甲骨文 (ORCL) 2007 Q2 法說會逐字稿

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Sun Microsystems fiscal year 2007 second quarter results release conference call. [OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Bret Schaefer, Vice President of Investor Relations of Sun Microsystems.

此刻，我想歡迎各位參加 Sun Microsystems 2007 會計年度第二季財報發布電話會議。[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS]現在我想把電話會議交給 Sun Microsystems 投資人關係副總裁 Bret Schaefer 先生。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining the Sun Microsystems quarterly conference call. I'm Bret Schaefer, Sun's Vice President of Investor Relations. With me today is Jonathan's Schwartz, Sun's CEO, and Michael Lehman, Sun's Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Corporate Resources. The purpose of today's call is to discuss the results of Sun's fiscal year 2007 second quarter, which ended on December 31, 2006. During the last hour, we published a copy of the operations analysis data sheet with nine quarters of financial and operations information, including the quarter just completed. If you have not received the announcement or the detailed financial data sheet for any reason, or you wish to hear a live broadcast of this conference call, you may log on to our website at sun.com/investors. We have posted slides you can view on the web which accompany our prepared remarks. These slides may be viewed at the same URL, sun.com/investors.

各位下午好。感謝各位參加 Sun Microsystems 的季度電話會議。我是 Bret Schaefer，Sun 的投資人關係副總裁。今天與我一同出席的有 Sun 的執行長 Jonathan Schwartz，以及 Sun 的財務長暨企業資源執行副總裁 Michael Lehman。今天電話會議的目的，是討論 Sun 2007 會計年度第二季（截至 2006 年 12 月 31 日止）的業績結果。在過去一小時內，我們已發布一份營運分析資料表，涵蓋九個季度的財務與營運資訊，包括剛結束的本季。若您因任何原因未收到公告或詳細財務資料表，或希望收聽本次電話會議的現場轉播，請登入我們的網站 sun.com/investors。我們已上傳可在網路上檢視的投影片，作為我們預先準備講稿的輔助。這些投影片可在相同網址 sun.com/investors 檢視。

The prepared remarks of our remarks today will last about 30 minutes, with the remaining 30 minutes devoted to the Q&A session. During the course of this conference call, we'll be making projections and other forward-looking statements regarding expected future financial results and business opportunities. Our actual future results may be very different from our current expectations. We encourage you to read the 10-Ks and 10-Qs that we file periodically with the SEC. These contain documents -- these documents contain a discussion of the risks facing our business, including factors that could cause these forward-looking statements not to come true. We do not currently intend to update these forward-looking statements. In addition, during the course of the conference call, we will describe certain non-GAAP financial measures, which should be considered in addition to and not in lieu of comparable GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the results call financial slides and the operations analysis posted on our website at sun.com/investors for the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and related reconciliation.

我們今天的預先準備講稿將約 30 分鐘，剩餘 30 分鐘將用於問答環節。在本次電話會議過程中，我們將就預期的未來財務結果與商機作出預測及其他前瞻性陳述。我們實際的未來結果可能與目前的預期大不相同。我們鼓勵各位閱讀我們定期向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交的 10-K 與 10-Q。這些文件——這些文件包含對我們業務所面臨風險的討論，包括可能導致這些前瞻性陳述無法實現的因素。我們目前無意更新這些前瞻性陳述。此外，在本次電話會議過程中，我們將說明若干非 GAAP 財務衡量指標，這些指標應與可比的 GAAP 財務衡量指標一併考量，而非取而代之。請參閱我們在 sun.com/investors 網站上發布的業績電話會議財務投影片與營運分析，以取得最直接可比的 GAAP 財務衡量指標及相關調節表。

Now let's get to the financials. Please note Q2 FY '07 is the first quarter with full quarter comparisons including StorageTek and SeeBeyond. Sun's total revenues for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007 were $3.566 billion, an increase of 7% as compared with the $3.337 billion in revenue reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2006. Total gross margin was 55.2% of revenue, an increase of 2.6 points over the gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal 2006. Total R&D and SG&A expenses were $1.485 billion, a decrease of $112 million year-over-year.

現在我們來看財務數據。請注意，2007 會計年度第二季（Q2 FY '07）是第一個包含 StorageTek 與 SeeBeyond 的完整季度、可進行完整季度比較的季度。Sun 2007 會計年度第二季總營收為 35.66 億美元，較 2006 會計年度第二季所報告的 33.37 億美元營收增加 7%。總毛利率為營收的 55.2%，較 2006 會計年度第二季毛利率提高 2.6 個百分點。研發（R&D）與銷售、一般及行政（SG&A）費用合計為 14.85 億美元，較去年同期減少 1.12 億美元。

In the second quarter of fiscal 2007, we recorded a $23 million tax provision. GAAP net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007 was $126 million or diluted earnings per share of $0.03 as compared with a net loss of $223 million or $0.07 per share for the second quarter of fiscal year 2006. Q2 products revenues totaled $2.260 billion, an increase of 7% year-over-year. Within products revenues, computer systems products revenue was $1.634 billion, an increase of 14% year-over-year. Data management or storage products revenue was $626 million, an increase of 7% year-over-year -- sorry, a decrease of 7% year-over-year. Q2 services revenue totalled $1.306 billion, up 6% year-over-year. Within services revenue, support services revenue was $1.001 billion, up 5% year over year . Revenue from professional services and educational services totaled $305 million. An increase of 11% year-over-year. With respect to some of the balance sheet items, DSO was 59 days. We ended the quarter with a cash and marketable debt securities balance of $4.837 billion and have generated positive cash flow from operations of $153 million in Q2. With that, I'll turn it over to Jonathan.

在 2007 會計年度第二季，我們認列了 2,300 萬美元的所得稅費用。依 GAAP 計算，2007 會計年度第二季淨利為 1.26 億美元，或稀釋後每股盈餘 0.03 美元；相較之下，2006 會計年度第二季為淨損 2.23 億美元，或每股虧損 0.07 美元。第二季產品營收合計 22.60 億美元，年增 7%。在產品營收中，電腦系統產品營收為 16.34 億美元，年增 14%。資料管理或儲存產品營收為 6.26 億美元，年增 7%——抱歉，是年減 7%。第二季服務營收合計 13.06 億美元，年增 6%。在服務營收中，支援服務營收為 10.01 億美元，年增 5%。專業服務與教育服務營收合計 3.05 億美元。年增 11%。就部分資產負債表項目而言，DSO 為 59 天。本季末現金與可出售債務證券餘額為 48.37 億美元，且第二季營運活動產生的現金流量為正 1.53 億美元。接下來我把時間交給 Jonathan。

Thank you, Bret, and hello to everyone. I'll start with the obvious and say I'm very pleased with our Q2 results, which show great progress against our overall turnaround plans, give concrete evidence to the market appeal and acceptance of our products and road maps, which all add up to growth in gross margin, as well as profitability. I'm going to briefly go through each of our four Ss, as we call them internally, servers, software, storage, and services then close with some color on the recent announcements of our partnership with Intel and the strategic investment in Sun by KKR.

謝謝你，Bret，也向各位問好。我先從顯而易見的開始：我對我們第二季（Q2）的結果非常滿意。這些結果顯示我們在整體轉型計畫上取得重大進展，也為市場對我們產品與產品路線圖的吸引力與接受度提供了具體證據；這些都帶來毛利率成長以及獲利能力。我將簡要說明我們內部所稱的四個 S：伺服器（servers）、軟體（software）、儲存（storage）與服務（services），最後再補充一些近期公告的內容，包括我們與 Intel 的合作夥伴關係，以及 KKR 對 Sun 的策略性投資。

In Q2, computer systems was clearly a highlight in what appears to be the fourth consecutive quarter of growth far faster than the market. Our SPARC server revenues grew more than 18% year-over-year, and the Niagara T1000 and T2000 servers continued to perform well, exceeding 125 million in sales, remembering a year ago we had only 16 million in sales. That's a great ramp. These chip multithreading systems are allowing us to move beyond our traditional installed base, as well as serve the needs of all corporate enterprises that need to save energy costs while boosting efficiency. Now, our UltraSPARC business continues to grow in size and value and we saw particular strength on the high end of that business, which grew 16% year-over-year.

在第二季（Q2），電腦系統業務顯然是一大亮點，這看起來是連續第四個季度的成長速度遠快於市場。我們的 SPARC 伺服器營收年增超過 18%，Niagara T1000 與 T2000 伺服器持續表現亮眼，銷售額超過 1.25 億美元；要記得一年前我們的銷售額只有 1,600 萬美元。這是非常出色的成長爬坡。這些晶片多執行緒系統讓我們得以超越傳統的既有裝機基礎，同時也能滿足所有企業客戶在提升效率的同時降低能源成本的需求。此外，我們的 UltraSPARC 業務在規模與價值上持續成長，我們在該業務的高階市場看到特別強勁的表現，年增 16%。

After the Niagara server line, our Sun Fire X64 platform servers continued to have the highest growth rate of our server lines, at more than 46% year-over-year. We expect the introduction of Intel's Xeon based systems running Solaris to broaden that portfolio and to provide yet more growth in margin opportunity. Again, within and now beyond our installed customer base. So with the recent tapeout of the industry's first Hexicore, that 16 core, 256 thread rock microprocessor, the next generation 64 ray Niagara 2 server is looking good and on schedule and one of the industries fastest growing X64 portfolio, we are very optimistic and we are operating from a position of strength.

在 Niagara 伺服器產品線之後，我們的 Sun Fire X64 平台伺服器仍是各伺服器產品線中成長率最高者，年增超過 46%。我們預期推出採用 Intel Xeon、並執行 Solaris 的系統，將擴大該產品組合，並帶來更多毛利成長機會。同樣地，這將在我們既有客戶裝機基礎之內，並進一步延伸到其之外。因此，隨著業界首款 Hexicore（六核心）完成 tapeout——也就是那顆 16 核心、256 執行緒的 Rock 微處理器——下一代 64 執行緒的 Niagara 2 伺服器進展良好且如期進行；再加上我們在業界成長最快的 X64 產品組合之一，我們非常樂觀，並且正以優勢地位運作。

Now in storage, we began shipping Thumper, the Sun Fire X4500 hybrid at the very end of Q2 and we're off to a good start. As I've suggested on prior calls, we're in the process of building out the next generation storage product line from Sun's server platforms along with Solaris and our ZSF virtualization technology. This strategy maximizes our return on engineering resources, improves our storage margin, and delivers to customers a common set of innovations with familiar interfaces. In Q2, we had a number of key wins with Thumper and web 2.0 companies, high performance computing installations, along with the financials services sector. We will continue to aggressively cross sell our current customer base, partner aggressively in areas not well served by this approach, and continue to develop the world's most efficient and cost effective storage lineup from taped to virtual tape to NAS and disk.

接著談儲存方面，我們在第二季（Q2）末開始出貨 Thumper，也就是 Sun Fire X4500 混合式系統，起步良好。如我在先前的電話會議中所提到，我們正以 Sun 的伺服器平台為基礎，結合 Solaris 與我們的 ZSF 虛擬化技術，打造下一代儲存產品線。此策略可最大化我們工程資源的投資報酬、提升儲存毛利率，並以熟悉的介面向客戶提供一套共同的創新。在第二季，我們透過 Thumper 在 web 2.0 公司、高效能運算（HPC）部署，以及金融服務產業等領域取得多項關鍵勝利。我們將持續積極對現有客戶基礎進行交叉銷售，在此方法較難有效服務的領域積極與夥伴合作，並持續開發全球效率最高、成本效益最佳的儲存產品陣容，涵蓋從磁帶到虛擬磁帶、到 NAS 與磁碟。

Now our services business was another bright spot in the second quarter, total services revenues were up 6% year-over-year with professional services and educational services up 11% year-over-year. We continue to see growth in the services business due to the increasing impact of our software business, and a desire by customers to leverage our expertise in mission critical infrastructure deployments. All of this was, of course, amplified by a strong systems and storage portfolio business with a natural service affinity.

目前我們的服務業務在第二季是另一個亮點，服務總營收年增 6%，其中專業服務與教育服務年增 11%。由於我們軟體業務影響力日益提升，以及客戶希望在關鍵任務基礎設施部署上運用我們的專業能力，我們持續看到服務業務成長。當然，這一切也因我們強勁的系統與儲存產品組合業務而被放大，該業務與服務具有天然的高度關聯性。

In terms of our software portfolio, perhaps the biggest news of Q2 wasn't explicitly financial. It was the open sourcing of all the core Java Technology intellectual property under the general public license, also known as the GPL, the same license underlying the new Linux. Already, we've seen a big search in both developer sentiment and wide scale adoption of the new Java platforms. Many of you have probably seen and may in fact be using Google's newest G-mail as well as Yahoo!'s new mobile applications. Both have elected to use Java as the foundation for their mobile applications.

就我們的軟體產品組合而言，第二季最大的消息或許並非直接與財務相關。那就是在通用公共授權條款（General Public License，亦稱 GPL）之下，將所有核心 Java 技術的智慧財產權開放原始碼；這也是新 Linux 所採用的同一套授權。我們已經看到開發者情緒以及新 Java 平台的大規模採用都出現大幅躍升。你們許多人可能已經看過，甚至正在使用 Google 最新的 G-mail，以及 Yahoo! 的新行動應用程式。兩者都選擇以 Java 作為其行動應用程式的基礎。

We fully anticipate that trend to continue, resulting in broader acceptance of Sun's technology on client devices, alongside further deployment in the network. This also gives us broad exposure to literally billions of mobile consumers across the world. That means developer platform also continues to grow nicely and sales of our core Java Middleware products and Java enterprise system offering are in-line with our expectations. Again, will be recognized over time and not as one-time licenses, but instead as recurring subscription fees.

我們完全預期這股趨勢將持續，進而使 Sun 的技術在用戶端裝置上獲得更廣泛的接受度，同時也在網路端進一步部署。這也讓我們能廣泛觸及全球數以十億計的行動消費者。這意味著開發者平台也持續良好成長，而我們核心 Java 中介軟體產品與 Java 企業系統方案的銷售表現符合我們的預期。同樣地，這些收入將隨時間認列，而非一次性授權收入，而是以經常性訂閱費的形式認列。

Growth of the Solaris eco system which is available in free binary and open source distribution continued its healthy trajectory in Q2, ending around 7 million licenses. While it didn't formally occur in Q2, I do want to take a moment to discuss yesterday's blockbuster announcement. Intel has agreed to embrace Solaris as a mainstream operating system, the default UNIX for Xeon and has signed an OEM agreement enabling Intel to distribute Solaris to its core customers. There could be no stronger confirmation of the strength of Solaris in the marketplace. Solaris is now unequivocally established as a leader in network infrastructure and not just on computers built by Sun, and certainly not just on SPARC but on systems that income microprocessors from AMD and Intel supplied by HP, Dell, and IBM. This covers the vast, vast majority of the market place and positions Sun exceptionally well to capitalize on that access.

Solaris 生態系在第二季持續保持健康成長；其提供免費二進位版本與開放原始碼發行版，期末約達 700 萬份授權。雖然這並未正式發生在第二季，但我想花點時間談談昨天那項震撼性的公告。Intel 已同意擁抱 Solaris 作為主流作業系統，將其作為 Xeon 的預設 UNIX，並簽署 OEM 協議，使 Intel 得以向其核心客戶散布 Solaris。這是對 Solaris 在市場上實力最有力的確認。Solaris 現在毫無疑問已確立為網路基礎設施的領導者，不僅僅是在 Sun 製造的電腦上，當然也不僅僅是在 SPARC 上，而是在由 HP、Dell 與 IBM 供應、採用 AMD 與 Intel 微處理器的系統上。這涵蓋了市場中極其、極其龐大的多數，並使 Sun 具備極佳的定位以把握這項觸及優勢。

The introduction of new Intel Xeon systems running Solaris in our systems portfolio is also a recognition of the incredible progress our computer systems team has made across both our UltraSPARC and X64 Sun Fire platforms. From a standing start a couple years ago, we're now a serious contender in the X64 space, gaining ground on competitors who must take notice, while we're growing margin and volume opportunities as well.

在我們的系統產品組合中導入運行 Solaris 的新 Intel Xeon 系統，也反映出我們電腦系統團隊在 UltraSPARC 與 X64 Sun Fire 平台上所取得的驚人進展。從幾年前幾乎是從零開始，如今我們已成為 X64 領域的重要競爭者，不斷從必須正視我們的競爭對手手中取得進展，同時也在擴大毛利與出貨量的機會。

We also announced today a private placement of $700 million in convertible notes with KKR. This is a strong endorsement of our strategy and our management team by one of the world's premier private equity firms. KKR has a great portfolio of companies, many relationships in the financial services sector, and fantastic strategic and M&A expertise, all of which we plan on leveraging. We intend to use the proceeds from this placement to pursue strategic opportunities for growth.

我們今天也宣布與 KKR 進行 7 億美元可轉換公司債的私募發行。這是全球頂尖私募股權公司之一，對我們策略與管理團隊的強力背書。KKR 擁有優秀的企業投資組合、在金融服務領域的多方關係，以及卓越的策略與併購（M&A）專業能力，我們計畫加以運用。我們打算將本次私募所得用於追求具策略性的成長機會。

So in sum, we're executing well. The market is endorsing our strategy and platforms, and there's a lot of momentum around Sun. In the last two days, we've announced a landmark Intel partnership, we've announced that one of the world's premier investments, KKR's is betting on Sun and our leadership team, and we've announced improving financial results. Our journey to deliver highly differentiated technologies, to drive accelerated growth, and to deliver double digit operating margins is well underway. I want to finally congratulate the team at Sun across the globe. It's great to be profitable again, gaining new customers, and certainly taking share. Focus, discipline, and execution matter and you now have proof, so let's go redouble those efforts. With that said and for more details and specifics, I would like to pass it over to my office mate, Mike Lehman, Chief Financial Officer.

總而言之，我們執行得很到位。市場正在認可我們的策略與平台，Sun 周圍也有很強的動能。在過去兩天內，我們宣布了一項具里程碑意義的 Intel 合作夥伴關係；我們宣布全球頂尖投資機構之一 KKR 正在押注 Sun 與我們的領導團隊；我們也宣布財務結果正在改善。我們致力於提供高度差異化技術、推動加速成長並實現兩位數營業利益率的旅程，已在穩步推進中。最後，我要向全球 Sun 團隊致上祝賀。再次恢復獲利、贏得新客戶，並且確實取得市占，令人振奮。專注、紀律與執行力很重要，而你們現在已經有了證明，所以讓我們加倍努力。接下來，為了更多細節與具體內容，我想把時間交給我的辦公室夥伴、財務長 Mike Lehman。

Thank you, Jonathan. As you can tell we are more than satisfied with the overall report card for the quarter and the results did exceed our internal expectations. The primary reason for overachievement was due to higher revenues than we had anticipated, mainly in our systems business, as well as higher gross margins. Total storage revenues were down slightly on a year-over-year basis, largely due to the fact that the former StorageTek business had a very strong December quarter last year. That was the final quarter in which their separate, independent compensation plan was in place before the sales force was integrated into Sun, and their annual incentives were quite strong. In addition, as noted earlier, our hybrid server storage product, also known as Thumper, began shipping this December, and revenues for that new product were in the range of $20 million. We expect the storage business and this particular product to perform even better in the second half of this fiscal year.

謝謝你，Jonathan。如你所見，我們對本季整體成績單非常滿意，且結果確實超出我們的內部預期。超標的主要原因是營收高於我們原先預期，主要來自系統業務，同時毛利率也更高。儲存業務總營收較去年同期略為下滑，主要是因為前 StorageTek 業務在去年 12 月季度表現非常強勁。那是他們在銷售團隊整合進 Sun 之前，仍採用獨立薪酬方案的最後一季，且其年度獎勵相當可觀。此外，如先前所提，我們的混合式伺服器儲存產品（亦稱 Thumper）於本次 12 月開始出貨，該新產品的營收約在 2,000 萬美元左右。我們預期儲存業務以及這項特定產品在本會計年度下半年將有更佳表現。

Currency had more of an impact on our results this quarter than in the recent past. Frankly, we don't see much impact from currency movements in our products business as pricing actions are taken each quarter to reflect not only currency movements, but changes in the competitive environment. The principal place where we experience currency impact is in EMEA and parts of Asia Pacific, where a portion of our service contracts are denominated in local currency, such as the euro or the pound or in yen. When these currencies strengthen versus the dollar, and they did quite noticeably in the December quarter, we experienced slightly higher dollar revenues. We also experience an increase in our gross margins; however, this impact is somewhat offset by increased expenses. It is not simple to quantify the impact on our income statement because we also hedge a portion of our projected net currency exposure. Having said that, we estimate that the positive impact of currency on our bottom line in Q2 '07 was in the range of $0.01 per share.

本季匯率對我們的結果影響較近期過去更大。坦白說，在我們的產品業務中，我們並未看到匯率波動帶來太大影響，因為每一季都會採取定價措施，以反映不僅是匯率變動，也包括競爭環境的變化。我們主要感受到匯率影響的地方是在 EMEA（歐洲、中東與非洲）以及亞太部分地區，因為我們部分服務合約以當地貨幣計價，例如歐元、英鎊或日圓。當這些貨幣相對美元走強時——而它們在 12 月季度確實明顯走強——我們以美元計的營收會略為提高。我們的毛利率也會上升；然而，這項影響會被費用增加所部分抵銷。要量化其對損益表的影響並不容易，因為我們也會對部分預估的淨匯率曝險進行避險。即便如此，我們估計匯率對 2007 會計年度第二季每股盈餘的正面影響約在 0.01 美元左右。

Turning to revenues by geography, you will note that revenues in the U.S. declined by approximately 4% on a year-over-year basis. While those in EMEA grew by approximately 9% and those in Asia Pacific by 20%. The lower growth in the U.S. is due to a couple of things. As noted above, the former StorageTek product line had a very strong December quarter a year ago, and most of the impact of that was evident in the U.S. Also, as we have mentioned over the past six months, we continued to lower the level of inventories in some of our channel partners as we improve our ability to ship with more predictable lead times. We lowered our U.S. channel inventories by approximately $20 million in Q2, and by approximately $40 million on a worldwide basis. We expect a to further reduce such channel inventories in the next couple of quarters. Our goal is that we end the fiscal year with approximately one week or so of inventory in these channel partners. We ended Q2 with just under four weeks of inventory on a worldwide basis.

接著看按地區劃分的營收，你會注意到美國營收較去年同期下降約 4%。而 EMEA 約成長 9%，亞太則成長 20%。美國成長較低有幾個原因。如前所述，前 StorageTek 產品線在一年前的 12 月季度表現非常強勁，而其影響多數反映在美國。此外，正如我們在過去六個月提到的，隨著我們提升以更可預測的交期出貨的能力，我們持續降低部分通路夥伴的庫存水位。我們在第二季將美國通路庫存降低約 2,000 萬美元，全球合計約降低 4,000 萬美元。我們預期在接下來幾個季度將進一步降低此類通路庫存。我們的目標是在本會計年度結束時，讓這些通路夥伴的庫存約維持在一週左右。我們在第二季結束時，全球合計的庫存水位略低於四週。

You should also note that our ending backlog of $1.021 billion was basically flat year-over-year and up 3% sequentially. Deferred revenues continued to exhibit the usual seasonal pattern. Such revenues grew 9% year-over-year and were down minimally sequentially. The yearly increase in deferred revenues reflects increases in both products and services revenues, which improves our predictability over the longer term. Our gross margin exceeded our expectations, partly due to the currency benefit noted above, but mostly due to a combination of cost reductions, increased efficiencies, and operational execution. We also saw improvement in the mix of midrange, UltraSPARC systems and software in the quarter.

你也應注意到，我們期末積壓訂單（backlog）為10.21億美元，基本上與去年同期持平，且較前一季增加3%。遞延收入持續呈現一貫的季節性型態。該等收入年增9%，按季僅小幅下降。遞延收入的年度增長反映產品與服務收入皆有所增加，這提升了我們在較長期的可預測性。我們的毛利率高於預期，部分原因是前述匯率帶來的利多，但主要是成本降低、效率提升與營運執行到位等因素的綜合作用。本季我們也看到中階（midrange）、UltraSPARC 系統與軟體的組合占比有所改善。

The market is always competitive, and we continue to see that across the product lines from the usual competitors. Having said that, we continue to win business based on the merits of our products and services, as we offer both innovation and choice to the market. Our improving financial results, including the market share gains that have been widely reported for the past few quarters have further opened doors of existing and new customers. We were particularly pleased with the improvement in our products gross margin, which was up 3.1% sequentially, which reflects the breadth and strength of our product lines and operational discipline. We experienced growth sequentially and year-over-year in the low end, the midrange, and the high end of our systems business.

市場一向競爭激烈，我們在各產品線上仍持續看到來自既有競爭對手的競爭。話雖如此，我們仍憑藉產品與服務本身的優勢持續贏得業務，因為我們為市場提供創新與選擇。我們改善的財務表現，包括過去幾季廣泛被報導的市占率提升，進一步為既有與新客戶打開了更多機會之門。我們對產品毛利率的改善尤其感到滿意，按季上升3.1%，反映我們產品線的廣度與實力，以及營運紀律。我們的系統業務在低階、中階與高階市場，無論按季或年對年皆呈現成長。

Operating expenses came in essentially in-line with our expectations, even with higher expenses related to increased revenues and the currency impact. We continue to work on our overall cost structure. To that end, we recorded restructuring charges associated with our previously-announced plans of approximately $26 million. We ended the quarter with approximately 34,600 employees, which is approximately 1,600 lower than the end of the September quarter. We are on track to achieve all cost savings outlined in our May '06 restructuring plan, and to continue to examine all opportunities to lower our cost structure.

營業費用基本符合我們的預期，即使在收入增加與匯率影響導致費用較高的情況下亦然。我們持續致力於改善整體成本結構。為此，我們就先前已宣布的計畫認列了約2,600萬美元的重整費用。本季末員工人數約為34,600人，較9月季度末約減少1,600人。我們正按計畫達成2006年5月重整計畫所列的所有成本節省目標，並將持續檢視一切降低成本結構的機會。

Turning to our income tax line, during Q2, our tax provision was favorably impacted by approximately 25 million, primarily due to a tax law change in Germany and final resolution of two state tax claims. As a result, the total tax charge in the quarter was $23 million. For the entire fiscal year, assuming no other unanticipated items occur, we now expect the annual provision to be in the range of 150 to 200 million. During Q2, we generated approximately 153 million in cash from operations. Frankly, we had expected to use cash during the quarter. The improvement is directly related to the higher revenues and slightly improved linearity, as well as outstanding collection efforts by our team.

接著談所得稅項目，在第二季，我們的稅費提列（tax provision）因約2,500萬美元的有利影響而下降，主要來自德國稅法變更，以及兩項州稅申索的最終結案。因此，本季的所得稅費用總額為2,300萬美元。就整個會計年度而言，假設未發生其他未預期事項，我們目前預期全年稅費提列將落在1.5億至2億美元區間。第二季我們自營運活動產生約1.53億美元現金。坦白說，我們原本預期本季會使用現金。改善主要直接來自較高的收入與線性度（linearity）略為提升，以及團隊出色的收款努力。

Our cash conversion cycle, which is a comprehensive measure of operating inflows and outflows improved by five days to 26 days on a year-over-year basis. We now expect to generate cash in both Q3 and Q4 and are on track to exceed our annual targets in that area as well. Overall, despite the fact that not all parts of the business are operating at peak efficiency, the quarter represented substantial progress towards our stated objective in Q4 of recording at least 4% operating income on a GAAP basis.

我們的現金轉換週期（cash conversion cycle），這是一項衡量營運現金流入與流出的綜合指標，年對年改善5天至26天。我們目前預期在第三季與第四季都能產生現金，且在該領域也正朝著超越年度目標的方向前進。整體而言，儘管業務並非所有部分都在最高效率下運作，本季仍代表我們朝著既定目標取得重大進展：在第四季以GAAP基礎認列至少4%的營業利益。

With regard to the current quarter, here's some of the factors that we have anticipated. With regard to revenues, we expect a seasonal sequential decline in revenues in the range of about 3 to 5%. This is in-line with our historical norms. We expect gross margin to be in the range of 42 to 44% for the quarter, reflecting the sequential revenue decline. We expect total operating expenses to be in the range of 1.45 to 1.5 billion for the March quarter. And finally, we expect the following to be reflected in our business model during the second half of the fiscal year. We expect amortization of intangibles of approximately $70 million per quarter, we expect approximately $60 million of stock-based compensation charges per quarter, we expect net interest income to be in the range of 40 to $50 million per quarter. As noted above, we now expect the total tax provision for the fiscal year to be in the range of 150 to $200 million, including the total first half provision of 57 million.

關於本季，以下是我們已預期的一些因素。就營收而言，我們預期將出現季節性的按季下滑，幅度約為3%至5%。這與我們的歷史常態一致。我們預期本季毛利率將落在42%至44%區間，反映按季營收下滑的影響。我們預期3月季度的總營業費用將落在14.5億至15億美元區間。最後，我們預期在本會計年度下半年，以下項目將反映在我們的商業模型中。我們預期無形資產攤銷每季約7,000萬美元；我們預期以股票為基礎的薪酬費用每季約6,000萬美元；我們預期淨利息收入每季約4,000萬至5,000萬美元。如前所述，我們目前預期本會計年度的稅費提列總額將落在1.5億至2億美元區間，其中包含上半年合計5,700萬美元的提列。

When you net out all the above, we are looking at a March quarter that is seasonally challenging. In terms of the Intel relationship, we do not expect it to have any noticeable impact on the current fiscal year. Our expectation is to deliver Intel-based systems in volume early in fiscal year '08. I will reiterate, we are on track to deliver Q4 operating income of at least 4% on a GAAP basis, and are firmly committed to a longer term operating margin of at least 10%. We have a lot of opportunity in front of us and are focused on taking full advantage of the momentum we have generated. With that, I will turn it back to Bret.

綜合以上各項因素，我們認為3月季度在季節性上將較具挑戰。就與Intel的合作關係而言，我們不預期其對本會計年度造成任何顯著影響。我們的預期是在2008會計年度初期開始大量交付以Intel為基礎的系統。我再重申一次，我們正按計畫在第四季以GAAP基礎達成至少4%的營業利益，並堅定承諾長期營業利益率至少達到10%。我們面前有許多機會，並專注於充分運用我們所累積的動能。接下來我把時間交還給Bret。

Thank you, Mike and Jonathan, before we begin the question-and-answer session, I'd like to request that each of you ask just one question consisting of one part. This way we hope to get to most of the questions in queue today. If there is time remaining, we'll be happy to take your follow-up questions. Michael, will you please start the question-and-answer session?

謝謝你，Mike和Jonathan。在開始問答環節之前，我想請各位每次只提出一個問題，且僅包含一個部分。如此我們希望今天能回答隊列中大多數的問題。若仍有時間，我們也很樂意回答各位的追問。Michael，請你開始問答環節，好嗎？

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Our first question comes from Andrew Neff with Bear Stearns.

[操作員指示] 我們的第一個問題來自Bear Stearns的Andrew Neff。

Thanks very much. I wonder if you could just take a second and take us through the thinking behind the KKR transaction. You're in a cash flow positive situation, your operating results are coming in good. We're looking at, but what's the thinking behind that? You don't necessarily need the cash here. Is there another agenda here? Can you give us a sense of that?

非常感謝。我想請你花點時間帶我們了解一下KKR交易背後的思考。你們目前是正向現金流，營運結果也表現良好。我們在看，但背後的考量是什麼？你們不一定需要這筆現金。是否還有其他目的？能否請你們說明一下？

Certainly. Why don't I talk on the strategic side and I'll let Mike talk through the financial aspects. Strategically, KKR certainly helped us raise awareness among a community that we think is pretty important, which is the financial services community, and frankly, they've got expertise and access to not only their portfolio companies, but across a line of opportunities we see in the marketplace. We fully intend on leveraging our balance sheet to the extent that we can to go after the marketplace. We don't have all of those skills inhouse, and frankly, it's helpful having a partner who's got the wisdom and skills and potentially access to assets that we wouldn't otherwise have. So we certainly don't need the money, it's an opportunistic transaction, and frankly, we're thrilled to have KKR participate in the business, and to the extent we can get a leg up out of it, we're certainly going to take advantage of it. Mike?

當然可以。不如我先從策略面談起，財務面的部分我再請Mike說明。在策略上，KKR確實協助我們在我們認為相當重要的一個社群中提升能見度，也就是金融服務社群；坦白說，他們不僅對其投資組合公司具備專業與資源，也能在我們於市場上看到的一系列機會中提供專業與管道。我們完全打算在可行的範圍內運用資產負債表，積極拓展市場。我們內部並不具備所有這些技能；坦白說，有一位夥伴擁有我們原本不一定具備的智慧、技能，並可能取得我們原本無法取得的資產，確實很有幫助。因此我們當然不需要這筆錢，這是一筆機會型交易；坦白說，我們很高興KKR能參與我們的業務，而只要我們能因此取得任何優勢，我們一定會加以運用。Mike？

I would echo all of that. The quick financial picture, as you can tell by looking at it, is that with a convertible debenture and exercising a call spread, as we have outlined, essentially this will be a mildly accretive transaction for us, just looking at the P&L if we simply hold the cash. Obviously over the longer term, we intend to grow the Company and Jonathan talked about we'll use it for strategic opportunities. But on day one, essentially it will be a mildly positive financial transaction as well.

我同意以上所有說法。就快速的財務概況而言，如你從數字上所見，透過可轉換公司債以及如我們所概述的執行買權價差策略，基本上，若僅從損益表角度、並假設我們只是持有現金不動，這對我們而言本質上將是一筆小幅增益（mildly accretive）的交易。當然，從較長期來看，我們打算成長公司，Jonathan 也談到我們會把它用於策略性機會。但在第一天，基本上這也會是一筆小幅正向的財務交易。

Next question.

下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Ben Reitzes with UBS.

下一個問題來自 UBS 的 Ben Reitzes。

Congratulations on the quarter. Could you talk about units versus mix, the unit growth of 1% in the quarter obviously is below the growth in computer systems, which was pretty solid. Obviously you're having positive mix and a resulting impact on gross margins. Can you just talk about the dynamics there and perhaps whether that can continue going forward? Thanks a lot.

恭喜本季表現。可否談談出貨單位數（units）相對於產品組合（mix）？本季單位成長 1% 顯然低於電腦系統的成長，而後者相當穩健。顯然你們的組合是正向的，並對毛利率帶來影響。能否談談其中的動態，以及這樣的趨勢未來是否可能延續？非常感謝。

I don't think we can necessarily predict where the unit volumes are going to end up or frankly where the mix is going to end up. I will say despite some of the other comments we've seen in the marketplace, we've seen strength across the line. And as we've continued to say, volume proceeds value. You're probably not going to make a lot of money on free software or a one way server, but it's certainly going to give you access to selling a 4-way, 8-way, or 32-way. And so I think some of the strength you've seen this past quarter is a reflection of our focus on volume in prior quarters but we obviously don't want to be biased in one direction or the other. We want to capture the overall markets.

我不認為我們一定能預測最終的出貨量會落在哪裡，坦白說也無法預測最終的組合會落在哪裡。但我要說，儘管我們在市場上看到一些其他評論，我們在各產品線上都看到強勁表現。而且如我們一直所說，先有量才有值（volume precedes value）。你大概不會在免費軟體或單路伺服器上賺到很多錢，但它確實能讓你有機會去銷售四路、八路或三十二路的產品。因此，我認為你們在本季看到的一些強勁表現，反映了我們在前幾季對出貨量的重點投入，但我們顯然不希望偏向任何一個方向。我們希望掌握整體市場。

Next question, please.

請下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Harry Blount with Lehman Brothers.

下一個問題來自 Lehman Brothers 的 Harry Blount。

Thanks. I just want to come back to the KKR question again. Still trying to understand the strategic opportunities that you're alluding to that you might pursue here. Jonathan, I appreciate some of the relationships that they may bring you, but certainly Sun has had a pretty good experience already and reputation in a lot of very high-profile customers. So I'm not sure I understand that part of the commentary either. If you could expand on the strategic side a little bit and then the rationale some more?

謝謝。我想再回到剛才關於 KKR 的問題。我仍在試著理解你們所提到、可能會在此追求的策略性機會。Jonathan，我理解他們可能帶來的一些關係，但 Sun 在許多非常高知名度的客戶那裡，顯然已經有相當好的經驗與聲譽。所以我也不太理解那部分的評論。你能否再多談一些策略面的內容，以及更多的交易理由？

Again, it's an opportunistic, and as Mike outlined, pretty much no down-side transaction for Sun. We're interested in leveraging the access and the opportunity. And by all means, I agree with you. I think we've got a great reputation among the financial services community, but it can always be better, and frankly, we can always have more customers. We serve a very small portion of the overall financial services marketplace. Again, this transaction isn't just about going after financial services companies, it's about looking at all the market opportunities and making sure we have all the right wisdom and expertise and potentially assets around the table. There's no one definitive reason for the transaction other than it represented a good opportunity and we wanted to take advantage of it.

再說一次，這是一筆機會型交易，而且如 Mike 所概述，對 Sun 幾乎沒有下行風險。我們有興趣去運用這樣的接觸管道與機會。而且我完全同意你的看法。我認為我們在金融服務社群中有很好的聲譽，但它永遠可以更好，坦白說，我們也永遠可以有更多客戶。我們目前服務的只占整體金融服務市場的一小部分。同樣地，這筆交易不只是為了鎖定金融服務公司，而是要檢視所有市場機會，並確保我們在桌上擁有正確的智慧與專業，並可能還有資產。這筆交易沒有單一明確的理由，除了它代表了一個很好的機會，而我們希望把握它。

Next question, please.

請下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Laura Conigliaro with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自 Goldman Sachs 的 Laura Conigliaro。

Yes. Given the progress you've already made on the operating margin side, how is it that you're actually going to be able to stick with your 4% targets exiting fiscal '07? It really looks pretty logical that you could comfortably be well ahead of that. And even more, what would it take to actually get you to 10%, which seems quite plausible at this point maybe exiting the calendar year? When is a more likely time frame for an achievable 10% operating margin target?

是的。鑑於你們在營業利益率方面已經取得的進展，你們要如何仍然能堅持在 2007 會計年度結束時達成 4% 的目標？看起來相當合理，你們其實可以很輕鬆地大幅超前該目標。更進一步，若要達到 10% 需要什麼條件？以目前情況看起來，可能在今年曆年結束時就相當可行。那麼，較可能達成 10% 營業利益率目標的時間點會是何時？

I was just waiting to make sure that you were finished with your one-part question. I will attempt to answer as much of that as I can, keep in mind we do have an analyst day coming up in February when we'll all be able to spend more time together. But keep in mind that we have said over and over that we intend the deliver at least 4% operating margin in Q4. That is our goal. We've got 34,000 plus employees focused on that. From our perspective, we've now delivered significant progress towards that, a couple quarters early. That's good. Having said that, we still have a lot ahead of us. I mentioned that not everything is running at peak efficiency and we'll continue to work on that. So we're not here today to give nearer term guidance on changes in next year's business model. We're focused on doing as much as we can the next couple of quarters. Next question, please.

我剛剛是在等你確認你的一題多問已經問完了。我會盡量回答我能回答的部分；也請記得我們二月會有分析師日，屆時我們都能有更多時間一起深入討論。但請記得，我們一再表示，我們的目標是在第四季交付至少 4% 的營業利益率。那是我們的目標。我們有超過 34,000 名員工都在專注於此。就我們的角度來看，我們現在已經在朝該目標取得顯著進展，而且還提早了幾季。這是好事。話雖如此，我們前面仍有很多工作要做。我提到過，並非所有事情都在最高效率下運作，我們會持續改善。因此，我們今天不會提供更短期、關於明年商業模式變動的指引。我們專注於在接下來幾季盡可能做到最好。請下一個問題。

Your next question comes from Keith Bachman with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Keith Bachman。

Hi, guys. Mike, I was hoping to go back to gross margins for a second. Very nice performance there. Just want to review the puts and takes. I know you said that FX contributed about $0.01 per share and just my quick math guessed that that's almost 100 basis points, but you're still above 44%. I just wanted to understand some of the puts and takes there and specifically against your guiding down in the March quarter and in the past, volume variances hasn't necessarily impacted the gross margin. So I just wanted to get some more color on the gross margins, since that was, at least relative to our model the real outstanding part of the quarter.

嗨，各位。Mike，我想回到毛利率再談一下。表現非常好。我想回顧一下其中的拉抬與抵銷因素。我知道你說匯率（FX）約貢獻每股 0.01 美元，我快速算了一下，猜測那幾乎是 100 個基點，但你們仍高於 44%。我想了解其中的拉抬與抵銷因素，特別是相對於你們對三月季度的下修指引；而且過去出貨量的變動不一定會影響毛利率。所以我想請你再多提供一些毛利率的細節，因為至少相對於我們的模型，這是本季最突出的部分。

I'll try to be brief on that. Certainly currency had a benefit in the second quarter, and we don't necessarily want to forecast a continued tail wind from currency as we go forward. We do see a volume impact in the fiscal third quarter, typically, certainly in the services business as there are lower revenues over a, traditionally a more stable cost base. We see it a bit on the systems side in that quarter as well. So typically, we do see that. I also alluded to the fact that we had a higher mix of midrange and high end servers in the second quarter and software. We had a lot of things go our way in that quarter, and we don't necessarily want to predict that everything will go our way every quarter. So lots of opportunity out there, but in planning our business, we think the range that I referred to is more realistic going forward.

我會盡量簡短說明。第二季匯率確實帶來助益，而我們不一定希望在往後預測匯率會持續帶來順風。我們確實在會計年度第三季看到量的影響，通常尤其在服務業務上，因為在傳統上較穩定的成本基礎下，營收會較低。在該季度的系統業務端也會看到一些影響。所以一般而言，我們確實會看到這種情況。我也提到過，第二季我們的中階與高階伺服器以及軟體的組合占比更高。那一季有很多因素對我們有利，而我們不一定想預測每一季都會事事順利。因此，市場上仍有很多機會，但在規劃我們的業務時，我們認為我所提到的區間在未來會更為務實。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Bill Shope with JP Morgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通（JP Morgan）的 Bill Shope。

Okay, great. Thanks. On the Intel transaction, I understand that you're not going to see any benefit this fiscal year, but beyond this fiscal year, do you believe it will allow you to generate any material procurement savings? And then also, can you give us an idea of how you're going to differentiate your marketing to customers, including Intel versus AMD platforms going forward?

好的，很好。謝謝。關於與英特爾（Intel）的交易，我了解本財年你們不會看到任何效益，但在本財年之後，你們是否認為這將使你們能夠產生任何實質性的採購節省？另外，你們能否說明一下，未來你們將如何針對客戶（包括 Intel 平台與 AMD 平台）進行差異化行銷？

Sure. Again, thank you for the one-part question there. Just to make everyone -- to make this clear, we're augmenting our existing very rapidly growing if you look at the numbers this quarter product line with Intel. We're operating from a position of strength, both with respect to the adoption of Solaris as well as the appeal of the products we're delivering. The margins are going up because we're delivering value. Now how are we going to differentiate the marketing between AMD and Intel? Frankly, that's what AMD and Intel have the luxury of doing. We're going to differentiate based on the systems value proposition we can build into it. Because again, we can leverage an operating system as well as systems engineering and larger scale systems that some of the other vendors can't. So for us, adding Intel to the product mix means we have access to obviously all of the Intel OEM customers out there, both HP and Dell server customers, and although we had access to them before, this really changes the manner in which we can go forward and drive that business. And that just opens the doors to a whole complement of the different businesses we're in. So this isn't about replacing microprocessors or substituting or getting a better purchasing efficiencies. It's about getting access to markets that are interested in investing in the products and innovations that we can build.

當然。再次感謝你把問題分成一個部分來問。為了讓大家——把這點說清楚：如果你看本季的數字，我們是在既有、且成長非常快速的產品線上，加入 Intel 來加以擴充。無論是在 Solaris 的採用度，或是我們所交付產品的吸引力方面，我們都是在優勢地位下運作。毛利率上升是因為我們交付了價值。那我們要如何在 AMD 與 Intel 之間做行銷差異化？坦白說，那是 AMD 和 Intel 才有餘裕去做的事。我們會依據我們能建立的系統價值主張來做差異化。因為同樣地，我們可以運用作業系統、系統工程能力，以及更大規模的系統，這是其他一些供應商做不到的。因此，對我們而言，把 Intel 納入產品組合，意味著我們顯然可以接觸到所有 Intel 的 OEM 客戶，包括 HP 與 Dell 的伺服器客戶；雖然我們以前也能接觸到他們，但這確實改變了我們未來推進並帶動該業務的方式。而這也為我們所涉足的各種業務打開了整套大門。所以這不是在談替換微處理器、或彼此替代、或取得更好的採購效率。而是在於進入那些有興趣投資於我們能打造之產品與創新的市場。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Tony Sacconaghi with Sanford Bernstein.

下一個問題來自 Sanford Bernstein 的 Tony Sacconaghi。

Yes, thank you. Can you comment on the performance in the U.S. business? I understand the adjustments that you put forth to account for it, but if you add $20 million and you put the storage businesses flat year-over-year and say 50% of it is from the U.S., you still have the U.S. business down year-over-year. You also had a much smaller backlog build than you typically have in the second quarter. So was there anything specific to the U.S. that, beyond the two factors that you mentioned that didn't meet your expectations or might account for some of the regional disparity in performance?

是的，謝謝。你能評論一下美國業務的表現嗎？我理解你們提出用以調整的因素，但如果你加回 2,000 萬美元，並假設儲存業務年對年持平、且其中 50% 來自美國，你的美國業務仍然是年對年下滑。你們第二季的積壓訂單（backlog）增加也比你們通常的情況小得多。所以，美國是否有任何特定因素——除了你提到的兩個因素之外——沒有符合你們的預期，或可解釋一些區域表現差異？

The answer is yes. And one of the other, not quite peak efficiencies that we experienced in the quarter was that we did combine some of the Legacy StorageTek front end systems with those of Sun. That's one of the smaller pieces of our longer term systems implementation plan. It didn't go wonderfully smoothly in the beginning. It took a while, and frankly, that affected the storage business as much as anything in the quarter. That's now behind us, and we should be able to operate much more efficiently this quarter.

答案是有。而我們在本季經歷的另一個、尚未達到尖峰效率的部分是：我們確實把部分傳統的 StorageTek 前端系統與 Sun 的前端系統做了整合。那是我們較長期系統導入計畫中的一個較小環節。一開始進行得並不算非常順利。花了一些時間，坦白說，這對本季的儲存業務影響很大，幾乎是主要影響因素之一。現在這已經過去了，本季我們應該能以更高效率運作。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Your next question comes from Richard Gardner with Citigroup.

[操作員指示] 下一個問題來自花旗集團（Citigroup）的 Richard Gardner。

Thank you. I wanted to go back to the earlier question on server mix. Second consecutive quarter where server ASPs and mix look like they're up pretty significantly year-over-year. Second quarter where you've talked about better than expected mix in the midrange and the high end. I'm just wondering if that's a conscious push by Sun, whether it's a shift in customer buying behavior? What exactly do you think is fueling this significant increase in mix and whether you feel like it's sustainable?

謝謝。我想回到先前關於伺服器組合的問題。這是連續第二個季度，伺服器 ASP（平均售價）與產品組合看起來年對年都顯著上升。也是第二個季度你們提到中階與高階的組合優於預期。我想知道這是否是 Sun 有意識的推動，或是客戶採購行為的轉變？你認為究竟是什麼在推動這個組合的顯著提升？以及你覺得這是否可持續？

I guess a few points to make on to there. First and foremost, we have certainly seen accelerating growth in the systems business. We're seeing our ability to get access in the marketplace really improving. That's with the addition of the AMD product into the product line, the adoption of Solaris across all the disparate accounts. This to us isn't just about selling into our installed base anymore. Obviously given the numbers we're posting here, we're gaining share and it's got to come at somebody's expense. It's not just that the overall market is growing at that rate, it's certainly not.

我想有幾點可以說明。首先也是最重要的，我們確實看到系統業務的成長正在加速。我們看到我們在市場上取得切入的能力確實在改善。這得益於把 AMD 產品加入產品線，以及 Solaris 在各個不同客戶帳戶中的採用。對我們而言，這不再只是賣給既有裝機基礎而已。顯然，從我們在這裡公布的數字來看，我們正在取得市占，而這必然是以某些人的份額為代價。並不是整體市場以那樣的速度在成長，當然不是。

The reason I ask though, Jonathan, is that the unit growth has been pretty anemic for the past few quarters, but the revenue growth has been great.

不過我之所以這樣問，Jonathan，是因為過去幾個季度的出貨量成長相當疲弱，但營收成長卻很亮眼。

And I think we're not as -- look, we'd love to see more unit volume growth that just presents opportunity going forward, but we're going to win the business that we can get access to. I think we're certainly more focused on getting more and better unit volumes in the low end, but we're also pretty happy with the performance and the value we've been able to deliver on the top end. I would like to see stronger unit volume growth. I would like to see that low end business continue to drive out. It's not that we necessarily expect that to have a positive impact on margins, but it, again, as we showed this quarter, does have a positive impact on opportunity. And it's up to us to execute against that.

我想我們並沒有那麼——你看，我們當然希望看到更多的出貨量成長，因為那會在未來帶來機會，但我們會贏下我們能夠取得切入的業務。我認為我們確實更專注於在低階市場取得更多、也更好的出貨量，但我們也對我們在高階端的表現，以及我們能交付的價值感到相當滿意。我希望看到更強的出貨量成長。我希望低階業務能持續擴展。並不是說我們必然預期那會對毛利率帶來正面影響，但它——同樣地，如同我們本季所展示——確實會對機會帶來正面影響。而這取決於我們去執行到位。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Rebecca Runkle with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）的 Rebecca Runkle。

Just curious if you could extrapolate or explain a little bit more as it relates to the cash proceeds from KKR. You're currently emphasizing acquisitions, and curious whether or not that same comment translates over to your overall cash balance and/or we could start to see some buybacks given the improvement in the operational performance that we've seen over the last few quarters?

我只是好奇，你是否可以推演或再多解釋一點，關於來自 KKR 的現金收入。你們目前強調併購，我也想知道這樣的說法是否同樣適用於你們整體的現金餘額；以及/或者，鑑於過去幾季我們看到營運表現改善，我們是否可能開始看到一些庫藏股回購？

So as Jonathan mentioned and as I echoed, we clearly are more interested in growing the Company. We will address the whole notion of return to shareholders from the standpoint of buybacks or other things as we get toward the end of this fiscal year. We're not ready to go do anything different at this point. So no near term change in our current philosophy. We will continue to evaluate our growth opportunities more than stock buybacks.

如同 Jonathan 提到、我也呼應的，我們顯然更有興趣讓公司成長。至於以庫藏股回購或其他方式回饋股東的整體概念，我們會在接近本財年年底時再來處理。我們目前還沒準備好去做任何不同的事情。所以短期內我們現行的理念不會改變。相較於股票回購，我們會持續更優先評估成長機會。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Ben Reitzes with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀（UBS）的 Ben Reitzes。

Thanks for getting me in again. Software, Jonathan, how did it do in the quarter. Last quarter, I think you said 17%. And then could you just talk about the momentum for Solaris you might be seeing against Linux and how that's trending in your business?

感謝再次讓我提問。Jonathan，軟體業務這一季表現如何？上季我記得你說是 17%。另外，你能否談談你們看到 Solaris 相對於 Linux 的動能，以及在你們業務中的趨勢？

So on a revenue basis I think we were up 2% year-over-year and again, that's somewhat disguised by the deferred revenue that we get in as a result of our collecting the business in the form of a subscription rather than in the form of a license. Again, you can see some of the deferred revenue growth in those numbers.

以營收為基礎來看，我想我們年增約 2%，而且這在某種程度上被遞延收入所掩蓋，因為我們以訂閱形式而非授權形式來收取業務款項。同樣地，你可以從這些數字中看到部分遞延收入的成長。

In terms of Solaris versus Linux, it's not versus Linux, it's really versus any other mainstream operating system out there and Linux represents a collection of operating systems in which Red Hat is clearly the leader. But it's also compared to HP, REX, and AIX and a variety of others. The fact that we're at 7 million licenses distributed in the past 24 months or so, I think that's probably more licenses than HP and IBM have distributed in the history of their companies combined. We're definitely seeing an upsurge, we're seeing it grow, and I think in part that's what allowed Paul to endorse and embrace Solaris to the extent that he did yesterday during the Intel announcement, and really opens the doors, not only to our computing business, but our software business, and our storage business.

就 Solaris 與 Linux 而言，並不是對上 Linux，而是對上任何其他主流作業系統；而 Linux 代表一系列作業系統，其中 Red Hat 顯然是領導者。但也會拿來與 HP、REX、AIX 以及其他多種系統比較。我們在過去約 24 個月發放了 700 萬份授權，我想這可能比 HP 與 IBM 兩家公司在其公司歷史中合計發放的授權還多。我們確實看到採用度上升、看到成長；我認為部分也正因如此，Paul 才會在昨天的 Intel 發表中，如此程度地背書並擁抱 Solaris，這也真正為我們的運算業務、軟體業務與儲存業務打開大門。

I'm very happy with the adoption of Solaris. I think we have to continue working on ensuring we connect that into financial opportunity for Sun. It's all well and good to be popular, but we would like to be successful as well. And that's certainly an area of focus. So in general, I think the numbers on the Java enterprise system side, they're in-line with expectations. We would always like to see that line grow a little bit more aggressively. We certainly think there's opportunity out there for us and both the adoptions of Java, NetBeans, and Solaris are leading indicators of that opportunity. We got to get after and making sure we close them.

我對 Solaris 的採用度非常滿意。我認為我們必須持續努力，確保能把這些連結到 Sun 的財務機會上。受歡迎固然很好，但我們也希望能成功。這當然是我們的重點領域。整體而言，我認為 Java Enterprise System 這一塊的數字符合預期。我們一向希望那條線能更積極地成長一些。我們確實認為市場上有機會，而 Java、NetBeans 與 Solaris 的採用都是這些機會的領先指標。我們必須積極推進，確保把它們拿下。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Your next question comes from Tony Sacconaghi with Sanford Bernstein.

[接線員指示] 下一個問題來自 Sanford Bernstein 的 Tony Sacconaghi。

Yes, thank you again. Could you just update us on where you are in terms of the workforce reductions? I think you had mentioned at the end of last quarter your progress in terms of positions eliminated. Could you just give us a sense on positions eliminated if appropriate in fiscal Q2 and where you are versus your original target of about 4,000?

是的，再次感謝。你能否更新一下你們在人力縮減方面的進度？我記得你在上季末提到已裁撤職位的進展。若適合的話，能否說明一下在 202 財年第二季裁撤了多少職位，以及相較於你們原先約 4,000 人的目標目前進度如何？

Yes. I apologize that I wasn't clear. I said our head count was down by about 1,600 from Q1 to Q2. That's basically in-line with what we had expected. And we expect to continue towards the overall number that we talked about. Again, we're not focused so much on a particular head count number as we are in terms of cost reductions and taking cost and process redundancy out of our systems. So we certainly are on track, as I mentioned, with all of our cost reduction efforts and did reduce head count by about 1,600 in the second quarter.

好的。抱歉我先前沒有說清楚。我說的是我們的人數從 Q1 到 Q2 減少了約 1,600 人。這基本上符合我們的預期。我們也預期會持續朝我們談到的整體數字前進。同樣地，我們並不那麼著重於某個特定的人數數字，而是著重於成本降低，以及把成本與流程的重複性從我們的系統中移除。因此，正如我提到的，我們所有的降本努力都在軌道上，並且在第二季將人數減少了約 1,600 人。

And I think just to amplify that, any success we have on the topline and on the margin line is not going to suggest or encourage that we get distracted from taking the cost out. We're very committed to making sure we get the cost out, as well as we grow the operating leverage of the Company. And again, I think Q2 showed good progress, but obviously we still have more to do.

我想再補充一下，我們在營收端與毛利端的任何成功，都不代表或鼓勵我們因此分心而不去降成本。我們非常致力於確保把成本降下來，同時提升公司的營運槓桿。同樣地，我認為 Q2 顯示了不錯的進展，但顯然我們還有更多要做。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Laura Conigliaro with Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自 Goldman Sachs 的 Laura Conigliaro。

Thank you again. For most companies, moving some volume from AMD to Intel while having real strategic value would probably represent something of a margin hit. What kind of impact should we expect in your case, and why would it be different in your case? And then maybe you can give us some updates as you've done in the past on what's going on in the world of component costs.

再次感謝。對大多數公司而言，在具有真正策略價值的同時，把部分出貨量從 AMD 轉到 Intel，通常可能會對毛利造成一些衝擊。在你們的情況下，我們應該預期什麼樣的影響？為什麼你們的情況會不同？另外，也許你們可以像過去一樣，更新一下零組件成本方面的情況。

So maybe I'll talk to the Intel/AMD opportunity first. Let me be very clear here. We're not moving opportunities from one vendor to the next. We're expanding our product line and going after the total market, rather than only the market made accessible by one microprocessor supplier. This is all about adding strength to a growing business. It's not about displacing one supplier with another and so maybe on the component cost, I'll turn it over to Mike.

那我先談談 Intel/AMD 的機會。我在這裡要非常清楚。我們不是把機會從一個供應商移到另一個供應商。我們是在擴充產品線、爭取整體市場，而不是只做由單一微處理器供應商所能觸及的市場。這完全是為了強化一個正在成長的業務。這不是用一個供應商取代另一個；至於零組件成本，我把問題交給 Mike。

Again, component cost reductions are going to happen. Vendor competition is part of it. We will now see that in the microprocessor space as well as in the other component costs that we look at across the board, including memory and others.

同樣地，零組件成本下降是一定會發生的。供應商競爭是其中一部分。我們現在也會在微處理器領域看到這點，同時也會在我們全面關注的其他零組件成本上看到，包括記憶體等。

Maybe just to make one other quick point on the Intel announcement, Paul and I were both amusing yesterday that the headline seemed to focus on a chip sale or a vendor supplier customer relationship. And both of us had kind of expected quite the opposite, which is that folks would understand this is a comprehensive relationship around the endorsement and an OEM agreement that promotes Solaris into the Intel installed base and certainly to collaborate on systems design and then as much as possible to go work together on identifying innovations that the two companies could almost uniquely build together, because we have a pretty broad expertise shared between the two of us. This was -- certainly round one of media coverage said we are going to put some Intel chips in our systems and while we're certainly going to be doing that and we're happy about it, but we also believe that the strategic nature of the deals just opens a lot of doors, and frankly, for both of us. And we think there's just a -- that's where the opportunity is for the both of us.

再就 Intel 的公告補充一點：Paul 和我昨天都覺得有點好笑，因為媒體標題似乎聚焦在晶片銷售或供應商—客戶關係上。而我們兩個原本預期恰恰相反，也就是大家會理解這是一個全面性的合作關係，包含背書與 OEM 協議，把 Solaris 推廣到 Intel 的既有裝機基礎中，並且在系統設計上合作；此外也會盡可能一起找出兩家公司幾乎能夠獨特共同打造的創新，因為我們彼此之間共享相當廣泛的專業。媒體第一輪報導當然說我們要在系統中採用一些 Intel 晶片；我們確實會這麼做，也很高興，但我們也相信這些交易的策略性本質會打開很多大門，坦白說，對我們雙方都是如此。我們認為機會就在這裡——對我們兩方而言都是。

One other quick note in follow-up to Tony's question for those listening. We are down in head count about 3,700 from Q3 a year ago and about 3,400 plus from Q4 a year ago, and we obviously started looking at our cost structure in the fourth quarter. So even compared to the 4,000 number, we're pretty well along towards that, and as I said, it's a cost structure that's most important to us.

再補充一點，回應 Tony 的問題，給正在收聽的各位：我們的人數相較於去年 Q3 減少約 3,700 人，相較於去年 Q4 減少約 3,400 多人，而我們顯然是在第四季開始檢視我們的成本結構。因此即使以 4,000 這個數字來看，我們也已經相當接近；如我所說，對我們而言最重要的是成本結構。

Next question, please.

下一個問題，請。

Your next question comes from Keith Bachman with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Keith Bachman。

Hi, guys, thanks for fitting me in again. On the data storage side, Mike, you commented on your seasonal patterns. But could you comment on the seasonal patterns associated with data storage since StorageTek has different patterns plus Thumper seems to be ramping. Can you give any color there on what you're anticipating for March?

嗨，各位，謝謝再次把我安排進來。在資料儲存方面，Mike，你提到你們的季節性模式。但你能否評論一下與資料儲存相關的季節性模式，因為 StorageTek 的模式不同，而且 Thumper 似乎正在加速爬坡。你能否就你們對三月的預期提供一些說明？

I don't necessarily want to give a Thumper or product line description. The only thing I would say is that hopefully we won't have as much of a seasonal impact in storage as we certainly saw last year in the March quarter following on the StorageTek large December quarter.

我不一定想對 Thumper 或產品線做說明。我唯一想說的是，希望儲存業務不會像去年那樣受到那麼大的季節性影響；去年三月季度是在 StorageTek 十二月季度大幅成長之後。

Next question, please.

請下一題。

Your next question comes from Andrew Neff with Bear Stearns.

下一個問題來自 Bear Stearns 的 Andrew Neff。

Just want to clarify something, just on the math. If your book to bill was greater than one, how is it that your backlog went down in the quarter? Could you go through the math on that?

我只是想釐清一件事，關於數學計算。如果你們的接單出貨比（book-to-bill）大於 1，為什麼你們的未交訂單（backlog）在本季反而下降？你能帶我們走一遍這個計算嗎？

I believe backlog is slightly up, Andy.

我認為未交訂單是略為上升的，Andy。

Sequentially?

以季對季來看？

Yes, sequentially, it's up just a few percent, Andy.

是的，以季對季來看，上升了幾個百分點而已，Andy。

Okay, sorry. My mistake.

好的，抱歉。是我弄錯了。

Next question.

下一題。

Your next question comes from Richard Gardner with Citigroup.

下一個問題來自 Citigroup 的 Richard Gardner。

Hi, thanks again. I was wondering if you could give us some color on how Niagara is fairing versus your expectations? You had a very quick ramp right out of the gate from 0 to 100 million, but you've been stuck at 100 to 126 or so million for the last three quarters in a row. Can you talk about how customer uptick has been for that platform versus expectation, and maybe give any sense of what conversion rates are from eval units into broad based deployments?

嗨，再次感謝。我想請你們提供一些說明，Niagara 的表現相較於你們的預期如何？你們一開始從 0 很快爬升到 1 億美元，但過去連續三個季度都卡在約 1 億到 1.26 億美元左右。你能談談該平台的客戶採用增長（uptick）相較於預期如何，並且大概說一下從評估機（eval units）轉換為大規模部署的轉換率嗎？

The conversion rate from eval units to deployment is very high, and I don't have the numbers in front of me, but its the majority convert from being an evaluated unit into deployment. The question is how quickly are those deployments going to absorb workloads coming onto the network. So on the one hand, getting from 0 to 125 million, we're pretty happy with the progress we're making. We're meeting as many new customers as we are serving existing ones which again, is a good measure of progress for us. And we expect that business to continue growing going forward. We haven't seen any cessation of opportunity. The good news as well is that given that we have Niagara 2 systems currently built and running and we can profile their performance, we're seeing really outstanding metrics on that and then the fact that we've taped out a Hexicore platform really puts us in a category that no one else can really touch. We're definitely seeing a lot of interest in and around that platform, and again, whether it's on the low end or the high end for us is somewhat secondary to their being interest in Sun and our being able to meet the opportunity.

從評估機到部署的轉換率非常高；我手邊沒有具體數字，但大多數都會從評估轉為部署。問題在於，這些部署會以多快的速度吸收上網的工作負載。因此，一方面，從 0 到 1.25 億美元，我們對目前的進展相當滿意。我們接觸到的新客戶數量與服務既有客戶的數量相當，這同樣是我們進展良好的指標。我們預期該業務未來仍會持續成長。我們沒有看到機會有任何停止。另外的好消息是，鑑於我們目前已建置並運行 Niagara 2 系統，且能對其效能進行剖析，我們看到非常出色的指標；再加上我們已完成 Hexicore 平台的流片（tape-out），這讓我們進入一個其他人幾乎無法企及的層級。我們確實看到市場對該平台周邊有很高的興趣；同樣地，對我們而言，這是低階或高階某種程度上是次要的，重點是市場對 Sun 有興趣，而我們能夠把握這個機會。

Let me just get back to Andy's question on the backlog. If you look at the chart on page 12 of our package, it does show that the product and service backlog did decline slightly on a quarter over quarter basis, that's because of the deferred revenue impact from on the service side, which is included in there. It should also be noted that the book to bill ratio that we're calculating in there is assuming a one to one ratio on services. That's why you get some of that disparity in those ratios that we're showing on that page. Next question, please.

我再回到 Andy 關於未交訂單的問題。如果你看我們資料包第 12 頁的圖表，確實顯示產品與服務未交訂單在季對季基礎上略有下降；這是因為服務端遞延收入的影響也包含在其中。另外也要注意，我們在那裡計算的接單出貨比是假設服務為一比一的比例。這就是為什麼你會在該頁所呈現的比率中看到一些差異。請下一題。

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] There are no further questions at this time. Gentlemen, are there any closing remarks?

[OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] 目前沒有其他問題。各位先生，是否有任何結語？

No, that's -- yes. Thank you for joining us today. Investor Relations personnel will be back in our offices shortly to respond to any further questions. You may contact us through our main number at 408-404-8427.

沒有，那就是——有。感謝各位今天加入我們。投資人關係人員稍後回到辦公室後，將回覆任何進一步的問題。你可以透過我們的總機 408-404-8427 聯絡我們。

This concludes today's conference call. We appreciate your participation. We are, again, providing an encore replay service this quarter if you joined us late or wish to hear any part of the conference call again, you may call the replay service any time after 3:30 p.m. Pacific time tonight to hear a recording of this conference call. The phone number for the replay is 800-642-1687 or 706-645-9291. And you must enter the conference reservation ID number 4619428 on your touch-tone telephone. Thanks again for taking the time to join the Sun Microsystems call this afternoon. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。我們本季同樣提供重播服務；如果你較晚加入或希望再次聆聽電話會議的任何部分，你可以在今晚太平洋時間 3:30 之後的任何時間撥打重播服務，收聽本次電話會議的錄音。