidance of 82% to 83% as a result of the higher systems revenue mix in the quarter and higher costs associated with procuring and expediting critical components in the broker market. GAAP operating expense was $445 million. Non-GAAP operating expense was $379 million, in line with our guided range. Our GAAP operating margin was 15.4%.

GAAP 毛利率為 78.9%。非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 81.4%。這低於我們 82% 至 83% 的指導，這是由於本季度系統收入組合較高，以及與在經紀商市場採購和加快關鍵組件相關的成本較高。 GAAP 運營費用為 4.45 億美元。非 GAAP 運營費用為 3.79 億美元，符合我們的指導範圍。我們的 GAAP 營業利潤率為 15.4%。

Our non-GAAP operating margin was 27.3%. Our GAAP effective tax rate for the quarter was 10.4%. Our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 14.1%. GAAP net income for the quarter was $89 million or $1.49 per share. Non-GAAP net income was $158 million or $2.62 per share.

我們的非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 27.3%。我們本季度的 GAAP 有效稅率為 10.4%。我們的非 GAAP 有效稅率為 14.1%。本季度的 GAAP 淨收入為 8900 萬美元或每股 1.49 美元。非 GAAP 淨收入為 1.58 億美元或每股 2.62 美元。

I will now turn to cash flow and balance sheet. We generated $154 million in cash flow from operations in Q4. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $9 million. DSO for the quarter was 60 days. Similar to last quarter, this is up from historical levels due to the back-end shipping linearity in the quarter resulting from ongoing supply chain challenges. Cash and investments totaled approximately $894 million at quarter end. Deferred revenue increased 14% year-over-year to $1.69 billion, up from $1.64 billion in Q3.

我現在將轉向現金流量和資產負債表。我們在第四季度的運營中產生了 1.54 億美元的現金流。本季度的資本支出為 900 萬美元。本季度的 DSO 為 60 天。與上一季度類似，由於持續的供應鏈挑戰導致本季度後端運輸線性，這高於歷史水平。截至季度末，現金和投資總額約為 8.94 億美元。遞延收入同比增長 14% 至 16.9 億美元，高於第三季度的 16.4 億美元。

This increase was largely driven by subscriptions and SaaS bookings growth and, to a lesser extent, deferred service maintenance. Finally, we ended the quarter with approximately 7,090 employees. I will now briefly recap our FY '22 results. For the year, revenue grew 3% to $2.7 billion.

這一增長主要是由訂閱和 SaaS 預訂的增長推動的，在較小程度上是由延遲的服務維護推動的。最後，我們在本季度結束時擁有大約 7,090 名員工。我現在將簡要回顧一下我們 22 財年的業績。全年收入增長 3% 至 27 億美元。

Product revenue of $1.3 billion grew 6% from the prior year and accounted for 49% of total revenue. As Francois noted, we achieved a significant milestone in the year, with software representing 51% of product revenue. Software revenue grew 33% to $665 million for the year, while systems revenue declined 13% to $652 million.

產品收入為 13 億美元，比上年增長 6%，佔總收入的 49%。正如 Francois 指出的那樣，我們在這一年實現了一個重要的里程碑，軟件佔產品收入的 51%。軟件收入全年增長 33% 至 6.65 億美元，而係統收入下降 13% 至 6.52 億美元。

Global services grew 2% to $1.4 billion. FY '22 software growth came from both subscriptions and perpetual license growth. Since FY '19, we have driven total software revenue growth at a 41% compounded annual growth rate, subscription software at a 58% compounded annual growth rate and perpetual license at a 10% annual growth rate. In FY '22, revenue from term-based subscription models, including renewals and inter-term expansions or true-forwards continue to represent the majority of our software subscription revenue.

全球服務增長 2% 至 14 億美元。 22 財年的軟件增長來自訂閱和永久許可增長。自 19 財年以來，我們以 41% 的複合年增長率推動軟件總收入增長，以 58% 的複合年增長率推動訂閱軟件，以 10% 的年增長率推動永久許可。在 22 財年，來自基於期限的訂閱模式的收入，包括續訂和期間擴展或真正的轉發，繼續占我們軟件訂閱收入的大部分。

With the launch of F5 distributed cloud services in February, we have introduced a new growth vector for our software business with a SaaS-based consumption model. We are thrilled with the early customer traction for the platform, but scaling ratable SaaS revenue takes time. We are transitioning all of our previously available SaaS services, including solutions from Shape and Silverline managed services to F5 distributed cloud services, creating a unified delivery platform for customers. We fully expect F5 distributed cloud will be a meaningful contributor to our revenue in the future.

隨著 2 月份 F5 分佈式雲服務的推出，我們通過基於 SaaS 的消費模型為我們的軟件業務引入了新的增長點。我們對該平台的早期客戶吸引力感到非常興奮，但擴大可觀的 SaaS 收入需要時間。我們正在將之前可用的所有 SaaS 服務（包括從 Shape 和 Silverline 託管服務的解決方案）過渡到 F5 分佈式雲服務，為客戶創建一個統一的交付平台。我們完全期待 F5 分佈式雲在未來對我們的收入做出有意義的貢獻。

We will look to disclose both its revenue contribution and other relevant ratable revenue metrics as the business grows and matures. Our software revenue growth is driving us towards a higher recurring revenue base. In FY '22, 69% of our revenue was recurring, up from 66% in FY '21 and reflecting an 11% compound annual growth rate since FY '19.

隨著業務的發展和成熟，我們將尋求披露其收入貢獻和其他相關的可評定收入指標。我們的軟件收入增長正在推動我們走向更高的經常性收入基礎。在 22 財年，我們 69% 的收入是經常性的，高於 21 財年的 66%，反映出自 19 財年以來 11% 的複合年增長率。

We closed FY '22 with approximately $231 million in product backlog, the vast majority of which is systems based. This is up more than 80% from approximately $125 million in product backlog in FY '21. While backlog orders are cancelable, we continue to see very low to nonexistent cancellation rates.

我們在 22 財年結束時有大約 2.31 億美元的產品積壓，其中絕大多數是基於系統的。這比 21 財年約 1.25 億美元的產品積壓訂單增加了 80% 以上。雖然積壓訂單可以取消，但我們仍然看到非常低甚至不存在的取消率。

Two years ago, we began disclosing the portion of our revenue derived from security solutions. Francois mentioned, we delivered $1 billion in security revenue in FY '22, representing 37% of total revenue. We estimate our stand-alone security product revenue, which includes solutions sold exclusively for security use cases in either software SaaS or hardware deployment models, grew to approximately $440 million. This reflects a 30% compounded annual growth rate since FY '19.

兩年前，我們開始披露來自安全解決方案的部分收入。弗朗索瓦提到，我們在 22 財年交付了 10 億美元的安全收入，佔總收入的 37%。我們估計我們的獨立安全產品收入增長到約 4.4 億美元，其中包括專門為軟件 SaaS 或硬件部署模型中的安全用例銷售的解決方案。這反映了自 19 財年以來 30% 的複合年增長率。

I will now turn to our FY '22 operating performance. GAAP gross margin in FY '22 was 80%. Non-GAAP gross margin was 82.6%. Our GAAP operating margin in FY '22 was 15% and our non-GAAP operating margin was 28.9%. Our GAAP effective tax rate for the year was 16.4%. Our non-GAAP effective tax rate for the year was 18.1%. Our FY '22 annual tax rate was lower than expected primarily due to a dispute benefit from filing our fiscal year 2021 state income tax returns.

我現在將談談我們 22 財年的經營業績。 22 財年的 GAAP 毛利率為 80%。非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 82.6%。我們在 22 財年的 GAAP 營業利潤率為 15%，我們的非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 28.9%。我們當年的 GAAP 有效稅率為 16.4%。我們當年的非美國通用會計準則有效稅率為 18.1%。我們的 22 財年年度稅率低於預期，這主要是由於提交 2021 財年州所得稅申報表的爭議利益。

GAAP net income for FY '22 was $322 million or $5.27 per share. Non-GAAP net income was $623 million or $10.19 per share. I will now share our outlook for FY '23. Unless otherwise stated, my guidance comments reference non-GAAP operating metrics. As Francois noted, we expect to deliver 9% to 11% revenue growth in FY '23. This view incorporates a balance between tailwinds to our systems business from gradually improving component availability during the year and macroeconomic headwinds.

22 財年的 GAAP 淨收入為 3.22 億美元或每股 5.27 美元。非 GAAP 淨收入為 6.23 億美元或每股 10.19 美元。我現在將分享我們對 23 財年的展望。除非另有說明，否則我的指導意見參考了非 GAAP 運營指標。正如弗朗索瓦指出的那樣，我們預計 23 財年的收入將增長 9% 至 11%。這一觀點在年內逐漸提高組件可用性和宏觀經濟逆風之間平衡了我們系統業務的順風。

It also factors in current customer caution. In FY '23, we expect the dynamics around budget scrutiny and caution around new projects will be similar to what we experienced in Q4. As a result, we expect software growth of 15% to 20% for the year.

這也是當前客戶謹慎的因素。在 23 財年，我們預計圍繞預算審查的動態和對新項目的謹慎將與我們在第四季度經歷的類似。因此，我們預計今年的軟件增長將達到 15% 至 20%。

We expect systems revenue growth in FY '23 with growth weighted towards the second half when supply chain risk related to critical components begins to abate. Finally, we expect low to mid-single-digit revenue growth from our global services. Shifting to our operating model, we expect supply chain pressures to remain acute in the first half of the year and to gradually improve in the second half.

我們預計 23 財年的系統收入增長將集中在下半年，屆時與關鍵組件相關的供應鏈風險開始減弱。最後，我們預計我們的全球服務收入將實現中低個位數增長。轉向我們的運營模式，我們預計供應鏈壓力在今年上半年仍然嚴峻，並在下半年逐漸改善。

This dynamic will impact our FY '23 operating model trends, likely outweighing our usual seasonality. Specifically, revenue, gross margin and operating margin expansion are expected to be more weighted in Q3 and Q4 of FY '23. We expect FY '23 gross margins of approximately 81% with the combination of moderating supply chain cost and price realization from our previously announced price increases flowing through as we progress through the year.

這種動態將影響我們的 FY '23 運營模式趨勢，可能超過我們通常的季節性。具體而言，預計 23 財年第三季度和第四季度的收入、毛利率和營業利潤率擴張將更加重要。我們預計 23 財年的毛利率約為 81%，隨著我們在這一年的進展，供應鏈成本和我們先前宣布的價格上漲帶來的價格實現相結合。

We expect continued operating expense discipline will result in non-GAAP operating margin in the range of 30% to 31% for the year. We expect our FY '23 effective tax rate will be 21% to 23%. And we expect to deliver non-GAAP EPS growth in the low to mid-teens for the year. As Francois noted, with results in these ranges, we would achieve our Rule of 40 target for FY '23.

我們預計，持續的運營支出紀律將使今年的非 GAAP 運營利潤率在 30% 至 31% 之間。我們預計 23 財年的有效稅率將為 21% 至 23%。我們預計今年的非 GAAP 每股收益增長將在十幾歲到十幾歲之間。正如 Francois 指出的那樣，如果結果在這些範圍內，我們將實現 23 財年的 40 規則目標。

We are committed to maintaining it and double-digit earnings growth going forward on an annual basis. Our FY '23 outlook incorporates the expectation that we will allocate 50% of our free cash flow for the year to share repurchases, consistent with our balanced approach and the commitment we made at our last Analyst Day.

我們致力於保持它和每年兩位數的盈利增長。我們的 FY '23 展望包含了我們將分配 50% 的年度自由現金流用於股票回購的預期，這與我們的平衡方法和我們在上一個分析師日做出的承諾一致。

Included in this expectation is that we pay down the $350 million remaining on our term loan related to the Shape acquisition when it matures in January of 2023. I will now speak to our outlook for Q1 FY '23. We expect Q1 revenue in the range of $690 million to $710 million with gross margin of approximately 80%. We estimate Q1 operating expenses of $370 million to $382 million.

這一預期包括我們在 2023 年 1 月到期時償還與 Shape 收購相關的定期貸款剩餘的 3.5 億美元。我現在將談談我們對 23 財年第一季度的展望。我們預計第一季度收入在 6.9 億美元至 7.1 億美元之間，毛利率約為 80%。我們估計第一季度的運營費用為 3.7 億美元至 3.82 億美元。

And our Q1 non-GAAP earnings target is $2.25 to $2.37 per share. We expect Q1 share-based compensation expense of approximately $61 million to $63 million. I will now turn the call back over to Francois. Francois?

我們的第一季度非 GAAP 收益目標是每股 2.25 美元至 2.37 美元。我們預計第一季度基於股份的薪酬支出約為 6100 萬至 6300 萬美元。我現在將把電話轉回給 Francois。弗朗索瓦？

Thank you, Frank. To reiterate a few key points. We believe we are positioned to deliver FY '23 revenue and earnings growth, we are well aligned with our customers' most pressing application challenges, including easing the complexity of protecting increasingly distributed applications and managing and scaling complex hybrid IT environments.

謝謝你，弗蘭克。重申幾個關鍵點。我們相信我們有能力實現 23 財年的收入和盈利增長，我們很好地應對了客戶最緊迫的應用挑戰，包括降低保護日益分散的應用的複雜性，以及管理和擴展複雜的混合 IT 環境。

With a $1 billion and growing security business and an increasing mix of SaaS-based solutions, we are well positioned for the future. Our innovation and successful transformation efforts to date have substantially expanded our portfolio, driving balance in our hardware-software mix.

憑藉價值 10 億美元且不斷增長的安全業務以及越來越多的基於 SaaS 的解決方案組合，我們為未來做好了充分準備。迄今為止，我們的創新和成功的轉型努力大大擴展了我們的產品組合，推動了我們硬件與軟件組合的平衡。

As a result, we have a stronger business model and increased confidence in our ability to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth. In the balance of what we see are likely both tailwinds resulting from improving component availability and macroeconomic headwinds in FY '23, we expect to deliver meaningful top line growth and double-digit earnings growth. In FY '23 and beyond, we expect to continue to exercise operating discipline, driving to the Rule of 40 and double-digit growth on a sustainable basis annually. This concludes our prepared remarks today. Operator, would you please open the call to Q&A?

因此，我們擁有更強大的商業模式，並對我們實現持續收入和盈利增長的能力更有信心。在我們所看到的平衡中，23 財年組件可用性的提高和宏觀經濟逆風可能會帶來順風，我們預計將實現有意義的收入增長和兩位數的收益增長。在 23 財年及以後，我們預計將繼續遵守經營紀律，每年以可持續的方式推動 40 規則和兩位數的增長。我們今天準備好的發言到此結束。接線員，請打開問答環節好嗎？

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Take our first question this afternoon from Tim Long of Barclays.

接受我們今天下午來自巴克萊銀行的 Tim Long 的第一個問題。

A few here, if I could. Number one, all related to software here. About 3 years ago, I think, is when you started with a pretty large term deals and there was a few really big quarters there. Just curious on those handful of deals that really contributed a lot back then. They should come up for a 3-year renewal. Could you just talk a little bit about those deals in aggregate? Were they renewed? Were they renewed larger, what kind of upside can we see to them? Or were those deals lost or pushed out? And then I have more follow-ups.

如果可以的話，這裡有一些。第一，所有與這裡的軟件有關。我認為，大約 3 年前，當你開始進行相當大的期限交易時，那裡有幾個非常大的季度。只是對當時真正做出巨大貢獻的少數幾筆交易感到好奇。他們應該提出 3 年續約。您能否總體談談這些交易？他們更新了嗎？如果它們更新得更大，我們可以看到它們有什麼樣的優勢？還是這些交易丟失或被推遲了？然後我有更多的後續行動。

Tim, it's Francois. The -- so the -- as far as what we've seen both throughout 2022, which was really the first year where we had a number of these deals to renew and what we saw in Q4 of 2022, renewal on these large deals were very strong. And by that, I mean that they renewed. And in addition, the expansion that we've seen on these deals has been really healthy. So we're really happy with the renewals.

提姆，我是弗朗索瓦。 - 所以 - 就我們在整個 2022 年所看到的情況而言，這實際上是我們有許多此類交易需要續約的第一年，以及我們在 2022 年第四季度看到的情況，這些大型交易的續約是非常強壯。就此而言，我的意思是他們更新了。此外，我們在這些交易中看到的擴張非常健康。所以我們對續約非常滿意。

As it relates to what we saw overall in Q4, the -- where we had a shortfall was really on new business. And it really was -- we had the pipeline going into the quarter for a stronger number into software -- on new business in particular. And the close rates ended up not being what we expected them to be because we saw a different customer behavior towards the end of the quarter. As per the mentions in the prepared remarks around deals being delayed, some being resized and some being postponed by customers largely as a reaction to macro environment pressures and expectations for the recessionary environment. So all of that dynamic really only played out in new business. But as far as the existing deals that we needed to renew, they happen with strong renewal rates and good expansion.

由於它與我們在第四季度看到的整體情況有關，我們的不足之處確實在於新業務。它確實是 - 我們有進入該季度的管道，以獲得更多的軟件 - 特別是新業務。收盤價最終沒有達到我們的預期，因為我們在本季度末看到了不同的客戶行為。根據準備好的評論中提到的交易被推遲，一些交易被調整，一些被客戶推遲，主要是作為對宏觀環境壓力和對經濟衰退環境預期的反應。因此，所有這些動態實際上只在新業務中發揮作用。但就我們需要續籤的現有交易而言，它們以強勁的續簽率和良好的擴張而發生。

Okay. And then you updated the security number there, which is helpful. Also at that Analyst Day, a few years ago, you gave a $100 million revenue number into the cloud vertical. I'm hoping you could give us some kind of update on how business to the cloud vertical has transpired over the year?

好的。然後你在那裡更新了安全號碼，這很有幫助。同樣在幾年前的那個分析師日，你給雲垂直行業帶來了 1 億美元的收入。我希望您能為我們提供一些關於雲垂直業務在過去一年中如何發展的最新信息？

I don't have an update for you there. Our cloud business, in general, has continued to grow pretty substantially. What we are seeing more and more, Tim, is customers augmenting their on-prem or private cloud environment with applications going into public cloud, and they're leveraging for that, our software, of course, but not just big IP software, but increasingly, we're seeing them do that with NGINX software.

我在那裡沒有給你的更新。總的來說，我們的雲業務繼續大幅增長。我們越來越多地看到，Tim，客戶通過將應用程序進入公共雲來增強他們的本地或私有云環境，他們正在為此利用我們的軟件，當然，但不僅僅是大型 IP 軟件，還有我們越來越多地看到他們使用 NGINX 軟件來做到這一點。

And what we're seeing more and more is hybrid cloud being here and being here to stay with large enterprises who want to automate environments, both on-prem and in the public cloud.

我們越來越多地看到，混合雲已經存在，並且會留在希望自動化環境的大型企業中，包括本地和公共雲。

And we've positioned our technology to be able to do both. So with the growth that we're seeing in hybrid cloud environment, our business, of course, in the public cloud and the number of applications we support in the public cloud has grown.

我們已經將我們的技術定位為能夠做到這兩點。因此，隨著我們在混合雲環境中看到的增長，我們的業務，當然，在公共雲中以及我們在公共雲中支持的應用程序數量也在增長。

We go next now to Sami Badri at Credit Suisse.

接下來我們去瑞士信貸的 Sami Badri。

So I have 2 for the team. The first question is on a comment Francois that you just made that kind of peaked my interest here. You said that hardware revenue is likely more durable and may take share. And I think you said other from companies and existing customers or something along those lines. Now could you just give us some color here? Are you taking share from software companies, hardware companies, other form factors? Maybe you could just expand a little bit on that comment, it's a little bit different from what we've been used to hearing before.

所以我為團隊準備了 2 個。第一個問題是關於 Francois 的評論，您剛剛發表的評論激起了我對這裡的興趣。你說硬件收入可能更持久，可能會佔有一席之地。而且我認為你說的是來自公司和現有客戶的其他人或類似的東西。現在你能在這裡給我們一些顏色嗎？您是否正在從軟件公司、硬件公司或其他形式因素中獲取份額？或許你可以稍微擴展一下那個評論，它與我們之前習慣聽到的有點不同。

The other question is for the systems revenue growth and the path through fiscal year '23. I think, Frank, historically, there's been a discussion where fiscal 1Q of '23 is the low point of systems revenue capture. And then we ramp up through the year and fiscal 4Q was the kind of peak of systems revenue capture. Just could you just go through that systems path just to understand the glide path a little bit better?

另一個問題是系統收入增長和 23 財年的路徑。我認為，弗蘭克，從歷史上看，有人討論過 23 財年第一季度是系統收入獲取的低點。然後我們全年都在增加，第四財季是系統收入獲取的高峰期。您能否通過該系統路徑只是為了更好地了解下滑路徑？

Yes. Sam, I'll take the first part, and I think Frank will take the second part. So on my commentary on hardware. Let me just comment on 3 segments quickly. Let me start with the ADC segment. So in the ADC segment, we have been taking share from our traditional competitors throughout 2022 and before. And we feel that this is happening for a couple of reasons. Number one, we have continued to invest in our hardware franchise, and have brought new features and capabilities that help customers automate their environment.

是的。山姆，我將負責第一部分，我認為弗蘭克將負責第二部分。所以關於我對硬件的評論。讓我快速評論 3 個部分。讓我從 ADC 部分開始。因此，在 ADC 領域，我們在整個 2022 年及之前一直在從傳統競爭對手那里奪取份額。我們認為發生這種情況有幾個原因。第一，我們繼續投資於我們的硬件專營權，並帶來了幫助客戶自動化其環境的新特性和功能。

And as a result, when customers are really trying to create these hybrid cloud implementations where they have to have hardware on-prem, but they also need to have applications in public cloud, they can go to F5 as a partner that can help them balance the load between public cloud and on-prem environment.

因此，當客戶真正嘗試創建這些混合雲實施時，他們必須擁有本地硬件，但他們還需要在公共雲中擁有應用程序，他們可以選擇 F5 作為合作夥伴來幫助他們平衡公共雲和本地環境之間的負載。

A good example of that, I'll give you we have a customer, a global retailer that really needed to deal with spiky traffic on their website in the peak retail season. They're using F5 on-prem for hardware, and they're using our virtual edition in the public cloud. And they are bursting into the public cloud with our virtual edition where necessary, but built with automation that allows them to go from one to the other.

一個很好的例子，我會給你我們有一個客戶，一個全球零售商，真正需要在零售旺季處理他們網站上的流量高峰。他們在硬件上使用 F5 本地部署，並在公共雲中使用我們的虛擬版本。他們在必要時通過我們的虛擬版本進入公共雲，但構建的自動化允許他們從一個到另一個。

So the investments we've made there have really created a unique proposition for our ADC business, and we're seeing more and more customers want to move to these automated hybrid cloud environment. The second element driving hardware is security. We continue to grow our security hardware business across application security, encryption, decryption and protection against ransomware. And -- and then we've also seen strong performance and resilience in the service provider market for hardware, driven by 5G traffic where we have seen augmentation of capacity on both 4G and now 5G infrastructure.

因此，我們在那裡進行的投資確實為我們的 ADC 業務創造了一個獨特的主張，而且我們看到越來越多的客戶希望遷移到這些自動化的混合雲環境。驅動硬件的第二個要素是安全性。我們繼續在應用程序安全、加密、解密和勒索軟件防護方面發展我們的安全硬件業務。而且——然後我們還看到了服務提供商硬件市場的強大性能和彈性，在 5G 流量的推動下，我們看到了 4G 和現在的 5G 基礎設施的容量增加。

So these are the drivers really on the hardware business. Of course, we have been challenged to ship all of that demand, as you have seen with the backlog in 2022, but we expect that to steadily increase through 2023. Frank?

因此，這些是硬件業務的真正驅動因素。當然，正如您在 2022 年看到的積壓訂單一樣，我們一直面臨滿足所有這些需求的挑戰，但我們預計到 2023 年這一需求將穩步增加。弗蘭克？

Yes. And Sami, on the broadly speaking on your question, it's still a supply chain issue. And where we see the supply chain right now, it's actually improved with -- and generally, fewer vendors decommitting to us and improvement in component availability, there remains a few critical components that we have still gotten some de-commenced on.

是的。薩米，就你的問題而言，從廣義上講，這仍然是一個供應鏈問題。在我們現在看到的供應鏈的地方，它實際上得到了改善——一般來說，更少的供應商不再向我們承諾，組件可用性也有所提高，但仍有一些關鍵組件我們仍然沒有開始使用。

We were fortunate in Q4 and buffered in Q1, some of our ability to go to the broker market and that access those components. I can't promise that we will continue to be able to do that because these have been in and out of the market. What I feel strongly about is that certainly Q3 and Q4 are going to be the big shipping quarters for us for systems.

我們在第四季度很幸運，並在第一季度得到緩衝，我們有能力進入經紀商市場並訪問這些組件。我不能保證我們將繼續能夠做到這一點，因為這些已經進出市場。我強烈感受到的是，第三季度和第四季度肯定會成為我們系統的主要出貨季度。

The mix between Q1 and Q2, I feel less confident about that today, but there are a lot of efforts that our engineering team has been successful in respinning and redesigning. Some of those have come in early. The balance of those should be done by the end of Q2, the beginning of Q3. And that's what gives us confidence in the back half. But whether Q1 is a low point or Q2 is the low point, that is still TBD depending on a few of these critical components. But the good news from our perspective, the supply chain is definitely improving broadly. There are still a few things that are at risk for us.

Q1 和 Q2 之間的混合，我今天對此不太有信心，但我們的工程團隊在重新設計和重新設計方面付出了很多努力。其中一些人來得早。這些平衡應該在第二季度末、第三季度初完成。這就是讓我們對後半場充滿信心的原因。但是，無論 Q1 是低點還是 Q2 是低點，這仍然是待定的，具體取決於這些關鍵組件中的一些。但從我們的角度來看，好消息是供應鏈肯定在廣泛改善。還有一些事情對我們來說是有風險的。

We'll go next now to Alex Henderson of Needham.

接下來我們將請到 Needham 的亞歷克斯·亨德森 (Alex Henderson)。

Great. I was hoping we could talk a little bit about the mechanics that you're assuming into the current quarter and forward year guidance. You talked about some pipeline erosion during the quarter. You talked about closure rates weakening and delays in projects. So I was hoping you could talk about what you're assuming when you look forward in terms of those metrics, are you assuming they stay at the current depressed rates rebound back to where they were prior or get worse from here, and particularly are the projects that have been delayed, expected to stay delayed or be canceled outright given the environment?

偉大的。我希望我們能談談你在當前季度和未來年度指導中假設的機制。你談到了本季度的一些管道侵蝕。你談到關閉率減弱和項目延遲。所以我希望你能談談你在展望這些指標時的假設，你是否假設他們保持在當前低迷的利率反彈回到他們之前的水平或從這裡變得更糟，特別是鑑於環境，已經推遲、預計將繼續推遲或完全取消的項目？

Alex, so when we look to 2023 and our guidance for software specifically, what -- our assumption is that what we have seen in terms of the renewal of existing multiyear subscriptions, that the healthy renewal rate that we're seeing on these projects continues. And we've seen that throughout '22 and from the utilization that we see in these projects from customers. We don't expect a materially different behavior from customers on renewal rates.

亞歷克斯，所以當我們展望 2023 年和具體的軟件指南時，我們的假設是，我們在現有多年訂閱的續訂方面看到的情況，即我們在這些項目上看到的健康續訂率仍在繼續.我們已經在整個 22 年以及我們在這些項目中看到的客戶利用率中看到了這一點。我們預計客戶在續訂率方面不會有實質性不同的行為。

We are, on the other hand, assuming that we will see more projects delayed or that they will be resized and size down by customers and that there will continue to be way more scrutiny on especially these big multiyear projects than they were in the last year. And so that will affect the new business in terms of new multiyear subscription agreements.

另一方面，我們假設我們將看到更多項目被推遲，或者它們將被客戶調整大小和縮小規模，並且與去年相比，尤其是這些大型多年期項目將繼續受到更多審查.因此，這將影響新的多年訂閱協議方面的新業務。

And so we don't expect -- we're not planning on year-over-year growth coming from these large new projects in 2023. And for reference, Alex, when you look at our total software business, the new business still represents over half of our total software business. And so we have still a meaningful dependency on this new business, and that's the part that will be affected in 2023 with this macro environment.

因此，我們不期望 - 我們不打算在 2023 年從這些大型新項目中實現同比增長。作為參考，Alex，當您查看我們的總體軟件業務時，新業務仍然代表超過我們軟件業務總量的一半。因此，我們仍然對這項新業務具有有意義的依賴性，而這部分將在 2023 年受到這種宏觀環境的影響。

Now if you go beyond 2023, we actually expect that this -- the rate of these new projects will come back up. We expect to continue to have a healthy rate of renewals and expansion. And over time, we also expect our SaaS and managed services business to scale and grow. And so with these factors, we still consider as a long-term growth rate for our software, a 20%-plus growth rate to be the right target for us.

現在，如果你超過 2023 年，我們實際上預計這些新項目的速度將會回升。我們希望繼續保持健康的更新和擴展速度。隨著時間的推移，我們還希望我們的 SaaS 和託管服務業務能夠擴展和發展。因此，考慮到這些因素，我們仍然認為我們軟件的長期增長率，20% 以上的增長率是我們的正確目標。

Great. And one last question. The systems business, can you talk about the mechanics around the transition from the iSeries to the rSeries as '23 progresses? Would you expect by the back half that more of the product -- clearly, it's going to be more, but a larger percentage or a meaningful percentage change in the mix between I and R?

偉大的。最後一個問題。系統業務，您能談談隨著 23 年的進展從 iSeries 到 rSeries 的過渡機制嗎？您是否期望在後半部分有更多的產品——顯然，它會更多，但 I 和 R 之間的組合會有更大的百分比或有意義的百分比變化？

Yes, Alex. We expect that the transition between iSeries and rSeries will accelerate in 2023, and especially in the back half of 2023. I don't have the exact mix for you here, but I think, Alex, you should be assuming that exiting 2023, the large majority of what we will ship will be rSeries rather than iSeries.

是的，亞歷克斯。我們預計 iSeries 和 rSeries 之間的過渡將在 2023 年加速，尤其是在 2023 年下半年。我在這裡沒有適合你的確切組合，但我認為，Alex，你應該假設 2023 年結束，我們將發布的大部分產品將是 rSeries 而不是 iSeries。

We take our next question now from Samik Chatterjee at JPMorgan.

我們現在接受來自摩根大通的 Samik Chatterjee 的下一個問題。

I guess for the first one, I'm just still trying to understand your guidance on the systems revenue for fiscal '23 a bit. You had a big step-up here in the systems revenue from buying components from the broker market. I just wanted to understand if you're embedding that you can sort of continue on that path and essentially 4Q is sort of where you build on top of by going into the broker markets and buying from there to satisfy sort of demand from your customers? Or if you were to do that, is there more downside to the gross margin expectations that you outlined in terms of premium costs for that? And I have a follow-up.

我想對於第一個，我只是仍在嘗試了解您對 23 財年系統收入的指導。從經紀人市場購買組件，您的系統收入有了很大的提高。我只是想了解您是否正在嵌入您可以繼續走這條路，並且基本上 4Q 是您通過進入經紀人市場並從那裡購買以滿足客戶需求的基礎？或者，如果您要這樣做，您在保費成本方面概述的毛利率預期是否有更多下行空間？我有一個後續行動。

Sure, Samik. So why don't I start with that and certainly Francois can jump in. The assumption is actually that there is an improving gross margin as we work through the quarters, largely because we are not actually dependent on the broker market to get some of these critical components that we have gone through our redesigns and resins and we are now shipping product without the critical components that have plagued us for the past 6 to 8 months. And so -- that work is expected, as I said, to be largely completed by the end of Q2, beginning of Q3. And that is baked in as our assumption into our gross margins and our operating margins for the year.

當然，薩米克。那麼，為什麼我不從那開始，弗朗索瓦當然可以加入。假設實際上是隨著我們在整個季度的工作，毛利率有所提高，這主要是因為我們實際上並不依賴經紀人市場來獲得其中的一些我們已經通過重新設計和樹脂的關鍵組件，我們現在正在運送沒有過去 6 到 8 個月困擾我們的關鍵組件的產品。因此——正如我所說，這項工作預計將在第二季度末、第三季度初完成。這是我們對今年毛利率和營業利潤率的假設。

Yes. Samik, I think the general -- let me just to answer that. The general -- what we've seen in the supply chain just over the last 90 days is generally, we've seen more stability than we had in the prior quarters. And by that, I mean, we're seeing less decommits than we have seen before, although decommits continue to happen. Our -- we are hearing from suppliers that they're starting to get a lot more capacity at fabs on their supply.

是的。 Samik，我認為一般 - 讓我來回答一下。總的來說——我們在過去 90 天裡在供應鏈中看到的一般情況是，我們看到比前幾個季度更加穩定。我的意思是說，我們看到的退役比以前少了，儘管退役仍在繼續發生。我們的——我們從供應商那裡聽說，他們開始在晶圓廠獲得更多的供應能力。

And generally, specifically to us, we have seen also more progress made by our suppliers on extending capacity. So these aspects give us more confidence in hardware going into 2023. But I would say, as Frank pointed, we -- probably the biggest factor for us is the engineering work that we've done inside of F5 to design around the most constrained components. Part of that has already delivered and more will deliver in the next 3 to 6 months. And that's why we feel we should have a very strong back half of the year on hardware.

一般來說，特別是對我們來說，我們也看到我們的供應商在擴大產能方面取得了更多進展。因此，這些方面讓我們對進入 2023 年的硬件更有信心。但我想說，正如 Frank 指出的那樣，我們 - 對我們來說最大的因素可能是我們在 F5 內部完成的工程工作，以圍繞最受限的組件進行設計.其中一部分已經交付，更多將在未來 3 到 6 個月內交付。這就是為什麼我們認為我們應該在硬件方面有一個非常強勁的後半年。

And Francois, I guess, for the second question or the follow-up here. I know creative to your portfolio and particularly with the growth in software starting to moderate a bit, you're seeing customers prefer sort of the CapEx model or the OpEx model in relation to your portfolio. But that's sort of different from what we are hearing from most of the other companies where they tend to see customers move more towards an OpEx model, particularly going -- if they're concerned about the macro.

我想 Francois 負責第二個問題或這裡的後續問題。我知道你的投資組合有創意，特別是隨著軟件的增長開始放緩，你看到客戶更喜歡與你的投資組合相關的資本支出模型或運營支出模型。但這與我們從大多數其他公司聽到的有所不同，他們傾向於看到客戶更多地轉向 OpEx 模型，特別是如果他們擔心宏觀。

And I'm wondering if you think there's something there in terms of how the virtual editions are set up in terms of the convenience of spinning them up or setting them relative to also the magnitude of the architecture changes that a customer has to do? Like are there are there alternatives there that you're thinking of in terms of making that transition easier for customers that doesn't look like a big lift and shift for them in some cases because it does sound like you're seeing more of a sort of trend that's different from what we are hearing, the customers really prefer going into a tough macro.

而且我想知道您是否認為在虛擬版本的設置方面是否存在一些問題，就旋轉它們的便利性或相對於客戶必須做的架構更改的幅度進行設置而言？就像有沒有其他選擇，你正在考慮讓客戶更輕鬆地進行過渡，在某些情況下對他們來說看起來不像是一個很大的提升和轉變，因為聽起來你確實看到了更多這種趨勢與我們所聽到的不同，客戶真的更喜歡進入艱難的宏觀環境。

Yes, Samik, I think the general trend -- at a macro level, I think, over time, there will be more customers that are buying subscriptions and buying SaaS services than there are today. I think that's the general macro trend in the industry, and I think we will follow that trend. The good news for F5 is that we have positioned our portfolio to be able to serve all these consumption models, right, perpetual license, subscription or SaaS and also to be able to serve customers in hardware or in software or in Software-as-a-Service.

是的，Samik，我認為總的趨勢——在宏觀層面上，我認為，隨著時間的推移，購買訂閱和購買 SaaS 服務的客戶將比現在更多。我認為這是行業的總體宏觀趨勢，我認為我們將遵循這一趨勢。對於 F5 來說，好消息是我們已將我們的產品組合定位為能夠為所有這些消費模型提供服務，包括永久許可、訂閱或 SaaS，並且能夠以硬件或軟件或軟件即服務的形式為客戶提供服務-服務。

And so where we feel this is an advantage is that there are a number of customers who buy -- there's different behaviors by customer segment. And there's different behavior at a different point in time. Already in the quarter, we have seen some customers that have OpEx pressure and still want to move forward with a project, but they want that project to be capitalized. And so these are customers that would have gone to an OpEx subscription model. And because we are able to offer a CapEx project, they are able to move forward with the project, but they would not have been able to move forward otherwise. And so I think in a year of constrained budget in 2023, we are going to see more of that of potentially some customers going to CapEx, others that were on CapEx moving to OpEx and the flexibility that we offer, we believe, is actually a strong advantage. Over time, I think the trend that I described at the beginning is still the trend. But the flexibility that F5 provides is quite a strong advantage.

因此，我們認為這是一個優勢，因為有許多客戶購買——客戶群有不同的行為。在不同的時間點會有不同的行為。在本季度，我們已經看到一些客戶面臨運營支出壓力，但仍希望推進某個項目，但他們希望該項目得到資本化。因此，這些客戶本來會選擇 OpEx 訂閱模式。而且因為我們能夠提供資本支出項目，他們能夠推進該項目，否則他們將無法推進。因此，我認為在 2023 年預算受限的一年中，我們將看到更多的潛在客戶轉向資本支出，其他使用資本支出的客戶轉向運營支出，我們相信，我們提供的靈活性實際上是強大的優勢。隨著時間的推移，我認為我一開始描述的趨勢仍然是趨勢。但是 F5 提供的靈活性是一個非常強大的優勢。

We go next now to Paul Silverstein at Cowen.

接下來我們去 Cowen 的 Paul Silverstein。

(inaudible) Francois, Frank, I apologize if this has already been asked. I'm actually going back and forth between 2 different calls. But going back to your comments about the softness, the delays, the downsizing, et cetera. Can you quantify for us how many customers, how many projects you're talking about? Is this widespread? Or is this a handful, several handfuls of very large projects that you're referring to in terms of just how pervasive the weakness that you're referencing.

（聽不清）弗朗索瓦，弗蘭克，如果有人問過這個問題，我深表歉意。我實際上在兩個不同的電話之間來回走動。但是回到你對軟化、延遲、裁員等的評論。您能為我們量化您所談論的客戶數量、項目數量嗎？這是普遍的嗎？或者這是少數幾個非常大的項目，你指的是你所指的弱點有多普遍。

I would say, first of all, Paul, it was most acute in EMEA and APAC, where it was the combination of inflation, currency exchange volatility and fulfilling the crisis coming and wanting to really restrained budget. So this is where it was most acute. In terms of the number of customers, it's not hundreds of customers, and it's probably more -- but it is definitely in double-digit number of deals where we saw that. Typically, those are deals that are $1 million-plus deals. And so that just gives you a sense of the impact of these deals being pushed out.

我要說的是，首先，保羅，這在 EMEA 和 APAC 最為嚴重，那裡是通貨膨脹、貨幣匯率波動和應對即將到來的危機以及想要真正限制預算的結合。所以這是最尖銳的地方。就客戶數量而言，它不是數百個客戶，而且可能更多 - 但它肯定是我們看到的交易數量的兩位數。通常，這些交易的金額超過 100 萬美元。因此，這只會讓您了解這些交易被推出的影響。

First was I hear you say it was most acute in EMEA and Asia Pac. Was that the comment?

首先是我聽到你說它在 EMEA 和亞太地區最為嚴重。那是評論嗎？

Yes.

是的。

Was there any appreciable weakness in North America, U.S. in particular?

北美，尤其是美國，是否有任何明顯的弱點？

We saw a little bit of this in North America. But overall, I would say, the there wasn't a meaningful, I would say, change in customer behavior in North America to date. Now in our guidance, Paul, we are assuming that we will see more of this in North America of this scrutiny on budget and deals being delayed and for South. But I mean, to give you an example of the behavior, Paul, we had some companies that were large multinationals with multiple billions of euros of revenues changing that process to say that any deal above $200,000 have to be approved at the Board level. So that gives you a sense of the level of scrutiny we saw, especially in Europe and Asia Pac. But that behavior was a lot less in North America today.

我們在北美看到了一些這樣的情況。但總的來說，我想說，到目前為止，北美的客戶行為沒有發生有意義的變化。保羅，現在在我們的指導中，我們假設我們將在北美看到更多這種對預算和交易的審查被推遲以及在南方。但我的意思是，保羅，舉個例子說明這種行為，我們有一些公司是大型跨國公司，收入達數十億歐元，他們改變了流程，規定任何超過 200,000 美元的交易都必須在董事會層面獲得批准。因此，您可以了解我們所看到的審查程度，尤其是在歐洲和亞太地區。但這種行為在今天的北美要少得多。

And your concern about North America in terms of looking forward, that's just being prudent? Or there's signs based on your conversations with North American customers that would caution you about the future outlook?

你對北美的前瞻性擔憂，只是出於謹慎？或者根據您與北美客戶的談話，有跡象表明您對未來前景會有所警惕？

I would say we've not heard directly from North American customers to date that they were going to change their patterns and do this. So I would say it's a combination of being prudent and feeling that just the North America will not be immune to these changes in customer patterns over time. Whether it happens this quarter or 2 quarters from now, I can't predict that fall, but our working assumption is that we're going to see it here in North America.

我想說，到目前為止，我們還沒有直接從北美客戶那裡聽說他們要改變他們的模式並這樣做。所以我想說這是謹慎和感覺的結合，即隨著時間的推移，只有北美不會不受這些客戶模式變化的影響。無論它發生在本季度還是從現在開始的兩個季度，我都無法預測那個秋天，但我們的工作假設是我們將在北美看到它。

And just to tie to sub Francois, my last one here. Juniper tonight announced (inaudible) with you. They referenced a little bit of the macro that you're referencing, but not meaningful either in the quarter in their guidance. And I'm just wondering, at the risk of asking [one] for question, is it something specific to your product market that would account for the discrepancy between what you appear to be experiencing and what they appear to be experiencing? Or I mean, it sounds more widespread or more generic, and it sounds more FX plus perhaps the Russian impact on Europe in terms of why it's worse outside of North America or meaningfully different. But any thoughts you can share?

只是為了配合 sub Francois，我在這裡的最後一個。瞻博網絡今晚與您一起宣布（聽不清）。他們引用了你所引用的一些宏，但在他們的指導中在本季度都沒有意義。而且我只是想知道，冒著問 [一個] 問題的風險，它是否是您的產品市場特有的東西，可以解釋您似乎正在經歷的事情與他們似乎正在經歷的事情之間的差異？或者我的意思是，它聽起來更廣泛或更通用，而且聽起來更像 FX 加上俄羅斯對歐洲的影響，為什麼它在北美以外更糟或有意義的不同。但是你有什麼想法可以分享嗎？

Yes. A couple of things on that. First of all, I should say, the -- what I've described is something we've seen mostly in the enterprise segment. So I wouldn't say that we've seen a substantial change in approach in the service provider segment. Service provider was strong throughout 2022 and was strong in Q4.

是的。有幾件事。首先，我應該說，我所描述的是我們主要在企業領域看到的東西。所以我不會說我們已經看到服務提供商領域的方法發生了重大變化。服務提供商在整個 2022 年表現強勁，在第四季度表現強勁。

So that's a difference in terms of the segments that I'm focused on here. And then as it relates to going forward, as I said, we've seen -- we've not to date seen it in North America, but we expect that we will see. I should also add, the -- what I'm seeing as the behavior, I do not think is specific to our product segment because it's processes that are changing in our customers that affect IT spend in general.

因此，就我在這里關注的細分市場而言，這是不同的。然後，正如我所說，它與前進有關，我們已經看到 - 我們迄今為止還沒有在北美看到它，但我們希望我們會看到。我還應該補充一點，我所看到的行為，我不認為是特定於我們的產品細分市場，因為它是我們客戶中正在發生變化的流程，通常會影響 IT 支出。

And so the deals that I mentioned were pushed out. We haven't seen actually any deals lost to competitors. So the competitive dynamics haven't changed. We still continue to win more than our fair share of deals. So I don't think it's F5-specific or product-specific. I think it's certainly in Europe and Asia Pac, I think it's broader.

所以我提到的交易被推遲了。實際上，我們還沒有看到任何交易輸給競爭對手。所以競爭動態沒有改變。我們仍然繼續贏得超過公平份額的交易。所以我不認為它是特定於 F5 或特定於產品的。我認為肯定是在歐洲和亞太地區，我認為範圍更廣。

Is it balanced across both? Or is it mostly Europe?

兩者平衡嗎？還是主要是歐洲？

It's balanced across both.

兩者都是平衡的。

We'll go next now to Meta Marshall at Morgan Stanley.

接下來我們將介紹摩根士丹利的 Meta Marshall。

Great. I just wanted to get a sense of with your customers, what are the biggest inhibitors to kind of the rSeries transition today and then still opting for iSeries? And then should we assume that the vast majority of the gross margin headwinds are primarily due to the broker purchases for the iSeries? Or are they kind of across both I and rSeries?

偉大的。我只是想了解一下您的客戶，目前阻礙 rSeries 過渡然後仍然選擇 iSeries 的最大障礙是什麼？然後我們是否應該假設絕大多數毛利率逆風主要是由於經紀人購買 iSeries？或者它們是否同時跨越 I 和 rSeries？

Thank you, Meta. The -- so the biggest headwinds to transitioning to rSeries are 2 -- really only 2. One is qualification of the product. So for customers that don't operate rSeries today, they have to go through a qualification cycle, but we have done some things to make that cycle as short as possible.

謝謝你，梅塔。 - 所以過渡到 rSeries 的最大阻力是 2 - 實際上只有 2 個。一個是產品的資格。因此，對於今天不運行 rSeries 的客戶，他們必須經過一個資格認證週期，但我們已經做了一些事情來使這個週期盡可能短。

And the second issue is component availability and our ability to ship to demand on rSeries. Those are the 2 gates, Meta. Now I should say what we are seeing so far is that the ramp to rSeries in terms of demand is the fastest ramp that we have ever seen in a transition from one generation to the next.

第二個問題是組件可用性和我們按需交付 rSeries 的能力。那些是 2 個門，Meta。現在我應該說，到目前為止我們所看到的是，就需求而言，rSeries 的增長是我們在從一代到下一代的過渡中所見過的最快的增長。

And we expect that to continue because of the capabilities in rSeries. Of course, price performance is one, but the ability to operate in this more automated environment, that customers want to have when they want to balance traffic between on-prem and cloud or private cloud and public cloud environments. So that's why we're seeing a fast ramp to rSeries. And then as it relates to broker buys affecting gross margin, that is true both on the iSeries and rSeries.

由於 rSeries 的功能，我們預計這種情況會繼續下去。當然，價格性能是其中之一，但在這種更加自動化的環境中運行的能力是客戶在想要平衡本地和雲或私有云和公共雲環境之間的流量時希望擁有的。所以這就是我們看到 rSeries 快速增長的原因。然後，由於涉及影響毛利率的經紀人購買，iSeries 和 rSeries 都是如此。

We go next now to James Fish at Piper Sandler.

接下來我們去 Piper Sandler 的 James Fish。

I just wanted to circle back to Alex's question from earlier a little bit. Appreciate the color on the perpetual versus term and SaaS. But is there a way to think about how each of these 3 buckets finished the year in aggregate, and as we're thinking about this 15% to 20% growth, you had mentioned that still over half the business in software is on new. But roughly where should we finish then for new business versus renewals in fiscal '23 for software?

我只是想稍微回到 Alex 之前的問題。欣賞永久與期限和 SaaS 的顏色。但是，有沒有一種方法可以考慮這 3 個桶中的每一個如何在今年總體上結束，當我們考慮這 15% 到 20% 的增長時，您提到過仍有超過一半的軟件業務是新的。但是，在 23 財年軟件方面，我們應該大致在哪裡完成新業務與續訂？

And I appreciate the question, Jim. We are not splitting out those components at this point. But I think some of the guidance that Francois said in his discussion point on -- if you take a look at the midpoint of our guidance on software range and more than half of that coming from new business. That will sort of give you some sense for the renewals plus the true forwards plus the SaaS business is less than half of that number.

我很欣賞這個問題，吉姆。我們此時不拆分這些組件。但我認為弗朗索瓦在他的討論中所說的一些指導意見——如果你看一下我們關於軟件範圍的指導意見的中點，其中一半以上來自新業務。這會讓你對續訂加上真正的轉發加上 SaaS 業務不到這個數字的一半有所了解。

As we think about how that's going to continue to grow. I'm not going to say at the end of FY '23. But clearly, as we take a look out, particularly as the SaaS business matures more and more over the coming years, we expect that contribution to come down such that, that new business contribution to the overall 20% growth rate is not nearly as strong as it has been at the point where we have to where we are today.

當我們考慮它將如何繼續增長時。我不會在 23 財年末說。但很明顯，當我們觀察時，特別是隨著 SaaS 業務在未來幾年越來越成熟，我們預計貢獻會下降，新業務對整體 20% 增長率的貢獻不會那麼強勁就像我們必須走到今天的地步一樣。

And so that's the anticipation that we've got in the longer term of the 20-plus percent growth rate. And those are the dynamics that we see compounding upon themselves, particularly as we reach the second or the third or the fourth of renewal cycle within these flexible consumption programs on top of the growth in the SaaS platform that's frankly still nascent in its overall revenue contribution to the company.

這就是我們對 20% 以上增長率的長期預期。這些是我們看到的相互疊加的動態，特別是當我們在 SaaS 平台的增長之上這些靈活的消費計劃中達到第二個或第三個或第四個更新周期時，坦率地說，它在其整體收入貢獻中仍處於初期階段到公司。

And maybe just to switch gears off of software and top line stuff. But on the free cash flow side, that conversion rate continues to come down. And I get it's something you have talked about around unbilled receivables given the term transition and some of the inventory purchases. But at what point does that free cash flow conversion rate begin to inflect higher and start normalizing a little bit more? And is there a way to kind of normalize the cash flow for those higher inventory purchases going on?

也許只是為了關閉軟件和頂級產品。但在自由現金流方面，轉換率繼續下降。考慮到術語轉換和一些庫存採購，我知道你已經談到了未開票的應收賬款。但是，自由現金流轉換率在什麼時候開始走高並開始正常化一點呢？有沒有辦法使正在進行的高庫存採購的現金流正常化？

Yes. Jim, certainly, our hope is that the double purchases for the platform that we've had this year, the expedite fees and the purchase price variances, we believe have hopefully peaked out in FY '22, maybe the beginning of FY '23, but the things will start to improve from there.

是的。吉姆，當然，我們希望我們今年對平台的雙重購買，加急費用和購買價格差異，我們相信有望在 22 財年達到頂峰，也許是 23 財年的開始，但事情會從那裡開始改善。

And we'll really be looking at a convergence point that is much healthier than what we have seen so far in FY '22. So we do expect free cash flow to certainly tick up in FY '23 much more so than what we saw in FY '22. But I'm not going to give you an exact forecast of it at this time.

我們真的會看到一個比我們在 22 財年迄今為止看到的更健康的融合點。因此，我們確實預計 23 財年的自由現金流肯定會比我們在 22 財年看到的要多得多。但我現在不會給你一個準確的預測。

The dynamics that have driven that down though are starting to dissipate and will dissipate even further once these redesigns are done, and we are purchasing components at a much better rate as well as more and more of the second and the third year clips in where you're not getting as much revenue as you are for -- from free cash flow from the flexible consumption programs.

導致這種情況下降的動力開始消散，一旦這些重新設計完成，將消散得更遠，我們正在以更好的速度購買組件，以及越來越多的第二年和第三年的剪輯，你在哪裡從靈活消費計劃的自由現金流中獲得的收入沒有您應得的多。

We'll go next now to Simon Leopold of Raymond James.

接下來我們將介紹 Raymond James 的 Simon Leopold。

This is Victor Chiu in for Simon Leopold. You noted the delays from international customers. Was this primarily driven by FX? Maybe can you help us quantify the demand impact that you've observed from goods becoming relatively more expensive for international customers? And a house -- quick housekeeping question. You're under the assumption that F5 transacts mostly in U.S. dollars. Is that a correct assumption?

這是 Simon Leopold 的 Victor Chiu。您注意到國際客戶的延誤。這主要是由外匯驅動的嗎？也許你能幫助我們量化你觀察到的商品對國際客戶來說變得相對昂貴所帶來的需求影響？還有房子——快速的家務管理問題。您假設 F5 主要以美元進行交易。這是一個正確的假設嗎？

Yes. Yes, that's a correct assumption. And to the question, was it driven by FX, yes. FX, of course, had a large impact on that. But of course, if you are specifically, I would say, in the world of hardware, if you're a customer purchasing in euro or yen and we've done a price increase, there's 2 price increase that have increased hardware a little over 20%. And on top of that, you've had significant devaluation of your currency.

是的。是的，這是一個正確的假設。對於這個問題，它是由 FX 驅動的，是的。當然，FX 對此產生了很大影響。但是，當然，如果你具體來說，我會說，在硬件領域，如果你是一個用歐元或日元購買的客戶，我們已經提價了，那麼有兩次提價，硬件的價格上漲了一點20%。最重要的是，你們的貨幣大幅貶值。

Your budget does not buy you as much as it did. In software, that is a little less pronounced because there hasn't been as much of a price increase in software. But despite that, we saw these deal delays in software, primarily internationally.

您的預算並沒有像以前那樣為您買單。在軟件方面，這不太明顯，因為軟件的價格上漲幅度不大。但儘管如此，我們還是看到了軟件方面的這些交易延遲，主要是在國際上。

And I would say it's a combination of inflation, currency devaluation and just macroeconomic environment and people preparing for a tough economic environment and changing their approach to spend.

我會說這是通貨膨脹、貨幣貶值和宏觀經濟環境以及人們為艱難的經濟環境做準備並改變他們的消費方式的結合。

So your outlook assumes that the FX environment kind of stays as it is and it doesn't kind of incorporate any improvement in that in your outlook for next year?

因此，您的展望假設外匯環境保持原樣，並且在明年的展望中沒有任何改善？

That's correct.

這是正確的。

We go next now to Amit Daryanani at Evercore.

接下來我們去 Evercore 的 Amit Daryanani。

This is (inaudible) on for Amit. So two for me. Can we first kind of start on backlog and kind of how you're thinking about maybe a potential work down in fiscal '23 and kind of your comfort around maintaining gross margins at around 80%. And then the second, the EPS guide for the full year is low to mid-teens growth, but the Q1 guide implies about down 12%. So how are you thinking about kind of the ramp as we go throughout the year?

這是 Amit 的（聽不清）。所以兩個給我。我們能否首先開始處理積壓訂單，以及您如何考慮可能在 23 財年進行的一項潛在工作，以及您對將毛利率維持在 80% 左右感到滿意。其次，全年 EPS 指南是低至 15% 左右的增長，但第一季度指南暗示下降了 12% 左右。那麼，在我們全年進行的過程中，您如何考慮某種斜坡？

Sure. So why don't I start on the back half of that question on the ramp. Obviously, the year-over-year Q1 to Q1, we did not have the same type of headwinds in revenue in Q1 last year that we do this year associated with systems. And so that is anticipated in our guidance on a decline in Q1, but ramping fairly dramatically, especially as we get to Q4.

當然。那麼，為什麼我不從斜坡上那個問題的後半部分開始呢？顯然，從第一季度到第一季度，我們在去年第一季度的收入中沒有遇到今年與系統相關的同樣類型的逆風。因此，我們在第一季度下降的指導意見中預計會出現這種情況，但會大幅增加，尤其是當我們進入第四季度時。

And so -- those will -- that's in the back half of the question.

所以 - 那些將 - 這是問題的後半部分。

Well, the second question is -- the first one is the question.

那麼，第二個問題是——第一個問題。

Yes, yes, I'm sorry. On backlog -- so as we think about backlog for the year, and working down that backlog. From a customer satisfaction standpoint, we would like to work down that backlog as quickly as possible. We are actually getting multiple requests, particularly from our sales force on how quickly can we get boxes out in order to improve the outlook for new orders coming in.

是的，是的，對不起。關於積壓——所以當我們考慮今年的積壓並處理積壓時。從客戶滿意度的角度來看，我們希望盡快處理積壓的訂單。我們實際上收到了多個請求，特別是來自我們的銷售人員的請求，要求我們以多快的速度取出盒子，以改善新訂單的前景。

And so as quickly as we can work down that backlog, we will where we end up at the end of the year. I do not know in the blend between the demand environment that we expect to see versus our capacity to ship, which is mostly what our outlook on systems revenue is based on.

因此，我們會盡快處理積壓的工作，我們將在年底完成工作。我不知道我們期望看到的需求環境與我們的發貨能力之間的混合情況，這主要是我們對系統收入的展望所基於的。

And due to time constraints, we will take our last question this afternoon from Jim Suva of Citigroup.

由於時間限制，我們將在今天下午接受花旗集團的 Jim Suva 的最後一個問題。

I heard you mention something about second half of fiscal '23 being more back half loaded for demand or, I guess, deliverable. Was that on both the hardware and the software? And was it more from your discussions with your customers or more just you can't get all the components together to complete the various items? Because I'm just kind of wondering on the software side, it seems like it would be a little bit early to say back half loaded for something 9 months from now.

我聽說你提到過關於 23 財年下半年的需求，或者我想是可交付的。是在硬件上還是在軟件上？是更多地來自您與客戶的討論，還是更多只是您無法將所有組件組合在一起來完成各種項目？因為我只是想知道軟件方面的問題，所以現在說 9 個月後半載似乎有點早。

Yes, Jim, the guidance was purely about the ability to ship systems and the rework that we are doing and the component availability for those new builds. And so that's our expectation is that Q3 and Q4 are going to be a much stronger systems revenue quarters than Q1 and Q2 for us.

是的，吉姆，指南純粹是關於運送系統的能力和我們正在做的返工以及這些新構建的組件可用性。因此，我們的預期是，對我們而言，第三季度和第四季度的系統收入季度將比第一季度和第二季度強得多。

And this will conclude today's call. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。