F5 Inc (FFIV) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon and welcome to the F5, Inc. Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Also, the conference is being recorded. If anyone has any objections, please disconnect at this time.

下午好，歡迎參加 F5, Inc. 2023 財年第三季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）此外，會議正在錄製中。如果有人有異議，請此時斷開連接。

I'll now turn the call over to Ms. Suzanne DuLong. Ma'am, you may begin.

我現在將電話轉給 Suzanne DuLong 女士。女士，您可以開始了。

Hello and welcome. I'm Suzanne DuLong, F5's 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.

你好，歡迎光臨。我是 Suzanne DuLong，F5 投資者關係副總裁。 Francois Locoh-Donou，F5 總裁兼首席執行官； F5 執行副總裁兼首席財務官弗蘭克·佩爾澤 (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在問答環節現場回答問題。

A copy of today's press release is available on our website at f5.com, where an archived version of today's audio will be available through October 24, 2023. The slide deck accompanying today's discussion is 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 webcast by phone, dial (877) 660-6853 or (201) 612-7415 and use meeting ID 13739739. The telephonic replay will be available through midnight Pacific Time, July 25, 2023. For additional information or follow-up questions, please reach out to me directly at s.dulong@f5.com.

今天的新聞稿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 10 月 24 日之前提供。今天討論中附帶的幻燈片可在網絡廣播中觀看，並將在電話會議結束時發佈到我們的 IR 網站。要通過電話觀看今天網絡廣播的重播，請撥打 (877) 660-6853 或 (201) 612-7415 並使用會議 ID 13739739。電話重播將在太平洋時間 2023 年 7 月 25 日午夜之前提供。如需了解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 believe, 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. We have summarized factors that may affect our results in the press release announcing our financial results and in detail in our SEC filings.

我們今天的討論將包含前瞻性陳述，其中包括相信、預期、期望和目標等詞語。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。我們在宣布財務業績的新聞稿中總結了可能影響我們業績的因素，並在向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細介紹了這些因素。

In addition, we will reference non-GAAP metrics during today's discussion. Please see our full GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation in today's press release and in the appendix of our earnings slide deck. Please note that F5 has no duty to update any information presented in this call.

此外，我們將在今天的討論中參考非公認會計準則指標。請參閱今天的新聞稿和收益幻燈片附錄中完整的 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節表。請注意，F5 沒有義務更新本次電話會議中提供的任何信息。

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

這樣，我就把電話轉給弗朗索瓦。

Thank you, Suzanne, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. In my remarks today, I will speak to the quarter's results and the current customer spending environment and will then highlight some notable customer wins from the quarter, including some emerging areas where we are seeing good early traction.

謝謝你，蘇珊娜，大家好。感謝您今天加入我們。在今天的講話中，我將談論本季度的業績和當前的客戶支出環境，然後重點介紹本季度一些顯著的客戶勝利，包括我們在早期看到良好牽引力的一些新興領域。

Overall, customer caution persists with customers continuing to sweat assets amidst tight budgets and lingering macroeconomic uncertainty. Despite the tough environment, our team is executing well, and we delivered third quarter revenue at the midpoint of our guidance range with earnings per share well above the high end of our range.

總體而言，在預算緊張和宏觀經濟不確定性揮之不去的情況下，客戶繼續保持謹慎態度，繼續揮霍資產。儘管環境嚴峻，我們的團隊執行力良好，第三季度收入處於指導範圍的中點，每股收益遠高於我們範圍的高端。

From a demand perspective, we are seeing some early signs of stabilization. Q3 demand played out slightly above our beginning-of-quarter forecast, which was up from Q1 and Q2 this year, though still off from FY '22 levels. Our global services team delivered strong 8% growth driven by a continuation of customer trends from the first half of the year, including strong maintenance renewals and price realization.

從需求角度來看，我們看到了一些穩定的早期跡象。第三季度的需求略高於我們一季度初的預測，該預測高於今年第一季度和第二季度，但仍低於 22 財年的水平。在上半年持續的客戶趨勢（包括強勁的維護續訂和價格實現）的推動下，我們的全球服務團隊實現了 8% 的強勁增長。

With customers sweating existing assets, we also continue to see higher maintenance attach rates on older deployments. Our product revenue grew 1% with systems revenue growing 5% and software revenue declining 3% year-over-year. While systems revenue is benefiting from supply chain normalization and our efforts to substantially work down backlog, systems demand remains constrained.

隨著客戶消耗現有資產，我們還繼續看到舊部署的維護附加率更高。我們的產品收入同比增長 1%，其中系統收入增長 5%，軟件收入同比下降 3%。雖然系統收入受益於供應鏈正常化以及我們大幅減少積壓的努力，但係統需求仍然受到限制。

In contrast, we are seeing some positive signs in software demand. Total software revenue was down 3% year-over-year against a strong Q3 2022 compare. However, total software grew 32% sequentially. And within software, our subscription software revenue grew 4% year-over-year to a record high $152 million. This reflects strong growth in our software renewals and interim expansions or true-forwards as well as some stabilization in new term subscriptions from the first half.

相比之下，我們看到軟件需求出現了一些積極跡象。與 2022 年第三季度的強勁對比相比，軟件總收入同比下降 3%。然而，軟件總量環比增長了 32%。在軟件方面，我們的訂閱軟件收入同比增長 4%，達到創紀錄的 1.52 億美元。這反映出我們的軟件更新和中期擴展或真實轉發的強勁增長，以及上半年新期限訂閱的穩定。

Moving from revenue to our operating results. We are also demonstrating operating discipline and driving operating leverage. Our Q3 non-GAAP gross margins of 82.5% improved more than 200 basis points from Q2. This was slightly ahead of our guidance and reflects the combination of expected supply chain easing and price realization as well as some of the ancillary supply chain costs like broker and expedite fees finally working their way out of our inventory as planned.

從收入轉向我們的經營業績。我們還展示運營紀律並提高運營槓桿。我們第三季度的非 GAAP 毛利率為 82.5%，比第二季度提高了 200 個基點以上。這略高於我們的指導，反映了預期的供應鏈寬鬆和價格實現的結合，以及一些輔助供應鏈成本（如經紀人和加急費）最終按計劃從我們的庫存中消失。

In addition, our Q3 non-GAAP operating margins of 33.2% improved 600 basis points from Q2 and more than 400 basis points from Q3 FY '22. As a result of these improvements as well as some tax favorability, we significantly overachieved our non-GAAP EPS expectations in the quarter and now expect to deliver double-digit non-GAAP earnings per share growth for FY 2023. We believe our growth opportunity is fundamentally linked to the continued growth of applications and APIs and the need to secure, deliver and optimize those apps and APIs.

此外，我們第三季度的非 GAAP 營業利潤率為 33.2%，比第二季度提高了 600 個基點，比 22 財年第三季度提高了 400 多個基點。由於這些改進以及一些稅收優惠，我們在本季度大大超出了非 GAAP 每股收益預期，現在預計 2023 財年將實現兩位數的非 GAAP 每股收益增長。我們相信，我們的增長機會從根本上與應用程序和 API 的持續增長以及保護、交付和優化這些應用程序和 API 的需求相關。

As part of our efforts to capture that growth, we continue to drive innovation, advances and integration across our product families, including F5 BIG-IP, F5 NGINX and F5 Distributed Cloud Services. I will call out some customer highlights from each product family from the quarter.

為了實現這一增長，我們將繼續推動產品系列的創新、進步和集成，包括 F5 BIG-IP、F5 NGINX 和 F5 分佈式雲服務。我將列出本季度每個產品系列的一些客戶亮點。

Our BIG-IP family, which serves traditional applications, either on-premises, colocated or in cloud environments, continues to take share from competitors who have failed to invest in innovation. From a hardware perspective, the value proposition with our next-generation platforms is resonating with customers with our rSeries and VELOS platforms representing more than 70% of Q3 systems bookings.

我們的 BIG-IP 系列為本地、託管或云環境中的傳統應用程序提供服務，繼續從​​未能投資創新的競爭對手手中奪取市場份額。從硬件角度來看，我們下一代平台的價值主張引起了客戶的共鳴，我們的 rSeries 和 VELOS 平台佔第三季度系統預訂量的 70% 以上。

On the software side, BIG-IP's data plane performance, automation capabilities and lower total cost of ownership continues to differentiate our offering and drove multiple wins in the quarter, including wins at a major American airline, a multinational automobile manufacturer, and a major U.K. retail and commercial bank.

在軟件方面，BIG-IP 的數據平面性能、自動化功能和較低的總擁有成本繼續使我們的產品脫穎而出，並在本季度贏得了多項勝利，包括贏得一家美國大型航空公司、一家跨國汽車製造商以及一家英國大型零售和商業銀行。

We also saw strong demand for F5 NGINX in the quarter. NGINX serves modern, container-native and microservices-based applications and APIs. We continue to see large enterprises adopt NGINX for their cloud and Kubernetes workloads. We have repeatedly demonstrated that when applications are built with NGINX from the ground up and those apps grow, we grow with them. We saw this in several NGINX growth opportunities in the quarter, including a multimillion-dollar term-based subscription renewal that grew by an extraordinary 10x from initial inception.

本季度我們還看到對 F5 NGINX 的強勁需求。 NGINX 為現代、容器原生和基於微服務的應用程序和 API 提供服務。我們繼續看到大型企業採用 NGINX 來處理其云和 Kubernetes 工作負載。我們一再證明，當應用程序從頭開始使用 NGINX 構建並且這些應用程序不斷增長時，我們也會與它們一起成長。我們在本季度的幾個 NGINX 增長機會中看到了這一點，包括價值數百萬美元的基於期限的訂閱續訂，該續訂從最初開始增長了 10 倍。

The customer, which provides a large collaboration platform, is streamlining deployments in both public and private clouds using F5 NGINX as their single platform for load balancing, caching and telemetry.

該客戶提供大型協作平台，正在使用 F5 NGINX 作為負載平衡、緩存和遙測的單一平台來簡化公共雲和私有云中的部署。

Over the last several years, we have invested both organically and inorganically to build a portfolio of SaaS and managed services called F5 Distributed Cloud Services. Since launching Distributed Cloud in February of '22, we have been expanding our offerings and building momentum for multiple security use cases.

在過去的幾年裡，我們進行了有機和無機投資，構建了 SaaS 和託管服務組合，稱為 F5 分佈式雲服務。自 2022 年 2 月推出分佈式雲以來，我們一直在擴展我們的產品並為多個安全用例建立動力。

A good example of this is a win with a global financial services industry application provider that wanted to standardize its Web Application Firewall in API protection, or WAF, policies and deployments in APAC and EMEA to reduce time to delivery. Their existing disjoint action security and complex policy tuning was a challenge as was managing apps and APIs across distributed environments with a small team.

一個很好的例子是與一家全球金融服務行業應用程序提供商的合作，該提供商希望在亞太地區和歐洲、中東和非洲地區標準化其 API 保護（WAF）、策略和部署中的 Web 應用程序防火牆，以縮短交付時間。他們現有的脫節操作安全性和復雜的策略調整是一個挑戰，就像通過一個小團隊管理分佈式環境中的應用程序和 API 一樣。

Today, F5 Distributed Cloud Services is protecting their apps and APIs with WAP and multi-cloud networking, reducing their time to delivery from months to minutes. It is early days still, but we also are seeing encouraging signs that our Distributed Cloud Services are intercepting the market specifically in 2 emerging categories: API security and multi-cloud networking.

如今，F5 分佈式雲服務正在通過 WAP 和多云網絡保護其應用程序和 API，將交付時間從數月縮短至幾分鐘。雖然現在還處於早期階段，但我們也看到了令人鼓舞的跡象，表明我們的分佈式雲服務正在搶占市場，特別是在兩個新興類別：API 安全和多云網絡。

On API security, with the growth of modern applications using containers and composed of distributed microservices, the number of API endpoints is exploding. CISOs tell us they struggle to know how many APIs they have, where they all are, who is connecting to them and to what extent they are secured. Doing so requires robust API discovery and protection capabilities like those we offer in our distributed cloud API security service.

在API安全性方面，隨著使用容器並由分佈式微服務組成的現代應用程序的增長，API端點的數量正在爆炸式增長。 CISO 告訴我們，他們很難知道自己有多少 API、它們都在哪裡、誰在連接它們以及它們的安全程度如何。這樣做需要強大的 API 發現和保護功能，就像我們在分佈式雲 API 安全服務中提供的功能一樣。

When a North American service provider experienced a serious cybersecurity incident, which caused them to lose their entire virtualization infrastructure at multiple data centers, they turned to us for urgent help. F5 Distributed Cloud Services' superior features, functionality and value, beat a competitive offering, and we worked with the customer to emergency onboard the platform, including advanced WAP, bot defense and API security. Once deployed, the customer immediately started migrating sites, restoring their services.

當一家北美服務提供商經歷了嚴重的網絡安全事件，導致他們失去了多個數據中心的整個虛擬化基礎設施時，他們向我們尋求緊急幫助。 F5 分佈式雲服務的卓越特性、功能和價值擊敗了競爭對手的產品，我們與客戶合作緊急上線該平台，包括先進的 WAP、機器人防禦和 API 安全。部署後，客戶立即開始遷移站點，恢復服務。

We are also seeing strong early traction in our distributed cloud, multi-cloud networking offerings launched just this past March. 85% of respondents cited in our 2023 State of Application Strategy report said they already are managing multi-cloud environments. Securely connecting applications between on-premises, multi-cloud and edge environments at scale is a tough task for any organization.

我們還看到今年三月份推出的分佈式雲、多云網絡產品具有強大的早期吸引力。我們的 2023 年應用程序戰略狀況報告中提到的 85% 的受訪者表示，他們已經在管理多雲環境。對於任何組織來說，在本地、多雲和邊緣環境之間大規模安全地連接應用程序都是一項艱鉅的任務。

Our secure multi-cloud networking solutions changed the game. Our ability to package networking, security and distribution of applications and APIs is unique. Until now, customers have been forced to manage and secure these layers in isolation, often leading to operational complexity, network latency and weak security.

我們的安全多云網絡解決方案改變了遊戲規則。我們打包網絡、安全性以及應用程序和 API 分發的能力是獨一無二的。到目前為止，客戶被迫單獨管理和保護這些層，這通常會導致操作複雜性、網絡延遲和安全性薄弱。

Our multi-cloud networking solutions reduce operational complexity for our customers and make it possible for them to securely connect distributed networks and applications across public clouds, on-premises data centers and edge locations.

我們的多云網絡解決方案降低了客戶的運營複雜性，並使他們能夠跨公共雲、本地數據中心和邊緣位置安全地連接分佈式網絡和應用程序。

Customers are beginning to understand the power of our secure multi-cloud networks' ability to provide end-to-end visibility, control and security across all of their applications. This empowers them to move workloads to the cloud, between clouds and even to the edge while maintaining end-to-end visibility and consistent security policy.

客戶開始了解我們的安全多云網絡在其所有應用程序中提供端到端可見性、控制和安全性的能力。這使他們能夠將工作負載轉移到雲中、雲之間甚至邊緣，同時保持端到端可見性和一致的安全策略。

F5 Distributed Cloud uniquely unifies the visibility, control and security for every application and API so that applications can be delivered without constraints and with the security today's threat environment demands. Early traction for our secure multi-cloud networking offerings includes a win with one of the world's largest independent providers of insurance claims management systems.

F5 分佈式雲以獨特的方式統一了每個應用程序和 API 的可見性、控制和安全性，以便可以不受限制地交付應用程序，並滿足當今威脅環境所需的安全性。我們的安全多云網絡產品的早期吸引力包括與全球最大的保險索賠管理系統獨立提供商之一的合作。

F5's multi-cloud networking now enables their global SaaS offerings. The customer first deployed our Distributed Cloud WAP in February of 2022 to protect a business-critical public cloud workload. In early '23, the customer was abruptly asked to leave a data center, forcing them to lift and shift workloads to the public cloud in just 2 weeks. They used F5 Distributed Cloud for this emergency lift and shift. In fact, the project went so smoothly that they opted to expedite moving their global data centers to public clouds.

F5 的多云網絡現已支持其全球 SaaS 產品。該客戶於 2022 年 2 月首次部署了我們的分佈式雲 WAP，以保護關鍵業務公共雲工作負載。 23 年初，客戶突然被要求離開數據中心，迫使他們在短短兩週內將工作負載轉移到公共雲。他們使用 F5 分佈式雲來進行緊急轉移。事實上，該項目進展非常順利，以至於他們選擇加快將全球數據中心遷移到公共雲。

Now the customer has standardized on F5 Distributed Cloud for their secure multi-cloud networking needs, spanning across multiple clouds and protecting external and internal applications and APIs.

現在，客戶已經對 F5 分佈式雲進行了標準化，以滿足其安全的多云網絡需求，跨越多個雲並保護外部和內部應用程序和 API。

These are just some of the customer challenges we helped tackle in Q3. While we are not in a position to predict with precision when customer spending patterns will return to more normal levels, F5 is well placed to benefit when they do. We are encouraged both by the early signs of stability in Q3 and with the resonance our application and API-focused approach is having with customers.

這些只是我們在第三季度幫助解決的一些客戶挑戰。雖然我們無法準確預測客戶支出模式何時會恢復到更正常的水平，但 F5 完全有能力在這種情況下受益。我們對第三季度穩定的早期跡像以及我們的應用程序和以 API 為中心的方法與客戶產生的共鳴感到鼓舞。

We are making it possible for our customers to secure, deliver and optimize their applications and APIs with a consistent approach no matter what environment they are deployed in: data center, colocated, private cloud or public cloud. And this is a critical capability and differentiator in today's hybrid multi-cloud network world.

我們使客戶能夠通過一致的方法保護、交付和優化他們的應用程序和 API，無論他們部署在什麼環境中：數據中心、託管、私有云或公共雲。這是當今混合多云網絡世界中的一項關鍵功能和差異化因素。

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 Q3 results before I discuss our fourth quarter outlook. We delivered Q3 revenue of $703 million, reflecting 4% growth year-over-year. Our revenue remained roughly split between global services and product with global services representing 53% of total revenue. Global services revenue of $374 million grew a strong 8% due to continued high maintenance renewals as well as the impacts of the price increases introduced last year.

謝謝弗朗索瓦，大家下午好。在討論我們第四季度的前景之前，我將回顧我們第三季度的業績。我們第三季度的收入為 7.03 億美元，同比增長 4%。我們的收入仍然大致分為全球服務和產品，全球服務佔總收入的 53%。由於持續的高維護續訂以及去年價格上漲的影響，全球服務收入達到 3.74 億美元，強勁增長 8%。

Product revenue totaled $328 million, representing growth of 1% year-over-year. Systems revenue of $155 million grew 5% year-over-year. Software revenue totaled $174 million, down 3% from a tough compare in the year ago period. Our software revenue is comprised of both subscriptions and perpetual license sales.

產品收入總計3.28億美元，同比增長1%。系統收入為 1.55 億美元，同比增長 5%。軟件收入總計 1.74 億美元，較去年同期下降 3%。我們的軟件收入包括訂閱和永久許可證銷售。

Subscription-based revenue hit a new high in Q3 in both dollars and as a percentage of software revenue. Our subscription revenue totaled $152 million or 87% of Q3's total software revenue and as Francois mentioned, grew 4% year-over-year.

第三季度基於訂閱的收入無論是按美元計算還是佔軟件收入的百分比均創下新高。我們的訂閱收入總計 1.52 億美元，佔第三季度軟件總收入的 87%，正如 Francois 提到的，同比增長 4%。

Perpetual license sales of $22 million represented 13% of Q3 software revenue. Revenue from recurring sources contributed 75% of Q3's revenue, which is a new all-time high as a result of the strong subscription contribution. Recurring revenue includes subscription-based revenue as well as the maintenance portion of our services revenue.

永久許可證銷售額為 2200 萬美元，佔第三季度軟件收入的 13%。經常性來源的收入佔第三季度收入的 75%，由於訂閱貢獻強勁，創下歷史新高。經常性收入包括基於訂閱的收入以及我們服務收入的維護部分。

On a regional basis, revenue from Americas grew 3% year-over-year, representing 57% of total revenue. EMEA grew 16%, representing 26% of revenue, and APAC declined 6%, representing 18% of revenue.

從地區來看，美洲地區的收入同比增長3%，佔總收入的57%。歐洲、中東和非洲地區增長 16%，佔收入的 26%，亞太地區下降 6%，佔收入的 18%。

Looking at our major verticals. During Q3, enterprise customers represented 66% of product bookings, service providers represented 13%, and government customers represented 21%, including 8% from U.S. Federal. Our Q3 operating results were strong, reflecting our previously announced cost reductions and overall operating discipline.

看看我們的主要垂直領域。第三季度，企業客戶佔產品預訂的 66%，服務提供商佔 13%，政府客戶佔 21%，其中美國聯邦客戶佔 8%。我們第三季度的運營業績強勁，反映出我們之前宣布的成本削減和整體運營紀律。

GAAP gross margin was 79.8%. Non-GAAP gross margin was 82.5%, an improvement of more than 200 basis points sequentially. GAAP operating expenses were $457 million. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $346 million, slightly lower than our guided range and reflecting a partial quarter benefit from the cost reductions we announced in April.

GAAP 毛利率為 79.8%。非 GAAP 毛利率為 82.5%，比上一季度提高了 200 個基點以上。 GAAP 運營費用為 4.57 億美元。非 GAAP 運營費用為 3.46 億美元，略低於我們的指導範圍，反映了我們 4 月份宣布的成本削減帶來的部分季度收益。

Our GAAP operating margin was 14.7%. Our non-GAAP operating margin was 33.2%, representing a sequential improvement of more than 600 basis points. Our GAAP effective tax rate for the quarter was 16.4%. Our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 18.1%. This is below our target range for the year, largely driven by a nonrecurring benefit associated with the filing of our annual federal income tax return during the quarter.

我們的 GAAP 營業利潤率為 14.7%。我們的非 GAAP 運營利潤率為 33.2%，比上一季度提高了 600 個基點以上。我們本季度的 GAAP 有效稅率為 16.4%。我們的非 GAAP 有效稅率為 18.1%。這低於我們今年的目標範圍，主要是由於與本季度提交年度聯邦所得稅申報表相關的非經常性福利所致。

Our GAAP net income for the quarter was $89 million or $1.48 per share. Our non-GAAP net income was very strong at $194 million or $3.21 per share, well above the top end of our guided range of $2.78 to $2.90 per share. This reflects the combined impact of our gross margin improvements and operating expense discipline as well as a Q3 tax benefit.

我們本季度的 GAAP 淨利潤為 8900 萬美元，即每股 1.48 美元。我們的非 GAAP 淨利潤非常強勁，達到 1.94 億美元，即每股 3.21 美元，遠高於我們每股 2.78 美元至 2.90 美元的指導範圍的上限。這反映了我們的毛利率改善和運營費用紀律以及第三季度稅收優惠的綜合影響。

I will now turn to cash flow and the balance sheet, which also remains very strong. We generated $165 million in cash flow from operations in Q3 driven by our improved profitability and strong cash collections. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $15 million. DSO for the quarter was 56 days, down from 62 in Q2 and closer to our historic range as a result of earlier invoicing related to improved shipping linearity as our supply chain continued to stabilize.

我現在將談談現金流和資產負債表，它們也仍然非常強勁。在盈利能力提高和現金回籠強勁的推動下，我們第三季度的運營產生了 1.65 億美元的現金流。該季度的資本支出為 1500 萬美元。本季度的 DSO 為 56 天，低於第二季度的 62 天，並且更接近我們的歷史範圍，這是由於隨著我們的供應鏈持續穩定，與改善的運輸線性相關的早期發票。

Cash and investments totaled approximately $696 million at quarter end. Deferred revenue increased 9% year-over-year to $1.79 billion driven by the high service maintenance attach rates we've seen throughout the year and continued growth in subscription as a percent of our software mix. As we committed to on our last call, we repurchased $250 million worth of shares in Q3. Finally, we ended the quarter with approximately 6,500 employees, which reflects the head count reductions we announced in April.

截至季度末，現金和投資總額約為 6.96 億美元。遞延收入同比增長 9%，達到 17.9 億美元，這得益於我們全年看到的高服務維護附加率以及訂閱占我們軟件組合的百分比持續增長。正如我們在上次電話會議中承諾的那樣，我們在第三季度回購了價值 2.5 億美元的股票。最後，本季度結束時，我們的員工人數約為 6,500 名，這反映了我們在 4 月份宣布的裁員計劃。

I will now share our outlook for Q4. We expect Q4 revenue in the range of $690 million to $710 million with gross margins of approximately 83%. Unless otherwise stated, my guidance comments reference non-GAAP operating metrics.

我現在將分享我們對第四季度的展望。我們預計第四季度收入在 6.9 億美元至 7.1 億美元之間，毛利率約為 83%。除非另有說明，我的指導意見參考非公認會計準則運營指標。

With the full quarter benefit from the cost reductions announced in April, we estimate Q4 operating expenses of $338 million to $350 million. Incorporating our year-to-date results, we have now narrowed our estimates for our FY '23 effective tax rate to approximately 20% for the year. As a result, we are targeting Q4 non-GAAP earnings in the range of $3.15 to $3.27 per share.

由於整個季度都受益於 4 月份宣布的成本削減，我們預計第四季度的運營支出為 3.38 億美元至 3.5 億美元。結合我們今年迄今的業績，我們現已將 23 財年有效稅率的預期範圍縮小至 20% 左右。因此，我們將第四季度非 GAAP 每股收益目標定在 3.15 美元至 3.27 美元之間。

We expect Q4 share-based compensation expense of approximately $55 million to $57 million. Year-to-date, we have used 68% of our free cash flow towards repurchases. We remain committed to returning cash to shareholders and continue to expect to use at least 50% of our annual free cash flow towards share repurchases.

我們預計第四季度的股權激勵費用約為 5500 萬至 5700 萬美元。今年迄今為止，我們已將 68% 的自由現金流用於回購。我們仍然致力於向股東返還現金，並繼續預計將至少 50% 的年度自由現金流用於股票回購。

I will now turn the call back over to Francois. Francois?

我現在將把電話轉回給弗朗索瓦。弗朗索瓦？

Thank you, Frank. Customers made F5 the standard for securing, delivering and optimizing traditional applications. Now with compelling and differentiated solutions for modern applications and APIs as well as those mission-critical traditional apps, we are being architected into new areas and use cases across our portfolio.

謝謝你，弗蘭克。客戶使 F5 成為保護、交付和優化傳統應用程序的標準。現在，憑藉針對現代應用程序和 API 以及那些關鍵任務的傳統應用程序的引人注目的差異化解決方案，我們正在將其構建到整個產品組合的新領域和用例中。

Our holistic application and API-focused approach enables newfound consistency across environments and across hardware, software, and SaaS deployment models, which reduces risk, lowers operating costs and delivers better digital experiences.

我們以整體應用程序和 API 為中心的方法可實現跨環境以及跨硬件、軟件和 SaaS 部署模型的新一致性，從而降低風險、降低運營成本並提供更好的數字體驗。

In closing, I ask that you take away 3 things from this call. Number one, we are seeing some early and encouraging signs of demand stabilizing. Number two, we are seeing demonstrable proof points that the differentiated solutions portfolio we are creating through a combination of organic and inorganic innovation and technology integration is well aligned with how application architectures are evolving. And number three, we are delivering on the operating discipline we committed to and expect to produce additional leverage in FY 2024.

最後，我請您從這次電話會議中吸取三點教訓。第一，我們看到了需求穩定的一些早期且令人鼓舞的跡象。第二，我們看到了明顯的證據，表明我們通過有機和無機創新以及技術集成的結合創建的差異化解決方案組合與應用架構的發展方式非常一致。第三，我們正在履行我們承諾的運營紀律，並預計在 2024 財年產生額外的槓桿作用。

Operator, please open the call to questions.

接線員，請打開電話提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Ray McDonough with Guggenheim Partners.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Guggenheim Partners 的 Ray McDonough。

Maybe first for Frank. How did the true-forward portion of renewals performed this quarter relative to the last? And assuming it has improved, which it seems like it has, do you think we're at the tipping point where customers simply need to add capacity, which will continue to drive relative strength in renewals going forward? Or is it too early to tell whether or not that's bottomed?

也許首先是弗蘭克。與上一季度相比，本季度續訂的真實轉發部分錶現如何？假設情況有所改善（看起來確實如此），您認為我們是否正處於客戶只需要增加容量的臨界點，這將繼續推動未來續訂的相對實力？或者說現在判斷是否已經觸底還為時過早？

Ray, thanks so much for the question. So the true-forwards, when we set out our plan at the beginning of the year, we had higher expectations what we've seen throughout the course of this year. That having been said, it was a strong quarter for renewals, and included in that would be our true-forward number.

雷，非常感謝你的提問。因此，真正的前鋒，當我們在年初制定計劃時，我們對今年全年所看到的情況抱有更高的期望。話雖如此，這是一個強勁的續約季度，其中包括我們的真實轉發數據。

It's early to indicate that we've seen an absolute bottom and things are going to grow from here. What I was incredibly encouraged though from -- was that the expansion that we saw in some of our second terms, as Francois mentioned, were quite high on a few large deals. And we are seeing a stabilization right now in the demand environment, which is better than what I can say for the last couple of quarters. So again, early signs but not yet ready to call it a trend.

現在表明我們已經看到絕對底部並且事情將從這裡開始增長還為時過早。但令我難以置信的是，正如弗朗索瓦所提到的，我們在第二個任期中看到的擴張在一些大型交易中相當高。我們現在看到需求環境趨於穩定，這比我在過去幾個季度所說的要好。再說一遍，這是早期跡象，但尚未準備好將其稱為趨勢。

That makes sense. And maybe if I could, a follow-up for Francois. You mentioned you're obviously seeing signs of macro stabilization here. Can you unpack that a little bit more? I mean, how broad-based is the stabilization? Maybe from a vertical perspective and from a product perspective, are you seeing each vertical kind of stabilized? Or is there kind of give and take between where the spending is kind of more firm than others?

這就說得通了。也許如果可以的話，弗朗索瓦的後續行動。您提到您顯然在這裡看到了宏觀穩定的跡象。你能把它再拆開一點嗎？我的意思是，穩定的基礎有多廣泛？也許從垂直角度和產品角度來看，您是否看到每種垂直類型都處於穩定狀態？或者是否存在某種讓步，支出比其他人更堅定？

Ray, so I think it's best to maybe contrast a little what we saw this quarter versus what we saw in the first 2 quarters of the year. What hasn't changed first is this, that customers continue to scrutinize spend. We continue to see deals being delayed, some deals being pushed out. And we continue to see behavior across all verticals where customers are looking to defer spend as much as possible and sweating their assets where they can do that. Those behaviors have not changed. And as a result, even though we saw stronger demand in Q3 than in our first 2 quarters of the year, demand was still lower than from the 2022 levels.

雷，所以我認為最好將本季度的情況與今年前兩個季度的情況進行對比。首先沒有改變的是，客戶繼續審查支出。我們繼續看到交易被推遲，一些交易被推遲。我們繼續看到所有垂直行業的行為，客戶希望盡可能推遲支出，並在可以做到這一點的地方耗盡他們的資產。這些行為沒有改變。因此，儘管我們看到第三季度的需求比今年前兩個季度強勁，但需求仍低於 2022 年的水平。

What has changed is, number one, we didn't see things getting worse this quarter, and I'm saying in general across verticals than they did in the first half of the year. So we feel we have kind of reached a stable level. I think in our March quarter, there was a lot of uncertainty, specifically in the financial services sector. Right after the bank failures, there was uncertainty still about interest rate, debt ceiling for -- in the U.S. specifically. And so spend in financial services almost came to a halt then. And that, I want to call it, almost irrationality has come out now.

發生的變化是，第一，我們沒有看到本季度的情況變得更糟，我是說，整個垂直領域的情況總體上比上半年好。所以我們覺得我們已經達到了一個穩定的水平。我認為在我們三月份的季度中，存在很多不確定性，特別是在金融服務領域。銀行倒閉後，利率和債務上限仍然存在不確定性——特別是在美國。因此，金融服務方面的支出當時幾乎停止了。我想稱之為，現在幾乎非理性已經出現了。

So there are still deal delays and scrutiny, but even though deals are being scrutinized, they are getting approved. So that, specifically to that vertical, I think, has changed. And then I think we've seen in a couple of areas where deals that had been delayed where customers really needed to implement these projects, and they have moved forward with these projects. And I would say that's been the case in financial services and in a couple of other enterprise verticals.

因此，仍然存在交易延遲和審查的情況，但即使交易正在接受審查，它們還是會獲得批准。因此，我認為，特別是在垂直領域，已經發生了變化。然後我認為我們在一些領域看到了客戶真正需要實施這些項目的交易被推遲的情況，並且他們已經推進了這些項目。我想說，金融服務和其他幾個企業垂直領域就是這種情況。

Service providers, I would say, are still looking to sweat their assets as much as possible, and we're seeing that behavior continue across the board.

我想說，服務提供商仍在尋求盡可能多地利用他們的資產，而且我們看到這種行為在全面持續。

Our next question is from Samik Chatterjee with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Samik Chatterjee。

Francois, if I can sort of go back to the comments about the stabilization of demand and dig into that a bit more. I mean you did comment about the stabilization in a quarter when we saw systems revenue decline significantly as you sort of have worked through the backlog. So I'm just wondering when we interpret those comments to both hardware and software, is that -- should we be interpreting this as sort of a more normalized mix based on what you're seeing in the macro and that sort of as we think about fiscal '24, means that you're sort of looking at $700 million or $2.8 billion annualized sort of number as being at least where the floor is where you track if the macro remains the same? Is that the way to sort of interpret the demand stabilization comment?

弗朗索瓦，我能否回到關於需求穩定的評論並進一步深入探討一下。我的意思是，當我們看到系統收入大幅下降時，您確實對一個季度的穩定發表了評論，因為您已經解決了積壓的問題。所以我只是想知道，當我們將這些評論解釋為硬件和軟件時，我們是否應該根據您在宏觀中看到的情況將其解釋為一種更加標準化的組合，就像我們對 24 財年的看法一樣，這意味著您將 7 億美元或 28 億美元的年化數字視為至少是您跟踪的下限（如果宏觀保持不變）？這是解讀需求穩定評論的方式嗎？

Samik, okay, so let me unpack that. There was a lot in there. So when I talked about demand stabilization, it's really the fact that if you look at the first 2 quarters of the year, things were getting progressive. They were worse in March than they were in January, and they were worse in January than we felt they were in September. But when you back to where we were at the end of June, we didn't feel things have further worsened. And so things have stabilized. That's really the origin of my commentary.

Samik，好的，讓我來打開它。裡面有很多東西。因此，當我談到需求穩定時，事實上，如果你看看今年前兩個季度，情況正在變得越來越好。三月份的情況比一月份的情況更糟，一月份的情況又比我們認為的九月份的情況更糟。但當你回到六月底的情況時，我們並不覺得情況進一步惡化。這樣事情就穩定下來了。這確實是我的評論的起源。

As it relates specifically to hardware, Samik, as you know, we have -- demand has been soft on hardware throughout the year. And it's been soft largely because of the macro environment and customers sweating their assets. Also, customers needed to digest a lot of shipments that we have now been able to make. Customers have made -- placed orders last year. They had not been able to get the equipment, and they needed to get the equipment and get it installed and deploy. So all of that is happening.

由於它與硬件特別相關，Samik，如您所知，我們全年對硬件的需求一直疲軟。它之所以疲軟，很大程度上是因為宏觀環境和客戶耗盡了他們的資產。此外，客戶需要消化我們現在能夠生產的大量貨物。客戶去年已經下了訂單。他們無法獲得設備，但他們需要獲得設備並安裝和部署。所以這一切正在發生。

As a result, we have worked through our backlog, and our backlog has come down significantly, which is why you're seeing hardware where it is in Q3. And frankly, when you look at even next quarter, Q4, I would expect hardware to probably be even down from the levels you saw in Q3 in terms of where demand is at today.

因此，我們已經解決了積壓問題，並且我們的積壓工作已顯著減少，這就是為什麼您會看到第三季度硬件的情況。坦率地說，當你看看下個季度，即第四季度，我預計硬件可能會比你在第三季度看到的水平下降，就目前的需求而言。

As it relates to what this means for 2024, as you would expect, it's too early for us to be guiding to 2024. We've said in the past that cycles of this nature in the past have been 4 to 6 quarters. We feel we are 3 quarters into it. So you can infer from that where potentially demand would return. We do expect, by the way, demand to return in 2024. When exactly, we don't know when. But we do expect demand across the board to return and hardware demand to be higher next year than it is this year.

正如您所期望的那樣，這與這對 2024 年意味著什麼有關，現在對我們來說指導 2024 年還為時過早。我們過去曾說過，過去這種性質的周期是 4 到 6 個季度。我們認為我們已經完成了四分之一的工作。因此，您可以從中推斷出潛在需求將會回歸。順便說一句，我們確實預計需求會在 2024 年回歸。具體時間我們不知道。但我們確實預計明年的需求將全面回升，硬件需求將高於今年。

However, I would ask you to keep in mind that because we have been able to ship so much of our backlog, we said last quarter that there would be 6 to 8 points of headwind on total revenue growth next year based on the way we worked the backlog this year. And so I would keep that in mind when you're thinking about revenue for next year.

然而，我想請您記住，由於我們已經能夠運送如此多的積壓訂單，我們在上個季度表示，根據今年我們處理積壓訂單的方式，明年的總收入增長將出現 6 到 8 個百分點的阻力。因此，當您考慮明年的收入時，我會牢記這一點。

Got it. Okay. And Francois, a question that I'm getting a lot from investors really is about AI. And the investors are expecting an inflection again in terms of application growth because of use cases and really more about your application security capabilities. How do you think they're positioned to navigate sort of that inflection in application growth? And where -- how do you think about the challenges in managing that growth as well at the same time?

知道了。好的。弗朗索瓦，我從投資者那裡得到的很多問題實際上是關於人工智能的。由於用例以及更多關於應用程序安全功能的原因，投資者預計應用程序增長將再次出現變化。您認為他們如何應對應用程序增長的這種變化？您如何看待同時管理這種增長所面臨的挑戰？

So for us, in AI, Samik, we're -- I think like a lot of other companies, I think we've got focus in 3 areas. One that I'd say is generic to other companies, which means we are looking to leverage the new capabilities to enhance our productivity. And we -- as you know, we're focused on earnings growth. We said we want to deliver double-digit earnings growth, which we are now confident we will this year but continuing to drive that. We want to drive more productivity over time. And these tools would help us do that in certain areas.

因此，對於我們來說，在人工智能領域，Samik，我們——我認為像許多其他公司一樣，我認為我們重點關註三個領域。我想說的是，這一點對於其他公司來說是通用的，這意味著我們正在尋求利用新功能來提高我們的生產力。如您所知，我們專注於盈利增長。我們表示，我們希望實現兩位數的盈利增長，我們現在有信心今年能夠實現這一目標，並將繼續推動這一目標。我們希望隨著時間的推移提高生產力。這些工具將幫助我們在某些​​領域做到這一點。

The other 2 areas that are really specific to our business, Samik, is one, we have been using AI already, especially in our security products. Part of the rationale for the Shape Security acquisition was also to bring in AI capabilities and AI expertise in the company. That has allowed us to profile application traffic at a very granular level, which is an incredible, powerful capability. And we're going to enhance these capabilities with new machine learning models going forward.

Samik，其他兩個真正針對我們業務的領域是，我們已經在使用人工智能，特別是在我們的安全產品中。收購 Shape Security 的部分原因也是為了引入公司的人工智能能力和人工智能專業知識。這使我們能夠在非常精細的級別上分析應用程序流量，這是一項令人難以置信的強大功能。我們將通過未來的新機器學習模型來增強這些功能。

And I would expect that in security in particular, you will see us move more and more to AI-enabled security, which is where increasingly what we think it will take to solve security problems. And we have a lot of data being in front of 40% of the world's websites. We have -- sorry, borrowing over 300 million website and being in 40% of the world's web applications, we feel we have a lot of access to data that could fuel these machine learning models.

我預計，特別是在安全方面，你會看到我們越來越多地轉向人工智能支持的安全，這也是我們越來越認為解決安全問題所需要的。全球 40% 的網站上都有我們的大量數據。抱歉，我們藉用了超過 3 億個網站並參與了全球 40% 的網絡應用程序，我們覺得我們可以訪問大量數據來推動這些機器學習模型。

We will also see some opportunities in terms of new workloads. So that is still early days and probably harder to define in the short term. But what we see, Samik, happening is a lot of the new AI-related workloads, we think, have 2 attributes that will be interesting for F5. Number one is these are kind of next-generation, modern workloads built with an API-first approach, which will create a lot more API connections and API calls and accelerate these explosions of APIs. Those APIs need to be connected and secured and orchestrated, and we are levered to that opportunity in API and API security.

我們還將在新的工作負載方面看到一些機會。因此，這還處於早期階段，短期內可能更難定義。但 Samik，我們看到正在發生的大量新的 AI 相關工作負載，我們認為，有兩個 F5 感興趣的屬性。第一，這些是採用 API 優先方法構建的下一代現代工作負載，這將創建更多的 API 連接和 API 調用，並加速 API 的爆炸式增長。這些 API 需要連接、保護和編排，我們在 API 和 API 安全方面抓住了這個機會。

And number two, these workloads or the data they have to access is quite distributed, which also will accelerate adoption of multi-cloud architectures, and we are levered to that multi-cloud opportunity. And so we think those 2 attributes of AI-related workloads will play well to the opportunity for F5 down the road.

第二，這些工作負載或它們必須訪問的數據相當分散，這也將加速多雲架構的採用，我們可以利用多雲機會。因此，我們認為人工智能相關工作負載的這兩個屬性將很好地為 F5 帶來未來的機會。

Our next question is from Simon Leopold with Raymond James.

我們的下一個問題來自西蒙·利奧波德和雷蒙德·詹姆斯。

I was looking at really where the system revenue had been prior to the pandemic and wondering how you would think about the idea that a normal revenue run rate might be in that sort of $170 million to $180 million a quarter. Clearly, a lot has changed over -- since, I guess, late 2019. Could you maybe help us think about sort of the puts and takes to -- even if we don't know the timing to sort of get a better sense of what should be the sort of base run rate for hardware?

我正在研究大流行之前系統收入的真實情況，並想知道您會如何看待正常收入運行率可能為每季度 1.7 億至 1.8 億美元的想法。顯然，自 2019 年底以來，很多事情都發生了變化。您能否幫助我們考慮一下投入和投入的情況，即使我們不知道何時更好地了解硬件的基本運行率？

Yes. Simon, I don't think we're -- we can kind of direct you to what is or should be the base run rate for hardware. But I think what we can share with you is this. Our perspective is that the trajectory of the hardware in terms of the number of units that we have out there should be declining in the mid-single-digit percentage. And it could be a little more than that, it could be a little less than that, but it's in that zone.

是的。西蒙，我不認為我們可以指導您了解什麼是或應該是硬件的基本運行速率。但我想我們能跟大家分享的就是這個。我們的觀點是，就我們現有的設備數量而言，硬件的軌跡應該以中等個位數的百分比下降。它可能比這個多一點，也可能比那個少一點，但它在那個區域。

And when you look at the sort of overall normalized trend of the number of units we have under obligation, the number of hardware units that are out there and deployed, the -- and you look at a longer trend in the last couple of years, you'd see that's kind of the trend that we're seeing.

當你觀察我們所承擔的設備數量、現有和部署的硬件設備數量的整體標準化趨勢時，你會看到過去幾年的長期趨勢，你會發現這就是我們所看到的趨勢。

Over the last couple of years, if you just look at revenue, of course, there's been substantial disruptions. The pandemic has been a positive one. The supply chain has been a negative one. The macro has been a negative one. But if you ignore the short-term disruption, then you just look at a long-term trend of the number of hardware units you have out there, you should think about it as a kind of declining in the mid-single digits.

在過去的幾年裡，如果你只看收入，當然會出現嚴重的中斷。這場大流行是積極的。供應鏈一直是負面的。宏觀經濟一直是負面的。但如果你忽略短期中斷，那麼你只關注現有硬件單元數量的長期趨勢，你應該將其視為中等個位數的下降。

Now I would add though, Simon, that part of what we think is an important strength of the F5 model is that we now deploy in hardware, in software and Software as a Service. And we're seeing that customers really value the flexibility that they have in the F5 model because not all applications are in the same environment, and they want the ability to something to have applications funded by hardware in their private data centers and maybe other applications supported by software or SaaS. And we're seeing inside of a single large enterprise 2 or 3 of these deployment models come through.

Simon，現在我想補充一點，我們認為 F5 模型的重要優勢在於我們現在部署在硬件、軟件和軟件即服務中。我們看到，客戶確實非常看重 F5 模型中的靈活性，因為並非所有應用程序都在同一環境中，他們希望能夠在其私有數據中心中擁有由硬件資助的應用程序，以及可能由軟件或 SaaS 支持的其他應用程序。我們看到在一個大型企業內部已經實現了其中 2 或 3 個部署模型。

And what customers value is the consistency of delivery policies and security policies across these consumption models. And so we're going to continue to offer this flexibility, and it's core to how we intend to continue to drive earnings growth in the business.

客戶看重的是這些消費模型中交付策略和安全策略的一致性。因此，我們將繼續提供這種靈活性，這是我們打算如何繼續推動業務盈利增長的核心。

That's helpful. And just maybe as a follow-up, in terms of the software trajectory, what sort of signals might you suggest we look for in terms of sort of things getting better and things getting back on normal apart from just sort of the macro? What kind of advice would you give to the analysts?

這很有幫助。也許作為後續行動，就軟件軌跡而言，除了宏觀方面之外，您可能建議我們尋找哪些類型的信號來使事情變得更好並恢復正常？您會給分析師什麼樣的建議？

Simon, in terms of specific metrics, more to come. In terms of the delivery approach that Francois was describing, one of the reasons why we have gotten away from trying to specifically guide to a mix is because, again, we give customers flexibility and we do not try to specify which one we think is the better approach. We leave that to the customer to make that decision for themselves. And so we will see some fluctuation and volatility between what software and what's hardware.

Simon，就具體指標而言，還有更多。就弗​​朗索瓦所描述的交付方法而言，我們不再嘗試專門指導混合的原因之一是因為我們為客戶提供了靈活性，並且我們不會嘗試指定我們認為哪種方法更好。我們將其留給客戶自己做出決定。因此，我們會看到軟件和硬件之間存在一些波動和波動。

I think when we actually see the SaaS business, particularly around Distributed Cloud, over the next few years become much more substantial, that volatility will continue to decrease as more and more of that business will come to us in a ratable fashion. And so as that business continues to grow, you can be looking to us for more metrics around that. That will give some more forward-looking points -- data points where that expectation and that software revenue will come.

我認為，當我們真正看到 SaaS 業務，特別是圍繞分佈式雲的業務，在未來幾年變得更加龐大時，隨著越來越多的業務將以可評估的方式來到我們身邊，波動性將繼續減少。因此，隨著該業務的不斷增長，您可以向我們尋求更多相關指標。這將提供一些更具前瞻性的觀點——預期和軟件收入將會出現的數據點。

Our next question is from James Fish with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自詹姆斯·菲什和派珀·桑德勒。

Following up on a few of the questions asked here already. But what are you seeing demand-wise or demand stabilization between the product side, meaning on the ADC side versus security? And really asking also, what percentage of your customers are actually using products from both as we're trying to understand what penetration opportunity you guys have left?

跟進這裡已經提出的一些問題。但是，您認為產品方面（即 ADC 方面與安全方面）之間的需求明智或需求穩定如何？真正要問的是，當我們試圖了解你們還剩下哪些滲透機會時，你們的客戶實際上使用這兩種產品的百分比是多少？

Jim, the -- so let me give you a sense by product in terms of what we're seeing in terms of demand. So we're -- as I said, the hardware demand has been soft. Where it has been the softest is in the ADC space, where customers are really looking to delay purchase orders and where they can sweat their assets.

吉姆，讓我根據我們所看到的需求向您介紹一下產品。所以，正如我所說，硬件需求一直疲軟。最疲軟的地方是 ADC 領域，客戶確實希望推遲採購訂單，並可以節省他們的資產。

Security -- stand-alone security has been more resilient than ADC. But the security that is attached to ADC, of course, is affected in the same way that ADCs are. We have also seen strong demand for NGINX. We had quite a strong quarter on demand for NGINX for largely modern application deployments as well as renewal and expansion from existing opportunities.

安全性——獨立安全性比 ADC 更具彈性。但當然，附加到 ADC 的安全性也會受到與 ADC 相同的影響。我們還看到了對 NGINX 的強勁需求。我們對 NGINX 的需求相當強勁，主要用於現代應用程序部署以及現有機會的更新和擴展。

And where we are seeing also very strong growth, but of course, on a small base is in our distributed cloud opportunity, which is really in security, offering application security in front of us, a lot of applications but deployed as a service; increasingly seeing more opportunities for API security, which is a nascent but growing and exciting market; and also securing multi-cloud networking, so connecting applications across cloud and doing so in a secure way. These areas are growing rapidly but from a small base, and this is where we're seeing a different trend in demand. That, I think, is kind of -- when you look at the overall portfolio, this is how we see the various demand levels.

我們也看到了非常強勁的增長，但當然，在一個小基礎上我們的分佈式雲機會，這實際上是在安全性方面，在我們面前提供應用程序安全性，大量應用程序但作為服務部署；越來越多地看到 API 安全的更多機會，這是一個新興但不斷增長且令人興奮的市場；還可以保護多云網絡，從而跨雲連接應用程序並以安全的方式進行。這些領域增長迅速，但基數較小，這就是我們看到不同需求趨勢的地方。我認為，當你查看整體投資組合時，這就是我們看待各種需求水平的方式。

Makes sense. And Frank, maybe for you. You guys keep mentioning expansion opportunities and expansion rates being pretty strong. I know you're not quantitatively giving them, but can you qualitatively kind of give us some color around what you saw versus the first half of the year with net retention rates, be it on recurring revenue or just the recurring software piece? And also trying to understand how much of growth is being constrained by the transition to recurring sources, particularly the SaaS side of things, as you collect more revenue over time but less upfront.

說得通。弗蘭克，也許適合你。你們不斷提到擴張機會和擴張率非常強勁。我知道你沒有定量地給出它們，但你能否定性地給我們一些關於你所看到的與上半年相比的淨保留率的顏色，無論是經常性收入還是只是經常性軟件？同時還要嘗試了解向經常性來源（尤其是 SaaS 方面）的轉變在多大程度上限制了增長，因為隨著時間的推移，您獲得的收入會增加，但預付費用會減少。

Sure. So yes, that dynamic, I'm -- I will be excited to see, Jim, but we have not yet seen that, where the SaaS piece has overtaken the term-based subscription side of the business. That still is the majority of our software revenue.

當然。所以，是的，吉姆，我很高興看到這種動態，但我們還沒有看到 SaaS 部分已經超越了基於期限的訂閱業務。這仍然是我們軟件收入的大部分。

On -- in terms of net retention rates, it was strong in the quarter. It is -- that part is part of our renewal base of revenue, which has been, frankly, much closer to plan than new business. New business activity was challenged in the quarter in relation to what we expected to do at the beginning of the year but much better than what we had seen in the first half of the year.

就淨保留率而言，本季度表現強勁。這部分是我們更新收入基礎的一部分，坦率地說，這比新業務更接近計劃。與我們年初的預期相比，本季度的新業務活動面臨挑戰，但比我們上半年看到的情況要好得多。

And so in totality, again, the net retention that we have seen in our recurring base of revenue and the renewal base of revenue has been growing and strong. But the new business opportunities that we see, those are the ones that are still challenged in relation to what we expected to do at the beginning of the year. But they were largely in line, slightly better than the revised expectations that we set last quarter.

因此，總的來說，我們在經常性收入基礎和續訂收入基礎中看到的淨留存率一直在增長且強勁。但我們看到的新商機，與我們年初的預期相比仍然面臨挑戰。但它們基本上符合預期，略好於我們上季度設定的修訂後的預期。

Our next question is from Meta Marshall with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的梅塔·馬歇爾。

Maybe first question, was there any difference in the mix that you ended up seeing in the quarter versus expectation? I guess I'm just asking because the backlog seems to have been exhausted. But yes, the systems number was maybe a little bit lighter than expected. So just are more customers kind of opting now for virtual editions as they move back towards kind of thinking about hybrid cloud?

也許第一個問題是，您最終在本季度看到的組合與預期有什麼不同嗎？我想我只是問一下，因為積壓的訂單似乎已經用完了。但是，是的，系統數量可能比預期要少一些。那麼，隨著更多客戶重新考慮混合雲，是否會選擇虛擬版本呢？

And then I have a second question just on -- you made a point of talking about the share gain opportunities. Just what has been the best entry point or targeted sales program to kind of identify and go after some of those customers?

然後我有第二個問題——你特意談論了分享收益的機會。識別和吸引其中一些客戶的最佳切入點或有針對性的銷售計劃是什麼？

Thank you. And in a way, your 2 questions are related because they -- it comes down to this flexibility of the model we've built of offering hardware, software and SaaS. So to the first part of your question, was there any relative to our expectation in terms of the mix, hardware/software. Look, I think we were pleased to see that a couple of the bigger software deals that we have been expecting for a while actually did come through and were not delayed. And so that helped the overall software performance for the quarter and we think also speaks to the stabilization in terms of customers.

謝謝。在某種程度上，您的兩個問題是相關的，因為它們歸結為我們構建的提供硬件、軟件和 SaaS 的模型的靈活性。因此，對於您問題的第一部分，在硬件/軟件的組合方面是否與我們的期望相關。看，我認為我們很高興看到我們期待已久的幾項更大的軟件交易確實實現了，並且沒有被推遲。因此，這有助於提高本季度的整體軟件性能，我們認為這也說明了客戶的穩定。

Still not returning to, of course, '22 level in terms of new projects and starting these new especially big software transmission projects, but at least the ones that are absolutely necessary for customers to move through with them. So that's on the software side of things.

當然，就新項目和啟動這些新的特別大型軟件傳輸項目而言，仍然沒有回到 22 世紀的水平，但至少是客戶完成這些項目絕對必要的項目。這就是軟件方面的事情。

I think on hardware, things -- we had expected to be shipping our backlog throughout the year, and we're pleased that we're able to do that. We're pleased that we are returning to normal lead times. Our lead times are almost at normal levels at 2 weeks, which is really important for our customers to get their equipment because we think that will be a catalyst for future demand once they've digested these projects and implemented them.

我認為在硬件方面，我們原本預計全年都會交付積壓的訂單，我們很高興能夠做到這一點。我們很高興我們恢復了正常的交貨時間。我們的交貨時間幾乎處於正常水平，為兩週，這對於我們的客戶獲得設備非常重要，因為我們認為一旦他們消化了這些項目並實施了它們，這將成為未來需求的催化劑。

In terms of share gains, Meta, we have -- so in the ADC -- traditional ADC market specifically, we believe that we are gaining share, largely because of the investments we've made in next-generation platforms and next-generation software and the flexibility of the model we are delivering. So we -- Meta, we have rolled out rSeries and VELOS platforms this quarter. I think over 70% of the shipments that we made in hardware were on the new rSeries platform. So adoption of that platform has been phenomenal. We think it's the fastest adoption we've seen in a transition like that ever. And it speaks to the capabilities of these new platforms and the new software that brings cloud-like benefits to the hardware on-prem environment.

就份額增長而言，Meta，我們——所以在 ADC——特別是傳統 ADC 市場，我們相信我們正在獲得份額，這主要是因為我們在下一代平台和下一代軟件方面進行的投資以及我們正在提供的模型的靈活性。所以我們——Meta，本季度推出了 rSeries 和 VELOS 平台。我認為我們超過 70% 的硬件出貨量都是在新的 rSeries 平台上進行的。因此，該平台的採用是驚人的。我們認為這是我們在此類轉型中所見過的最快的採用速度。它說明了這些新平台和新軟件的功能，為硬件本地環境帶來了類似雲的優勢。

And so the combination of these investments we've made and the CapEx model, the OpEx model that we offer, continuing to offer perpetual and subscription models, really is powerful. And relative to our competitors in the ADC space, we are taking share, and in some cases, specifically taking customers away coming to F5 because of the investments we've made.

因此，我們所做的這些投資與我們提供的資本支出模型、運營支出模型以及繼續提供永久和訂閱模型的結合確實非常強大。相對於我們在 ADC 領域的競爭對手，我們正在奪取市場份額，在某些情況下，由於我們所做的投資，我們特別將客戶吸引到 F5。

We are also going strongly after the WAF market, that is Web Application Firewall, API security, DDoS and bot protection as a service. This is a market, Meta, where we are a new entrant with distributed cloud, but we are gaining customers very rapidly and aggressively attacking the incumbents in the market.

我們還大力發展 WAF 市場，即 Web 應用程序防火牆、API 安全、DDoS 和機器人防護即服務。這是一個 Meta 市場，我們是分佈式雲的新進入者，但我們正在非常迅速地贏得客戶，並積極攻擊市場上的現有企業。

We are quite differentiated in API security and bot defense in particular and also in networking applications between cloud, the secure MCN opportunity being a new and emerging market where Distributed Cloud has a very strong offering. So these are areas where we feel we are gaining share, and hopefully, we'll continue to gain share in quarters to come.

我們在 API 安全和機器人防禦方面具有很大的差異化，特別是在雲之間的網絡應用程序方面，安全 MCN 機會是一個新興市場，分佈式雲在其中提供非常強大的產品。因此，我們認為在這些領域我們正在獲得份額，並且希望我們將在未來幾個季度繼續獲得份額。

Our next question is from Alex Henderson with Needham & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Needham & Company 的 Alex Henderson。

So last year, you had a pretty steep decline in your systems business. You cited the supply chain, and now you're up low single digits. And you're suggesting that your backlog has already been resolved. That really doesn't imply a particularly strong headwind as we go forward of 6% to 8%. So can you reconcile why that headwind of 6% to 8% would be there given you haven't really produced meaningful strong top line growth in that business?

去年，您的系統業務大幅下滑。你提到了供應鏈，現在你的漲幅已經很低了個位數。而且您建議您的積壓工作已經得到解決。這並不意味著我們會面臨特別強勁的阻力，因為我們的增長率將上升 6% 至 8%。那麼，鑑於您尚未在該業務中真正實現有意義的強勁營收增長，您能解釋為什麼會出現 6% 至 8% 的逆風嗎？

And then conversely, you're citing a 6% to 8% headwind going forward. Your comps on the software side were extremely difficult over the last year but now have gotten quite easy with declines in the September quarter last year and are setting up for pretty easy comps over the next year. So if I look at the software side of it, is it reasonable to think that we're going to now see a meaningful shift to software growth, and therefore, it's still possible to produce revenue growth on the product side as we go into 2024? I know you don't want to give guidance, but you have given guidance on 6% to 8% headwind. And so what should we be thinking about as the offset to that in these easy software comps?

相反，你提到未來將面臨 6% 到 8% 的逆風。去年，你們在軟件方面的競爭非常困難，但隨著去年九月季度的下滑，現在已經變得相當容易，並且正在為明年的相當簡單的競爭做準備。因此，如果我看看軟件方面，是否有理由認為我們現在將看到軟件增長發生有意義的轉變，因此，進入 2024 年，產品方面仍然有可能實現收入增長？我知道你不想給出指導，但你已經給出了 6% 到 8% 逆風的指導。那麼我們應該考慮什麼來抵消這些簡單的軟件比較呢？

Yes. Alex, it's Frank. I'll start and see if Francois wants to add anything. But the long and short, the 6% to 8% is more specific to the systems business, and that's specifically related to the level of backlog that we had going into FY '23. And so obviously, it's been a boost to our recognized revenue in relation to where the demand has been for FY '23.

是的。亞歷克斯，這是弗蘭克。我先看看弗朗索瓦是否想補充什麼。但從長期和短期來看，6% 到 8% 更具體於系統業務，這與我們進入 23 財年的積壓水平特別相關。顯然，相對於 23 財年的需求而言，這提高了我們的確認收入。

But going -- looking ahead at FY '24, that's the 6% to 8% that we've referenced, which is largely associated with the hardware business. The demand side of the equation has been challenged in both. Obviously, it's -- have been better in Q3 than what we saw in the first half of the year. But it stabilized at a lower -- much lower level than where we were in FY '22.

但展望 24 財年，這就是我們提到的 6% 到 8%，這在很大程度上與硬件業務相關。需求方在這兩個方面都受到了挑戰。顯然，第三季度的情況比我們上半年看到的要好。但它穩定在一個較低的水平，遠低於 22 財年的水平。

And so we do expect there to be a change, and we do expect specifically in systems to see a much larger change than where we have been in FY '23 in terms of demand. But that intersection between that 6% to 8% total revenue headwind that we saw as recognition in '23 that will not be there in '24, that's the piece where we're hesitant to know exactly what point in '24 we'll see that change in the systems there.

因此，我們確實預計會發生變化，特別是在系統方面，我們確實預計在需求方面會出現比 23 財年更大的變化。但是，我們在 23 年認為 6% 到 8% 的總收入逆風之間的交叉點在 24 年不會出現，這就是我們猶豫不決的地方，我們不確定在 24 年我們會在哪一點看到系統的變化。

On the software side of the equation, we have seen great traction. Obviously, in the renewals as we mentioned, we have seen a challenging new environment so far. That will likely also change. But we are seeing that change likely come more in the form of SaaS revenue, which we'll not necessarily recognize in the same rate in FY '24 as what we've seen in our term-based agreements.

在軟件方面，我們看到了巨大的吸引力。顯然，在我們提到的更新中，到目前為止，我們已經看到了充滿挑戰的新環境。這也可能會改變。但我們看到，變化可能更多地以 SaaS 收入的形式出現，而我們在 24 財年不一定會以與我們在基於期限的協議中看到的相同的速度來認識到這一點。

And so it's too early to tell right now exactly how that will all play out. We'll have more to talk about that in the next -- on the next call, but that's the early indication and the way to reconcile some of the comments that we made.

因此，現在判斷這一切將如何發展還為時過早。我們將在下一次電話會議上討論更多內容，但這是早期跡象，也是協調我們所做的一些評論的方法。

Thank you, Frank. I would just add so that it's absolutely clear. When we talk about, Alex, the 6- to 8-point headwind, it's not demand headwind. We -- in fact, we expect demand next year in hardware to be higher than this year. But it is a shipment headwind that's impacting recognized revenue. So wanted to be clear about that.

謝謝你，弗蘭克。我只想補充一下，這樣就非常清楚了。亞歷克斯，當我們談論 6 到 8 點的逆風時，這不是需求逆風。事實上，我們預計明年的硬件需求將高於今年。但出貨逆風影響了已確認的收入。所以想澄清這一點。

So just to clarify, it sounds like you don't expect your software revenue to recover enough to offset the headwind on hardware. And it sounds like your hardware expectations for demand is less than the headwind as well. Are we thinking that the outlook should be fairly flat or even down on the revenues? Because that's the implication you're giving us on these commentary relative to the product side of the equation.

因此，澄清一下，聽起來您並不希望軟件收入恢復到足以抵消硬件方面的阻力。聽起來您對硬件的需求預期也小於逆風。我們是否認為收入前景應該相當平淡甚至下降？因為這就是您對這些與等式的產品方面相關的評論所給予我們的暗示。

Well, look, Alex, we're not ready to guide for 2024. We're -- what we've said about the 6- to 8-point headwind on total revenue is no different than we said last quarter. And it is simply math that we say, look, we want to make sure that one knows that the -- this year, given that we're shipping all of our backlog, we're shipping the equivalent of 6 to 8 points more of revenue than the demand we've had for -- from hardware. We're not ready to guide for where revenue would be in 2024, but it's clear that, that 6- to 8-point headwind is going to challenge growth for next year.

好吧，亞歷克斯，我們還沒有準備好為 2024 年提供指導。我們所說的總收入 6 到 8 個百分點的逆風與我們上季度所說的沒有什麼不同。我們說的這只是數學，看，我們希望確保人們知道，今年，考慮到我們正在運送所有積壓訂單，我們從硬件中運送的收入比我們的需求多了 6 到 8 個百分點。我們尚未準備好指導 2024 年的收入情況，但很明顯，6 到 8 個百分點的逆風將對明年的增長構成挑戰。

That being said, I also want to be clear, we have been on a march of double-digit earnings growth, and we want to remain on that march. You saw that we took a number of actions to drive earnings growth this year, and we're confident we'll achieve double-digit earnings growth. We had said from 2022 when we started with the supply chain challenges that we expected to work through these challenges in our model and start showing the improvements in the back half of 2023. And you're seeing this quarter gross margin made a step improvement as they -- we started to work out through these expensive components, and we have been quite disciplined around price realization with the price increases that we drove last year.

話雖這麼說，我也想澄清，我們一直在實現兩位數的盈利增長，並且我們希望繼續保持這種增長勢頭。您看到，我們今年採取了一系列行動來推動盈利增長，我們有信心實現兩位數的盈利增長。我們從 2022 年開始解決供應鏈挑戰時就說過，我們預計將在我們的模型中解決這些挑戰，並在 2023 年下半年開始展示改進。您會看到本季度的毛利率取得了逐步改善，因為我們開始解決這些昂貴的組件問題，而且我們在去年推動價格上漲的情況下，在價格實現方面一直非常嚴格。

And you saw also that operating margins made a 600 basis point jump sequentially. And we expect to continue this operating leverage next year. So this is the -- our plan on continuing to drive earnings growth.

您還看到，營業利潤率連續上漲了 600 個基點。我們預計明年將繼續保持這種運營槓桿。這就是我們繼續推動盈利增長的計劃。

Our next question is from Michael Ng with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Michael Ng。

I just have 2 questions. The first is on this trended software. It's clear you had strength in renewals and true-forwards. I think last quarter, there was some weakness in new deals. I was just wondering if you were seeing some improvements there and whether you think software revenue can grow in the September quarter? And then I just have a quick follow-up.

我只有 2 個問題。第一個是這個流行軟件。很明顯，你在續約和前鋒方面有實力。我認為上季度新交易出現了一些疲軟。我只是想知道您是否看到了一些改進以及您認為軟件收入是否可以在九月季度增長？然後我就進行快速跟進。

Sure, Michael. Thanks for the question. Yes, we did see an improvement in the new business activity, though it was still down from where we were a year ago. And so it was a positive sign to see, again, as Francois mentioned earlier, some of the irrationality come out of the buying behavior. Still many more deal approval levels than what we would have seen a year ago, but the deals are actually getting approved. So we're really happy to see that come through.

當然，邁克爾。謝謝你的提問。是的，我們確實看到新業務活動有所改善，儘管仍低於一年前的水平。因此，正如弗朗索瓦之前提到的，購買行為中出現了一些非理性，這是一個積極的跡象。交易批准水平仍比一年前高得多，但交易實際上正在獲得批准。所以我們很高興看到這一點的實現。

And we're obviously not guiding to a mix on software versus hardware sequentially. But we do have a lot of faith in the software business. Obviously, last quarter was a challenging quarter. This quarter came back closer to the expectations that we have for the business. And we'll talk more about the actual outcome next quarter.

我們顯然不會按順序引導軟件與硬件的混合。但我們確實對軟件業務充滿信心。顯然，上季度是充滿挑戰的季度。本季度更接近我們對業務的預期。我們將在下個季度更多地討論實際結果。

Great. And I just wanted to circle back on some of the double-digit earnings growth commentary. I think in the past, you guys have said you expect double-digit earnings growth for fiscal '24 as well, more so on cost cuts, recognizing the uncertainty on the top line. Is that still the case? And do you still expect at least 300 basis points of margin expansion next year?

偉大的。我只是想回顧一下一些關於兩位數盈利增長的評論。我想，你們過去曾說過，你們預計 24 財年的盈利也將實現兩位數增長，尤其是削減成本，因為你們認識到營收的不確定性。現在還是這樣嗎？您是否仍預計明年的利潤率將擴大至少 300 個基點？

Absolutely. So yes, Michael, when we made those comments, obviously, we had an outlook of 7% to 11%. We're higher now on EPS for where we're going to be in FY '23. We're really happy about that. Some of that is coming from the tax benefit. And so when we take a look at our pretax income for FY '24, it's certainly our aspiration to be double digit.

絕對地。所以，是的，邁克爾，當我們發表這些評論時，顯然我們的前景是 7% 到 11%。我們現在的每股收益高於 23 財年的水平。我們對此感到非常高興。其中一些來自稅收優惠。因此，當我們查看 24 財年的稅前收入時，我們的願望當然是達到兩位數。

How the things like tax and share repurchase and stock price as those share repurchases come into play, it's just too early to give any specific guidance further than that on FY '24. But we're really, really happy with the progress that we made, the leverage that we're seeing, particularly in our gross margins and operating margins. It's exactly what we thought was going to happen, and more to come on FY '24.

至於稅收、股票回購以及股票回購過程中的股價等因素如何發揮作用，現在給出比 24 財年更進一步的具體指導還為時過早。但我們對所取得的進展和所看到的槓桿作用感到非常非常滿意，特別是毛利率和營業利潤率。這正是我們所認為將會發生的事情，並且 24 財年還會發生更多事情。

If I go on the second part of the question around operating margins, look, we said we expected operating margins in 2024 to be around 33%. And we still feel that, that opportunity is there and we intend to drive to that.

如果我繼續討論關於營業利潤率的問題的第二部分，我們說我們預計 2024 年的營業利潤率將在 33% 左右。我們仍然認為，機會就在那裡，我們打算努力實現這一目標。

Due to time constraints, our last question is from Sebastien Naji with William Blair.

由於時間限制，我們的最後一個問題是塞巴斯蒂安·納吉和威廉·布萊爾提出的。

Can you maybe just talk a little bit about how competition for F5 has changed, particularly as you enter some of these new markets like API security, multi-cloud networking? And then maybe expand a little bit on some of the key points of differentiation as long to take share a few comments here.

您能否簡單談談 F5 的競爭發生了怎樣的變化，特別是當您進入 API 安全、多云網絡等一些新市場時？然後可能會稍微擴展一些差異化的關鍵點，只要在這里分享一些評論即可。

Yes. Can you just repeat the first part -- the beginning of the question?

是的。你能重複一下第一部分——問題的開頭嗎？

Yes. Just maybe could you talk a little bit about how competition has changed as you entered some of these new markets around API security, multi-cloud networking, et cetera?

是的。也許您能談談當您進入 API 安全、多云網絡等一些新市場時，競爭發生了怎樣的變化？

Yes. Thank you. So like -- so in API security, it's a nascent market. There are a few start-ups that are in the mix, but what -- a couple of things about API security. One is it is a big data problem because you have a lot of API -- companies are dealing with a lot of API calls, and detecting threat patterns requires really being able to find a needle in a haystack sometimes with sophisticated attackers. And so to really win in API security, you really have to have AI and ML capabilities as well as the capacity to mitigate these attacks.

是的。謝謝。就像——在 API 安全方面，這是一個新興市場。有一些初創公司參與其中，但有一些關於 API 安全性的事情。一是這是一個大數據問題，因為你有很多 API——公司正在處理大量 API 調用，而檢測威脅模式需要真正能夠大海撈針，有時對於老練的攻擊者來說。因此，要真正贏得 API 安全性，您確實必須擁有 AI 和 ML 功能以及緩解這些攻擊的能力。

And where F5 is differentiated is in our ability both to discover APIs and all the API patterns and then to protect against API attacks and mitigate potential attacks. And we're seeing that players that don't have the capabilities to do both don't have the same kind of competitive position. So that's where the landscape is in API security. And we're progressing quickly as well in the market now with distributed cloud.

F5 的與眾不同之處在於我們能夠發現 API 和所有 API 模式，然后防範 API 攻擊並減輕潛在攻擊。我們發現，不具備這兩點能力的玩家就沒有同等的競爭地位。這就是 API 安全的現狀。現在，我們在分佈式雲市場上也取得了快速進展。

In the multi-cloud networking space, it's again an emerging market, but we think it's going to grow rapidly because we're seeing most of our customers are now using multiple clouds. In our latest state of application security -- state of applications strategy report, we found that close to 90% of our customers are now using multiple clouds. And increasingly, they need to connect applications or portion of applications across these clouds.

在多云網絡領域，它又是一個新興市場，但我們認為它將快速增長，因為我們看到大多數客戶現在都在使用多雲。在我們最新的應用程序安全狀態——應用程序狀態策略報告中，我們發現近 90% 的客戶現在正在使用多個雲。他們越來越需要跨這些雲連接應用程序或部分應用程序。

And what we're seeing in the competitive landscape there is there are a couple of players that have capabilities to do that really at Layer 3, at the networking layers, maybe Layer 3, Layer 4. But we are seeing increasingly enterprise need not just Layer 3 to Layer 4 networking, but also Layer 7 security to really connect these applications securely, and one has to go with the other. And essentially, F5 is now with all of the integrations we've made on our Distributed Cloud, taking from our organic innovation and thinking from our acquisitions, from Shape and Threat Stack and Volterra and some capabilities from BIG-IP, we're essentially the only player today that can secure application and APIs across cloud, across any environment and connect these applications and APIs across cloud in any environment securely. And we think that, that is where this market is going to play out going forward. So we're pretty excited about our opportunity in the space.

我們在競爭格局中看到，有一些參與者有能力在第 3 層、網絡層（可能是第 3 層、第 4 層）真正做到這一點。但我們發現，越來越多的企業不僅需要第 3 層到第 4 層網絡，還需要第 7 層安全性來真正安全地連接這些應用程序，並且必須與另一個相結合。從本質上講，F5 現在與我們在分佈式雲上進行的所有集成相結合，得益於我們的有機創新和收購思維、Shape and Threat Stack 和 Volterra 以及 BIG-IP 的一些功能，我們本質上是當今唯一能夠跨雲、跨任何環境保護應用程序和 API 並在任何環境中跨雲安全地連接這些應用程序和 API 的參與者。我們認為，這就是這個市場未來的發展方向。因此，我們對這個領域的機會感到非常興奮。

Thank you. This concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。