Quantum Corp (QMCO) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings. Welcome to the Quantum Corporation's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded.

問候。歡迎參加 Quantum Corporation 2023 財年第三季度財務業績電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在錄製此會議。

I will now turn the conference over to your host, Brian Cabrera. You may begin.

我現在將會議轉交給主持人 Brian Cabrera。你可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining today's conference call to discuss Quantum's third quarter fiscal year 2023 financial results. I'm Brian Cabrera, Quantum's Chief Administrative Officer. Joining me today are Jamie Lerner, our Chairman and CEO; and Ken Gianella, our CFO. This afternoon, we issued a press release, which you can access under the Investor Relations section of our website at www.quantum.com. We are using a slide presentation in conjunction with today's call, also accessible under the same section of our website. During today's call, our comments may include forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact should be viewed as forward-looking. These statements include any projections of revenue, margins, expenses, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, cash flows or other financial items. These statements may also concern the expected development, performance and market share or competitive performance of our products or services. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Quantum as of today's date. We advise caution in relying on these statements as they involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties we refer to as risk factors. Risk factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements, including unexpected changes in our business. We include detailed information about these and additional risk factors under the sections labeled, Risk Factors, in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K, which we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend to update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except of course, as we are required by applicable law. Please note that our press release and the management statements we make during today's call will include certain financial information in GAAP and non-GAAP measures. We include definitions and reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP items in our press release. If you're unable to listen to the entire call at this time, we will make a recording available for at least 90 days in the Investor Relations section of our website.

下午好，感謝您參加今天的電話會議，討論昆騰 2023 財年第三季度的財務業績。我是 Quantum 的首席行政官 Brian Cabrera。今天加入我的是我們的董事長兼首席執行官 Jamie Lerner；和我們的首席財務官 Ken Gianella。今天下午，我們發布了一份新聞稿，您可以在我們網站 www.quantum.com 的投資者關係部分訪問該新聞稿。我們在今天的電話會議中使用了幻燈片演示，也可以在我們網站的同一部分下訪問。在今天的電話會議中，我們的評論可能包括前瞻性陳述。除歷史事實陳述外，所有陳述均應視為前瞻性陳述。這些報表包括對收入、利潤、費用、調整後的 EBITDA、調整後的淨收入、現金流量或其他財務項目的任何預測。這些陳述還可能涉及我們產品或服務的預期發展、業績和市場份額或競爭業績。所有前瞻性陳述均基於截至今日昆騰可獲得的信息。我們建議謹慎依賴這些聲明，因為它們涉及已知和未知的風險和不確定性，我們稱之為風險因素。風險因素可能導致我們的實際結果與前瞻性陳述所暗示的結果存在重大差異，包括我們業務的意外變化。我們在向美國證券交易委員會提交的 10-Q 表格季度報告和 10-K 表格年度報告中，在標記為“風險因素”的部分下包含了有關這些和其他風險因素的詳細信息。我們無意更新或更改我們的前瞻性陳述，無論是由於新信息、未來事件還是其他原因，當然，適用法律要求我們除外。請注意，我們的新聞稿和我們在今天的電話會議上發表的管理聲明將包括 GAAP 和非 GAAP 措施中的某些財務信息。我們在新聞稿中包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 項目的定義和調節。如果您此時無法收聽整個電話會議，我們將在我們網站的投資者關係部分提供至少 90 天的錄音。

Now I would like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Jamie Lerner. Jamie?

現在我想把電話轉給我們的董事長兼首席執行官傑米勒納。傑米？

Thank you, Brian, and thank you all for joining us today. Earlier today, we announced our results for our third quarter of fiscal 2023 with revenue results that exceeded the high end of guidance and a significant year-on-year improvement in our operational performance. Turning to Slide 3. Here is a brief overview of the results from the quarter. We finished the quarter with $111.2 million in revenue, which is above the preliminary results we announced in January and represents an increase of 17% year-over-year and also the highest quarterly revenue results since I joined the company. Gross margin improved sequentially to approximately 36%. Adjusted EBITDA increased sequentially and year-over-year to $6.3 million, driven by improved product mix and lower operating expenses. And we exited the quarter with approximately $15 million of shippable backlog, which is within the range we expect to maintain going forward.

謝謝你，布賴恩，感謝大家今天加入我們。今天早些時候，我們公佈了 2023 財年第三季度的業績，收入結果超出了指導的上限，並且我們的運營業績同比有了顯著改善。轉到幻燈片 3。這裡簡要概述了本季度的結果。我們本季度的收入為 1.112 億美元，高於我們在 1 月份公佈的初步結果，同比增長 17%，也是我加入公司以來最高的季度收入結果。毛利率環比提高至約 36%。調整後的 EBITDA 環比和同比增長至 630 萬美元，這得益於產品組合的改善和運營費用的降低。我們在本季度結束時有大約 1500 萬美元的可交付積壓訂單，這在我們預計將繼續保持的範圍內。

Now turning to Slide 4, I would like to share some operational insights from the quarter. We delivered year-on-year revenue growth in almost all segments of our business, included another strong quarter of hyperscale tape sales. We still see several hot pockets of supply constraints, but see promising signs as the supply chain for tape drives and other components continues to improve. Inflationary costs remain elevated in most cases, but as lead times come down and the market improves, we are cautiously optimistic.

現在轉到幻燈片 4，我想分享本季度的一些運營見解。我們在幾乎所有業務領域都實現了同比收入增長，其中包括又一個強勁的超大規模磁帶銷售季度。我們仍然看到一些供應限制熱點，但隨著磁帶驅動器和其他組件的供應鏈不斷改善，我們看到了有希望的跡象。在大多數情況下，通貨膨脹成本仍然很高，但隨著交貨時間的縮短和市場的改善，我們持謹慎樂觀的態度。

Next, I would like to give an update on the rest of our portfolio. We had a strong quarter in our video surveillance business. And although that market is characterized by large deals and long sales cycles, we're encouraged by the traction we have seen since we acquired the Pivot3 surveillance business last year. We continue to be recognized for our technical innovation. And in December, we were acknowledged with 3 more surveillance industry awards. We also saw a positive year-on-year growth with our data protection business in all 3 geographies and enterprise IT departments continue to invest in their data protection infrastructure and strengthening cybersecurity.

接下來，我想介紹一下我們其他產品組合的最新情況。我們的視頻監控業務有一個強勁的季度。儘管該市場的特點是交易量大且銷售週期長，但我們對自去年收購 Pivot3 監控業務以來所看到的牽引力感到鼓舞。我們的技術創新不斷得到認可。 12 月，我們又獲得了 3 個監控行業獎項。我們在所有 3 個地區的數據保護業務也實現了同比正增長，企業 IT 部門繼續投資於數據保護基礎設施並加強網絡安全。

Turning to Slide 5, I would like to give you an update on our transformation progress. Our end-to-end portfolio is really coming together. It is resonating with customers and partners and our customers want to do more with Quantum. As we introduce new products and convert and expand our customer base, we will continue to grow recurring software revenue as we laid out during our Investor Day in November. 1 of our key strategies to drive growth is to expand our selling motion from point products to selling end-to-end solutions within large organizations. I'm encouraged by the evidence of early success we are seeing with this model, particularly in Europe and Asia. I would characterize those regions as being approximately a year ahead of our North American business in terms of their ability to sell the whole portfolio. As I've stated in the past, growing our software and systems business in North America will be a key driver for both future revenue growth and improved gross margins. We have made investments in the North American sales teams to drive growth in historically strong segments for us such as media and entertainment and the U.S. federal government. Over the past year, we have also invested in the infrastructure and tools to expand our enterprise selling capabilities and broaden our footprint in large accounts. While I anticipate this transformation to continue into fiscal 2024, we are pleased with the progress we are making. We are also continuing to (inaudible) We are introducing new software features of entire portfolio. And we have begun briefing key customers and industry analysts on the next-generation storage software that we mentioned at our Investor Day. So far, the feedback has been very positive, and we expect to begin early access trials this quarter in advance of announcing publicly in the first half of next fiscal year. This new product will further strengthen and differentiate our portfolio and allow us to participate in some of the fastest-growing segments in data storage. We'll be able to talk more about this exciting new offering in the near future.

轉到幻燈片 5，我想向您介紹我們轉型進展的最新情況。我們的端到端產品組合真正融合在一起。它引起了客戶和合作夥伴的共鳴，我們的客戶希望通過 Quantum 做更多事情。隨著我們推出新產品並轉換和擴大我們的客戶群，我們將繼續增加經常性軟件收入，正如我們在 11 月的投資者日所規劃的那樣。我們推動增長的關鍵戰略之一是將我們的銷售活動從單點產品擴展到在大型組織內銷售端到端解決方案。我們看到這種模式取得早期成功的證據令我感到鼓舞，尤其是在歐洲和亞洲。我認為這些地區在銷售整個產品組合的能力方面比我們的北美業務領先大約一年。正如我過去所說，在北美髮展我們的軟件和系統業務將是未來收入增長和毛利率提高的關鍵驅動力。我們對北美銷售團隊進行了投資，以推動媒體和娛樂以及美國聯邦政府等歷來強勁的細分市場的增長。在過去的一年裡，我們還投資於基礎設施和工具，以擴展我們的企業銷售能力並擴大我們在大客戶中的足跡。雖然我預計這種轉變將持續到 2024 財年，但我們對我們正在取得的進展感到滿意。我們還將繼續（聽不清）我們正在引入整個產品組合的新軟件功能。我們已經開始向主要客戶和行業分析師介紹我們在投資者日提到的下一代存儲軟件。到目前為止，反饋非常積極，我們預計在下個財政年度上半年公開宣布之前，本季度開始搶先體驗試驗。這一新產品將進一步加強我們的產品組合併使其脫穎而出，並使我們能夠參與到數據存儲領域中一些增長最快的領域。我們將能夠在不久的將來更多地討論這個令人興奮的新產品。

Turning to Slide 6, I would now like to introduce our new CFO, Ken Gianella. Ken joined Quantum on January 12 as our Chief Financial Officer and succeeds Mike Dodson. I'd like to take a moment to thank Mike and acknowledge the transformational work he accomplished at Quantum as well as his financial leadership through a very challenging period. Mike will remain with the company in an advisory role until August. Ken has extensive financial and operational experience at technology companies and his background makes him well suited to help lead us through the next phase of our strategic priorities, which include driving EBITDA expansion, delivering consistent operating results and delivering improved value to our shareholders.

轉到幻燈片 6，我現在想介紹我們的新首席財務官 Ken Gianella。 Ken 於 1 月 12 日加入 Quantum，擔任我們的首席財務官，並接替 Mike Dodson。我想花點時間感謝 Mike，感謝他在 Quantum 所做的變革性工作，以及他在充滿挑戰的時期所發揮的財務領導作用。 Mike 將在公司擔任顧問職務直至 8 月。 Ken 在科技公司擁有豐富的財務和運營經驗，他的背景使他非常適合幫助領導我們完成戰略重點的下一階段，其中包括推動 EBITDA 擴張、提供一致的運營結果並為我們的股東提供更高的價值。

Ken, welcome to the team, and I'll turn it over to you to walk through the financial results.

肯，歡迎加入團隊，我會把它交給你來完成財務結果。

Thank you, Jamie. It's a pleasure to be on the call today, and I'm extremely excited to be here at Quantum and for the opportunity that lies ahead as we advance the strategy that you, Mike and the rest of the leadership team started. With that, let's get into it. Please turn to Slide 7, and I'll provide an overview of the financial results for our fiscal third quarter. As previously highlighted by Jamie, revenue increased 12% sequentially and 17% year-over-year to approximately $111 million, which was above the preliminary results we announced in early January. This also represented the highest quarterly revenue in the last 5 years. Earnings per share improved over 89% year-on-year to a $0.02 per share loss on a combination of improved operational performance and lower operational expenses, which were down 9% year-on-year. Both GAAP operating income and adjusted EBITDA were the highest since fiscal 2021. Looking at other metrics in Q3, shippable backlog at quarter end decreased to approximately $15 million from $20 million last quarter as supply constraints improved. As we are cautiously optimistic about the improving supply chain situation, we expect to maintain shippable backlog in a range of $10 million to $15 million going forward. Active subscription software annual recurring revenue, or ARR, increased approximately 20% sequentially and approximately 84% year-over-year to $11.2 million on over 660 cumulative active customers as our subscription software continues to gain traction.

謝謝你，傑米。很高興今天能接聽電話，我非常高興能來到 Quantum，並為在我們推進您、Mike 和領導團隊其他成員開始的戰略時面臨的機會而感到非常興奮。有了這個，讓我們開始吧。請轉到幻燈片 7，我將概述我們第三財季的財務業績。正如 Jamie 之前強調的那樣，收入環比增長 12%，同比增長 17% 至約 1.11 億美元，高於我們在 1 月初公佈的初步結果。這也是過去 5 年來最高的季度收入。每股收益同比增長超過 89% 至每股虧損 0.02 美元，這得益於運營績效的改善和運營費用的降低，後者同比下降 9%。 GAAP 營業收入和調整後的 EBITDA 均為 2021 財年以來的最高水平。從第三季度的其他指標來看，隨著供應限制的改善，季度末可交付積壓訂單從上一季度的 2000 萬美元減少至約 1500 萬美元。由於我們對供應鏈狀況的改善持謹慎樂觀態度，我們預計未來可交付積壓訂單將保持在 1000 萬至 1500 萬美元的範圍內。隨著我們的訂閱軟件繼續受到關注，活躍訂閱軟件年度經常性收入 (ARR) 連續增長約 20%，同比增長約 84% 至 1120 萬美元，累計活躍客戶超過 660 名。

Now turning to Slide 8, I would like to break down this quarter's revenue results. Primary storage revenue was up 1% compared to prior year and up 42% sequentially to $14 million. Contributing to the sequential growth in primary storage was a solid uptick in both our StorNext file storage software and Pivot3 video surveillance solutions. As with the last few quarters, the biggest mover continues to be our secondary storage systems, with revenue increasing 66% year-over-year and 15% sequentially to $50.7 million or 44% of total revenue as we saw strong orders from both our enterprise and hyperscale customers. Next, turning to devices and media. While there was some sequential improvement, revenue was down approximately $3 million or 24% year-over-year, primarily due to less global demand for tape cartridges in the period. Turning to our services business. The revenue was essentially flat year-over-year. The results reflect year-over-year growth in ARR, driven by new active subscriptions, offset by a continued decline in support renewal revenue due to end of support life on legacy products. We anticipate services revenue will be maintained around this level in the near term. And finally, royalties declined year-on-year as we saw less global demand for tape cartridges.

現在轉到幻燈片 8，我想分解本季度的收入結果。主存儲收入與上一年相比增長 1%，環比增長 42% 至 1400 萬美元。我們的 StorNext 文件存儲軟件和 Pivot3 視頻監控解決方案的強勁增長推動了主存儲的連續增長。與過去幾個季度一樣，最大的推動者仍然是我們的二級存儲系統，收入同比增長 66%，環比增長 15%，達到 5070 萬美元，佔總收入的 44%，因為我們看到來自我們企業的強勁訂單和超大規模客戶。接下來，轉向設備和媒體。儘管環比有所改善，但收入同比下降約 300 萬美元或 24%，這主要是由於同期全球對盒式磁帶的需求減少。轉向我們的服務業務。收入同比基本持平。該結果反映了 ARR 的同比增長，這在新的活躍訂閱的推動下被由於舊產品支持生命週期結束而導致的支持續訂收入持續下降所抵消。我們預計短期內服務收入將維持在該水平附近。最後，由於我們看到全球對盒式磁帶的需求減少，特許權使用費同比下降。

Now turning to Slide 9. Let's review our third quarter fiscal 2023 GAAP results. GAAP net loss in the third quarter was $2.2 million or a loss of $0.02 per share compared to a net loss of $11.1 million or a loss of $0.19 per share in the prior year third quarter. This improvement was driven by significantly higher revenues and lower operating expenses due to prior restructuring actions and other cost controls.

現在轉到幻燈片 9。讓我們回顧一下 2023 財年第三季度的 GAAP 結果。第三季度 GAAP 淨虧損為 220 萬美元或每股虧損 0.02 美元，而去年第三季度為淨虧損 1110 萬美元或每股虧損 0.19 美元。由於先前的重組行動和其他成本控制，收入顯著增加，運營費用顯著下降，推動了這一改善。

Now please turn to Slide 10 for non-GAAP metrics. Non-GAAP gross margin was 36% compared with 37.3% in the prior year and 35.4% sequentially, both driven primarily by product mix. With the significant revenue contribution from lower-margin hyperscale sales, this product mix largely offsets the cost reduction initiatives and other favorable pricing actions taken over the last year. As Jamie mentioned, sales and product mix improvements are a top priority in support of expanding gross margins and driving increased EBITDA. On a non-GAAP basis, operating expenses decreased approximately 5% year-over-year to $34.5 million in the third quarter due to cost controls and a traditionally lower end of calendar year costs. We expect operating expenses to be approximately $1 million higher in the fourth quarter due to end of year commissions, seasonally higher payroll taxes and other inflationary pressures. Non-GAAP adjusted net income in the third quarter was $1.6 million or $0.02 per diluted share compared to an adjusted net loss of $4.6 million or a loss of $0.08 per share in the prior year. The significant year-over-year improvement in both bottom line results reflects the company's previously implemented cost reduction actions, combined with strong top line growth. And finally, adjusted EBITDA increased to $6.3 million compared with $758,000 in the prior year. The improving EBITDA for the quarter is a combination of achieving scale at higher revenue levels, improving product mix and continuing to implement cost controls.

現在請轉到幻燈片 10 了解非 GAAP 指標。非美國通用會計準則毛利率為 36%，上年為 37.3%，環比為 35.4%，兩者均主要受產品組合的推動。由於利潤率較低的超大規模銷售帶來的巨大收入貢獻，該產品組合在很大程度上抵消了去年採取的成本削減舉措和其他優惠定價措施。正如 Jamie 提到的，銷售和產品組合改進是支持擴大毛利率和推動 EBITDA 增長的重中之重。在非 GAAP 基礎上，由於成本控制和傳統上較低的日曆年末成本，第三季度運營費用同比下降約 5% 至 3,450 萬美元。由於年終佣金、季節性上漲的工資稅和其他通脹壓力，我們預計第四季度的運營費用將增加約 100 萬美元。第三季度非 GAAP 調整後淨收入為 160 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.02 美元，而去年調整後淨虧損為 460 萬美元或每股虧損 0.08 美元。兩項底線業績的同比顯著改善反映了公司先前實施的成本削減行動，以及強勁的頂線增長。最後，調整後的 EBITDA 從去年的 758,000 美元增至 630 萬美元。本季度 EBITDA 的改善是在更高的收入水平上實現規模、改善產品組合和繼續實施成本控制的結合。

Now please turn to Slide 11, where I'll give an overview of our debt and liquidity at the end of December. Outstanding debt split between term and our revolver was $103.6 million, slightly down from prior year levels. Cash and equivalents at the end of the third quarter were $26 million compared with $4 million a year ago. Our net debt position of $77.6 million gives us a street net leverage of 7x our trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA. When looking at our bank calculation, there are a few adjustments to the trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA calculation, such as FX and inventory provisions, which give us a bank net leverage of 4.6x. All of these factors put us in a good place heading into the fourth quarter. Turning to other liquidity metrics. Interest expense in the third quarter was $2.7 million compared with $2.4 million in the prior year. Adjusted working capital was approximately $73 million, up year-over-year and sequentially on higher inventory receipts at the end of the quarter. And finally, we would like to work down our DIO numbers over the next few quarters, but overall, cash conversion metrics remain strong.

現在請轉到幻燈片 11，我將在其中概述我們 12 月底的債務和流動性。期限和我們的循環貸款之間的未償債務分配為 1.036 億美元，略低於去年的水平。第三季度末現金及等價物為 2600 萬美元，而一年前為 400 萬美元。我們 7760 萬美元的淨債務頭寸使我們的街頭淨槓桿率達到了過去 12 個月調整後 EBITDA 的 7 倍。在查看我們的銀行計算時，對過去 12 個月調整後的 EBITDA 計算進行了一些調整，例如外彙和庫存準備金，這使我們的銀行淨槓桿率為 4.6 倍。所有這些因素使我們在進入第四季度時處於有利地位。轉向其他流動性指標。第三季度的利息支出為 270 萬美元，而去年同期為 240 萬美元。調整後的營運資金約為 7300 萬美元，同比增長，並且由於本季度末庫存收入增加而環比增長。最後，我們希望在接下來的幾個季度減少我們的 DIO 數字，但總體而言，現金轉換指標仍然強勁。

Now please turn to Slide 12 for a look at the company's fiscal fourth quarter guidance. First, we anticipate total revenue in the fourth quarter to be $102 million, plus or minus $2 million. At a midpoint, this would equate to a year-over-year growth of approximately 7%. The expected sequential decrease from the third quarter primarily reflects seasonality experienced at the beginning of the calendar year. This is combined with the expected normalization of shippable backlog in the supply chain going forward. We expect non-GAAP adjusted net loss per share to be $0.04 plus or minus $0.02 per share based on an estimated 93.3 million shares outstanding. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately $0.5 million. To give some color on the non-GAAP EPS and adjusted EBITDA guide, there are a few factors I would like to highlight. For the fiscal fourth quarter, we anticipate a 2 to 3-point reduction in gross margin sequentially due to product mix that will temporarily impact our performance this quarter. This is combined with the previously discussed operating expense factoring in such as end of year commissions and other inflationary increases that will have a near-term impact to our results. Looking forward, we do anticipate margins and EBITDA to bounce back as we take actions to improve in future quarters.

現在請轉到幻燈片 12 查看公司第四財季的指引。首先，我們預計第四季度的總收入為 1.02 億美元，上下浮動 200 萬美元。從中點來看，這相當於同比增長約 7%。從第三季度開始的預期環比下降主要反映了日曆年年初的季節性。這與未來供應鏈中可發貨積壓的預期正常化相結合。根據估計的 9330 萬股流通股，我們預計非 GAAP 調整後每股淨虧損為 0.04 美元上下浮動 0.02 美元。第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 預計約為 50 萬美元。為了給非 GAAP EPS 和調整後的 EBITDA 指南一些顏色，我想強調幾個因素。對於第四財季，我們預計毛利率將連續下降 2 到 3 個百分點，原因是產品組合將暫時影響我們本季度的業績。這與之前討論的運營費用因素相結合，例如年終佣金和其他通貨膨脹增加將對我們的結果產生短期影響。展望未來，隨著我們在未來幾個季度採取行動改善，我們確實預計利潤率和 EBITDA 會反彈。

Before turning the call back to Jamie, I want to emphasize that although I've been here a few weeks, I've hit the ground running. In conjunction with Jamie and our executive team, we are actively exploring ways to accelerate our operational plan with margin expansion, improving profitability with product and structural cost initiatives and looking to accelerate growth and innovation with the introduction of new software, products and services in the coming year. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to meeting you all soon.

在將電話轉回 Jamie 之前，我想強調的是，儘管我來這裡已經幾週了，但我已經開始行動了。我們與 Jamie 和我們的執行團隊一起，積極探索如何通過擴大利潤率來加快我們的運營計劃，通過產品和結構性成本計劃提高盈利能力，並尋求通過引入新軟件、產品和服務來加速增長和創新來年。感謝您的寶貴時間，我期待著很快與大家見面。

With that, I'll now hand the call back to Jamie for closing remarks.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉回給傑米，讓他發表結束語。

Thanks, Ken. We had a great quarter, and we're constructive on the progress we're making. While not always a straight line, I'm really encouraged by the direction and improvements to our sales model by the recovery in the supply chain and our development of an end-to-end portfolio and upcoming new product introductions. As Ken mentioned, while we are cautiously optimistic heading into this new year, we're not standing still. We are actively working to increase margins and profitability, looking to accelerate efforts to drive cost out of our operations, and we'll continue our innovation to remain a global leader in managing and storing unstructured data.

謝謝，肯。我們有一個很棒的季度，我們對我們正在取得的進展持建設性態度。雖然並不總是一條直線，但我對供應鏈的複蘇以及我們端到端產品組合的開發和即將推出的新產品推出的銷售模式的方向和改進感到非常鼓舞。正如 Ken 所提到的，雖然我們對新的一年持謹慎樂觀的態度，但我們並沒有停滯不前。我們正在積極努力提高利潤率和盈利能力，希望加快努力降低運營成本，我們將繼續創新，以保持在管理和存儲非結構化數據方面的全球領先地位。

With that, let's open it up for questions. Operator?

有了這個，讓我們打開它來提問。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of George Iwanyc with Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 George Iwanyc 與 Oppenheimer 的對話。

Jamie, maybe starting with the progress you're seeing on the sales front. You highlighted pretty strong results in Asia and Europe. Hhow do you see those types of patterns being replicated in North America, like what are you focusing on nearer term?

傑米，也許從您在銷售方面看到的進展開始。您強調了在亞洲和歐洲取得的相當強勁的成果。你如何看待這些類型的模式在北美被複製，比如你近期關注的是什麼？

Yes. The model is based on deploying sales resources into our highest margin end markets. And that has traditionally been large enterprise, certain segments of media and entertainment and large federal governments. And so, what we've been doing is going into the largest geographies, going after the largest companies and also going after segments of, again, a government business, public sector business that have traditionally been very successful for us. So it's really been about going to where the margin is.

是的。該模型基於將銷售資源部署到我們利潤率最高的終端市場。傳統上，這一直是大型企業、某些媒體和娛樂部門以及大型聯邦政府。因此，我們一直在做的是進入最大的地區，追逐最大的公司，同時也追尋傳統上對我們來說非常成功的政府業務、公共部門業務的細分市場。所以這真的是關於去利潤率的地方。

Okay. And maybe digging into the seasonality you're seeing, when you maybe look further in the year, what kind of patterns should we anticipate, given the visibility you have right now?

好的。也許深入研究你所看到的季節性，當你在一年中進一步觀察時，考慮到你現在的可見性，我們應該預測什麼樣的模式？

I would expect we have a pretty well-worn pattern that's played out for quite a few years. So I would expect us -- and some of those patterns, we came off of a little bit with upheaval from supply chain or upheaval from the pandemic, but we see ourselves returning to more of the Quantum classic seasonality with kind of a softer Q4 and then it's building up for our strongest quarter being Q3.

我希望我們有一個已經使用了好幾年的相當陳舊的模式。因此，我希望我們——以及其中一些模式，我們會隨著供應鏈的動盪或大流行的動盪而有所緩和，但我們看到自己回歸到更多的量子經典季節性，第四季度和然後它正在為我們最強勁的季度第三季度做準備。

And then maybe just 1 more question for you, Ken, and congratulations on joining Quantum. So when you look at product mix, can you kind of give us a sense of how you see that progressing from a margin perspective through the year?

Ken，也許還有 1 個問題要問你，祝賀你加入 Quantum。因此，當您查看產品組合時，能否讓我們了解一下您如何從利潤率的角度看待這一年的進展情況？

Yes. Thank you, George. Well, 1 of the things that we wanted to focus on with this Q4 is going to be a bit of an anomaly with what we saw the growth coming back with. If you look at the work that we've done over the prior year, we had a lot of work on margin improvement and fixing that mix. But this quarter coming up, Q4, we see particularly large volume of hyperscale, coupled with a unique customer deal that we had to be a little bit aggressive on because we wanted a real good proof point in the healthcare space, particularly genomics, to be more precise. And gaining that proof point in a sector that has a lot of unstructured data, modeling management of large quantities of that unstructured data was important for us to grab. And so, we got a little bit ahead on the pricing than where we saw our cost downs coming on that product set. But we think that's going to start normalizing heading into Q1 and into the rest of the 2024 fiscal year. So I think you're going to start seeing that normalize. As Jamie said, we're seeing progress within -- across the geos, particularly in our primary storage space. We see that continuing into the new year and that's really where we feel more comfortable with the strength on the margins.

是的。謝謝你，喬治。好吧，我們希望在第四季度關注的事情之一與我們看到的增長回歸的情況有點反常。如果你看看我們在前一年所做的工作，我們在提高利潤率和修復這種組合方面做了很多工作。但是這個季度即將到來，第四季度，我們看到特別大量的超大規模，再加上我們必須有點激進的獨特客戶交易，因為我們希望在醫療保健領域，特別是基因組學中有一個真正好的證明點更確切。在擁有大量非結構化數據的行業中獲得證明點，對大量非結構化數據進行建模管理對我們來說很重要。因此，與我們看到該產品集的成本下降相比，我們在定價方面領先了一點。但我們認為，這將在進入第一季度和 2024 財年剩餘時間後開始正常化。所以我認為你會開始看到這種情況正常化。正如 Jamie 所說，我們看到了跨地域的進步，特別是在我們的主要存儲空間。我們看到這種情況會持續到新的一年，這確實是我們對利潤率的優勢感到更舒服的地方。

Our next questions come from the line of Craig Ellis with B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 B. Riley Securities 的 Craig Ellis。

Jamie, congratulations on the 5-year high quarterly revenues and Ken welcome to the team. I look forward to working with you. So I'll start with a clarification just on the quarter's revenue upside versus initial guidance. Can you give us some further color on where that came from more on the hyperscale side, the enterprise side? And then what was the linearity of the strength to the quarter, pretty steady or was it more back-end loaded?

傑米，祝賀 5 年來最高的季度收入，歡迎肯加入團隊。我期待著與您合作。因此，我將首先澄清本季度的收入增長與最初的指導。您能否進一步說明在超大規模方面，企業方面更多來自哪裡？然後，該季度強度的線性度是多少，相當穩定還是後端負載更多？

Well, I'll start with that. It came a little bit more back end, but the first thing we saw was strength in the supply chain coming back. So having that kind of loosen up gave us the ability to fulfill more demand, particularly within the hyperscale side of things. The linearity side, it's -- we tend to be -- month 1, month 2, a little bit lighter with month 3 coming on strong, and that linearity kind of helped through to it. But we were able to fulfill a little bit more demand because of the free up of the supply chain allowed us to ship some more of that pent-up demand in backlog.

好吧，我將從那個開始。它來了一點後端，但我們首先看到的是供應鏈的力量回歸。因此，這種放鬆讓我們有能力滿足更多需求，尤其是在超大規模方面。線性方面，它是 - 我們傾向於 - 第 1 個月，第 2 個月，隨著第 3 個月的到來而變得更輕一些，這種線性有助於實現它。但是我們能夠滿足更多的需求，因為供應鏈的解放使我們能夠運送更多積壓的被壓抑的需求。

Got it. And Jamie, I think when we spoke 3 months ago, 1 of the things you were looking for is that for some of the sales changes you are making to really help accelerate primary storage. And is that what you're seeing with the strength in Europe and Asia because headline primary was pretty flattish. But just walk us through the impacts you're getting as you make some of the adjustments to the sales team?

知道了。傑米，我認為當我們 3 個月前交談時，您正在尋找的一件事是，對於您正在做的一些銷售變化，以真正幫助加速主存儲。這就是你在歐洲和亞洲看到的實力，因為標題初選非常平淡。但是，請告訴我們您在對銷售團隊進行一些調整時所產生的影響？

Yes. I mean I wouldn't over-rotate on primary and that we can achieve the same or even stronger margins than secondary. The DXi product is our highest-margin product. ActiveScale is also often sold software only at north of 80% margins. So there's a lot of margin in the secondary products, and there's a lot of products in secondary that are beyond just tape hardware. But what we're seeing and what we're most focused on is the ability to sell the whole portfolio. So we have a lot of historic accounts that bought a product from us. And what we're seeing through the new sales teams, the new sales training and the new sales incentives is going into our accounts and selling them a primary product, a StorNext or surveillance, selling them secondary products, selling the management software, selling multiple products and often those products as a solution where we combine multiple products to solve a business problem or solve a management initiative. And I think that's been going well in Europe and Asia. And the teams were set about a year behind in North America, but I'm seeing the pipeline, the initial deals, and I think that's going to flow right through North America and have a pretty -- it should have a meaningful impact on our margins as that -- as we roll through the -- predominantly the U.S. sales team.

是的。我的意思是我不會在初級上過度輪換，我們可以獲得與次級相同甚至更高的利潤率。 DXi 產品是我們利潤率最高的產品。 ActiveScale 也經常以超過 80% 的利潤率出售軟件。所以二級產品有很多利潤，二級產品中有很多不僅僅是磁帶硬件。但我們所看到的和我們最關注的是出售整個投資組合的能力。所以我們有很多從我們這裡購買產品的歷史賬戶。我們通過新的銷售團隊、新的銷售培訓和新的銷售激勵措施看到的是進入我們的客戶並向他們銷售主要產品，StorNext 或監控，向他們銷售次要產品，銷售管理軟件，銷售多個產品，通常是那些作為解決方案的產品，在這種解決方案中，我們結合多種產品來解決業務問題或解決管理計劃。我認為這在歐洲和亞洲進展順利。這些團隊在北美落後了大約一年，但我看到了管道，最初的交易，我認為這將直接通過北美並且有一個漂亮的 - 它應該對我們產生有意義的影響利潤率 - 當我們通過 - 主要是美國銷售團隊時。

Got it. And related to that and selling the solution subscription adds, new customers were about 100 in the quarter. It looks like that was about the third consecutive quarter getting that many new customers on subscription. What should we think through calendar '23 for new customer adds to the program? Should it click along around 100 a quarter or do you see an inflection coming? And if so, what's the catalyst?

知道了。與此相關並銷售解決方案訂閱增加，本季度新客戶約為 100 個。看起來這是連續第三個季度獲得如此多的新客戶訂閱。對於新客戶添加到計劃中，我們應該通過日曆'23 思考什麼？它應該每季度點擊 100 左右，還是您看到拐點即將到來？如果是這樣，催化劑是什麼？

So not giving an exact number. We're really pleased about how we're seeing the active subscription sales going. I think the thing to highlight to everybody out there is that the product set that we started with for the first set really only touches about 30% of our installed base. So focusing with these initial set of sales and these initial set of products, we're really pleased with where the product is going, and we'd expect to continue to see strong growth and momentum there because we're going to be focusing on this and trying to acquire as our customers. And more importantly, our sales channel becomes more comfortable with the selling motions around this new product set versus just a point sale.

所以沒有給出確切的數字。我們對積極訂閱銷售的進展情況感到非常高興。我認為需要向所有人強調的是，我們為第一套產品開始的產品集實際上只涉及我們已安裝基礎的大約 30%。因此，關注這些初始銷售和這些初始產品，我們對產品的發展方向感到非常滿意，我們希望在那裡繼續看到強勁的增長和勢頭，因為我們將專注於這並試圖獲得我們的客戶。更重要的是，我們的銷售渠道變得更加適應圍繞這一新產品系列的銷售活動，而不是單純的點銷售。

Got it. That installed base scoping is good context. And lastly, regarding the gross margin outlook, the decline of about 250 basis points to around 33.5%. How much of that is the big healthcare deal that you flagged versus other things? And is the recovery back north of 35% and towards 40, really just working that through? Are there new initiatives that you and the team are executing. And if so, what are they and when do you expect to get a payoff from them?

知道了。安裝基礎範圍界定是很好的背景。最後，關於毛利率前景，下降約 250 個基點至 33.5% 左右。與其他事情相比，您標記的大型醫療保健交易有多少？復甦是否回到 35% 以上並接近 40%，真的只是在努力嗎？您和團隊正在執行的新計劃是否有？如果是這樣，它們是什麼？您預計什麼時候能從中獲得回報？

Predominantly, the headwind was this large deal that we were talking about. But I don't want to downplay the other work that we're doing to continue that rotation and the margin back up. There's a lot of things that we have on deck that even in my short time here, people have been really active in showing the game plan of how we get there of making sure that we're very focused on manufacturing and our services team. As we highlighted before, there's been a pretty steady decline within the services business with our legacy side of the business as we rotate away from these end-of-life older products. That starts bleeding off, and we're really doing a job of rationalizing how that team looks to service that base, but then also leaning into the active subscriptions to continue to fill that growth. So I think you're going to start seeing that help in '24 going forward as well as some of these actions we're taking in cost downs of products and narrowing that product portfolio to be more effective and efficient. So it's not just the one customer flushing through deal, I think there's going to be other factors involved in a lot of self-help that is going to get us to where we need to be going forward.

主要的不利因素是我們正在談論的這筆大交易。但我不想低估我們正在做的其他工作，以繼續輪換和保證金回升。我們有很多事情要做，即使我在這裡的時間很短，人們也非常積極地展示我們如何實現目標的遊戲計劃，以確保我們非常專注於製造和我們的服務團隊。正如我們之前強調的那樣，隨著我們放棄這些報廢的舊產品，我們的傳統業務在服務業務中一直在穩步下降。那開始流血，我們真的在做一個合理化該團隊如何為該基礎服務的工作，但隨後也傾向於活躍訂閱以繼續填補該增長。所以我認為你將開始看到 24 年的幫助以及我們正在採取的一些行動來降低產品成本並縮小產品組合以提高效率和效率。因此，這不僅僅是一個客戶通過交易沖洗，我認為還有很多自助涉及的其他因素將使我們到達我們需要前進的地方。

Our next questions come from the line of Nehal Chokshi with Northland Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 Northland Capital Markets 的 Nehal Chokshi。

Congratulations on strong results, both on the top and bottom line. Jamie, you're talking about the progress you're making with solutions selling and note that APAC is ahead of North America. Why are they ahead?

祝賀您在頂線和底線都取得了不錯的成績。傑米，你在談論你在解決方案銷售方面取得的進步，並註意到亞太地區領先於北美。他們為什麼領先？

They started earlier. They were smaller geographies that were less of a risk to our business. So we consciously said, look, let's start there. North America is such an important part of our revenue engine. It's just kind of an unsafe place to experiment with. So Asia and parts of Europe, we could do some trials of these new models with a much lower -- it's a lower risk. And so we started there, had some really good success in Australia, some good access across Korea and have been having a lot of success in France, Germany, England, and now we're sweeping that across North America.

他們開始得更早。它們是較小的地區，對我們的業務風險較小。所以我們有意識地說，看，讓我們從這裡開始。北美是我們收入引擎的重要組成部分。這只是一個不安全的試驗場所。因此，在亞洲和歐洲部分地區，我們可以以更低的風險對這些新模型進行一些試驗。所以我們從那裡開始，在澳大利亞取得了一些非常好的成功，在韓國取得了一些良好的准入，並且在法國、德國、英國取得了很大的成功，現在我們正在席捲北美。

What are the metrics that you're looking at in these smaller geos in APAC that tells you this is indeed working well?

您在亞太地區的這些較小的地理區域中查看的哪些指標告訴您這確實運作良好？

Yes. We look for a couple signs. 1 is, are there multiple product families on a single quote versus -- instead of just selling moviemaking or just selling video surveillance, are you able to sell multiple product families, high-speed storage, archive storage, surveillance storage all part of a single deal. So multiple product families. The second thing you'd expect with multiple product families is a larger ASP. And lastly, because you're solving a business problem versus selling terabytes capacity or terabytes, you'd expect to get a higher margin when you're solving a business problem. So that's really the trifecta is multiple product families on one quote, higher ASP and higher margins.

是的。我們尋找幾個跡象。 1 是，一個報價單上是否有多個產品系列，而不是僅僅銷售電影製作或視頻監控，您是否能夠銷售多個產品系列、高速存儲、存檔存儲、監控存儲的所有部分交易。多個產品系列。對於多個產品系列，您期望的第二件事是更大的 ASP。最後，由於您是在解決業務問題而不是銷售 TB 容量或 TB 容量，因此您希望在解決業務問題時獲得更高的利潤。所以這真的是三重奏，一個報價有多個產品系列，更高的平均售價和更高的利潤率。

Which I'll just add in, Jamie, that goes to the higher contribution per rep. So you have the body out there that is upselling multiple products and solutions, and you're getting more yield per rep.

傑米，我要補充的是，每個代表的貢獻更高。因此，您的身體在那裡可以追加銷售多種產品和解決方案，並且每個銷售代表的收益會更高。

And with that, a lot of that run rate business where we sell a single product, we're not walking away from that business. But instead of having an outside sales rep with a very high comp plan, selling a run rate product, we're pushing more of that to the channel and more of that to our inside sales organization. So the transactional part of our business, we're doing that more cost effectively and focusing the most skilled, experienced and expensive part of our selling engine to a multiproduct family sale versus a transactional sale.

因此，很多我們銷售單一產品的運行率業務，我們並沒有放棄該業務。但是，我們不是讓外部銷售代表制定非常高的補償計劃，而是銷售運行率產品，而是將更多的推向渠道，並將更多的推向我們的內部銷售組織。因此，我們業務的交易部分，我們正在以更具成本效益的方式進行，並將我們銷售引擎中最熟練、最有經驗和最昂貴的部分集中在多產品系列銷售而不是交易銷售上。

That's a great color. What are -- what is the actual uplift you're seeing in terms of ASP and margin in the small geos?

那是一種很棒的顏色。什麼是 - 您在小型地理區域的 ASP 和利潤率方面看到的實際提升是什麼？

Yes. I mean we're not putting those metrics into our package of metrics at this time, but we are seeing ASPs going up. We are seeing relevance go up. And I would measure that in the number of CIOs that are meeting with us, when we're a transactional vendor versus you're helping them solve one of their top initiatives, I just think we're seeing more relevance. We're getting more time. We're getting more mind share. And I have visibility into the quotes that we're putting out in the future and I'm seeing the quotes get bigger. And another sign of it working is when you're solving a business problem, you can't win with a quote. You have to write a proposal and describe what you're doing, describe how you're going to change their business or help their business. And it's amazing how many more proposals we're putting out than where we used to just kind of drop a quote and you're basically winning on price or winning on availability of materials. Now we're winning on the merits of the solution and the uniqueness of the solution. And that's -- it's taken a number of years to get here, but we really have the portfolio now where we can assemble highly differentiated proposals versus cost-effective quotes.

是的。我的意思是，我們目前並未將這些指標納入我們的指標包中，但我們看到 ASP 正在上升。我們看到相關性上升。我會衡量與我們會面的首席信息官的數量，當我們是交易供應商而不是你幫助他們解決他們的一項首要計劃時，我只是認為我們看到了更多的相關性。我們有更多的時間。我們得到更多的思想份額。我可以看到我們在未來發布的報價，而且我看到報價越來越大。它起作用的另一個跡像是，當您解決業務問題時，您無法僅憑報價取勝。你必須寫一份提案並描述你在做什麼，描述你將如何改變他們的業務或幫助他們的業務。令人驚奇的是，我們提出的提案比我們過去只是放棄報價的地方多了多少，你基本上是在價格上取勝或在材料可用性上取勝。現在我們憑藉解決方案的優點和解決方案的獨特性取勝。那就是 - 花了很多年才到達這裡，但我們現在確實擁有了投資組合，我們可以在其中匯集高度差異化的提案與具有成本效益的報價。

Okay. Great. And then, Ken, this is a much tighter range of revenue guidance and what I think we've typically been seeing over the past 4 or 6 quarters. Is this one of the philosophies that you're bringing to the table or is this just simply a reflection of better visibility?

好的。偉大的。然後，肯，這是一個更嚴格的收入指導範圍，我認為我們通常在過去 4 或 6 個季度看到的情況。這是您提出的哲學之一，還是僅僅是提高知名度的反映？

A little bit of both, right? I mean I think, #1, it's important to -- we want to send a signal to our investor base that as we look down the road, this is what we have a feel for. But also more importantly, we didn't want to put such a large range out there that it would skew people's thoughts because, again, great quarter we had in Q3. But the seasonality that we saw coming into this quarter, we really wanted to send a signal that we had visibility into the range, and we didn't want people to get ahead of themselves of -- on the numbers. So that's the reason why we put a little bit of a tighter range this time. As we go into the new year, we're going to be looking at as we get more visibility, some other metrics and way to give you guys a little bit more of a near-term view, not just a quarter view of what we're thinking and where we're going. And as I work with the team and Jamie, we're going to see where we can expand some of that visibility for you all in the future.

兩者都有一點，對嗎？我的意思是我認為，#1，重要的是——我們想向我們的投資者群發出一個信號，即當我們展望未來時，這就是我們的感覺。但更重要的是，我們不想將如此大的範圍放在那裡，因為它會扭曲人們的想法，因為我們在第三季度再次取得了很好的成績。但是我們看到進入本季度的季節性，我們真的想發出一個信號，表明我們對該範圍有可見性，我們不希望人們在數字上超越自己。所以這就是我們這次將範圍收窄一點的原因。隨著我們進入新的一年，我們將關注我們獲得更多的可見性、一些其他指標和方法，讓你們更多地了解近期觀點，而不僅僅是我們的四分之一觀點'思考和我們要去的地方。當我與團隊和 Jamie 一起工作時，我們將看看我們將來可以在哪里為你們所有人擴大一些知名度。

Okay. Great. And then any early thoughts on fiscal year '24? It looks like based on what you're guiding to here, you've been excluding the train of backlog you've had probably about 5% year-over-year growth in demand here. Is that how we should be thinking about for fiscal year '24 or is a different framework we should think about here?

好的。偉大的。然後對 24 財年有任何早期想法嗎？看起來根據你在這裡的指導，你已經排除了積壓的火車，你在這裡的需求可能同比增長了大約 5%。這是我們應該如何考慮 24 財年，還是我們應該在這裡考慮一個不同的框架？

Well, I appreciate the effort, but we're not guiding '24, but we did want to give people a view on a couple of key metrics that were slightly down this quarter that we don't believe that, that is going to be a trend going forward, particularly on the margin side of it. So I think we'll give you guys the '24 guidance in a couple of months here.

好吧，我很感激你所做的努力，但我們並不是在指導 24 年，但我們確實想讓人們對本季度略有下降的幾個關鍵指標有一個看法，我們不相信，那將會是一種向前發展的趨勢，尤其是在它的利潤方面。所以我想我們會在幾個月後給你們提供 '24 指導。

Okay. And any thoughts on what the macro backdrop looks like for you guys?

好的。你們有什麼關於宏觀背景的想法嗎？

Yes. I mean, I know a lot of my peers are signaling slowdowns and conservativeness and I don't want to second guess them. We're guiding up 7% year-on-year, right? So we're guiding the strongest revenue quarter in quite a few years in our Q4. So we're not guiding to signaling we're seeing a big slowdown. I mean I don't -- and that may just be a reflection of the segments we play in. I mean our biggest segment is secondary storage, which is protecting and backing up data. And I don't think that correlates to global economies, meaning if the economy is doing poorly, people don't say, well, I guess, we're not going to back up our data. You're still going to back up and protect your data. So the trend we're dealing with is less of a macroeconomic trend. It's a trend that the world is creating more data, regardless of what the economy does, and the data needs to be protected and backed up. I do think the moviemaking industry is seeing a recovery, and they're making just as many movies as they did in the past. I think ransomware, whether there's a good economy or a poor economy, I think people are spending money to protect against ransomware. So the segments that we play in predominantly do not seem to be negatively affected the way laptops and other parts of -- other segments are being impacted. So right now, our guide does not guide to seeing major negative macroeconomic trends.

是的。我的意思是，我知道我的很多同行都在發出放緩和保守的信號，我不想再猜測他們。我們指導同比增長 7%，對嗎？因此，我們在第四季度指導了幾年來最強勁的收入季度。因此，我們並沒有指導我們看到經濟大幅放緩的信號。我的意思是我沒有——這可能只是我們參與的細分市場的反映。我的意思是我們最大的細分市場是二級存儲，它正在保護和備份數據。而且我認為這與全球經濟無關，這意味著如果經濟表現不佳，人們不會說，好吧，我猜，我們不會備份我們的數據。您仍然要備份和保護您的數據。所以我們正在處理的趨勢不是宏觀經濟趨勢。世界正在創造更多數據，這是一種趨勢，無論經濟狀況如何，數據都需要得到保護和備份。我確實認為電影製作行業正在復蘇，他們製作的電影數量與過去一樣多。我認為勒索軟件，無論是經濟好還是經濟差，我認為人們都在花錢來抵禦勒索軟件。因此，我們主要參與的細分市場似乎沒有像筆記本電腦和其他細分市場的其他部分受到影響的方式受到負面影響。因此，目前，我們的指南並未指導您看到重大的負面宏觀經濟趨勢。

Our next questions comes from the line of Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 Eric Martinuzzi 與 Lake Street Capital Markets 的對話。

Yes, I had a question regarding the guidance. If I go back the past couple of years, the sequential revenue Q3 to Q4 last year, we were flat. The year prior to that, we were down about $6 million sequentially. I understand there's seasonality, but it seems like a pretty dramatic step down Q3 to Q4. Would you care to comment on that?

是的，我對指南有疑問。如果我回顧過去幾年，去年第三季度到第四季度的連續收入，我們持平。在那之前的一年，我們連續下降了大約 600 萬美元。我知道存在季節性，但這似乎是從第三季度到第四季度的一個非常戲劇性的下降。你願意對此發表評論嗎？

So I think the prior flat, I'll start with more supply chain driven than anything. I think the other step down, if you will, going back to what this current quarter looked at, the supply chain loosening back up allowed us to fulfill a little bit more of that hyperscale demand, which had a little bit of elevation in the quarter. I go back to what Jamie said, though, a 7% year-on-year number. And if you look, it's the strongest Q4 that we've had in several years, even before the supply chain impacting it, that we think it's a strong indication heading into '24.

所以我認為之前的公寓，我將從更多的供應鏈驅動開始。我認為另一個退步，如果你願意的話，回到本季度的情況，供應鏈的放鬆讓我們能夠滿足更多的超大規模需求，該需求在本季度略有上升.不過，我回到傑米所說的，同比增長 7%。如果你看，這是我們幾年來最強勁的第四季度，甚至在供應鏈影響它之前，我們認為這是進入 24 世紀的強烈跡象。

So really, the supply -- the outperformance in Q3, you're saying that supply chain loosening helps or created kind of a bigger starting point. Okay.

所以說真的，供應——第三季度的出色表現，你是說供應鏈鬆動有助於或創造了一個更大的起點。好的。

Yes it does.

是的，它確實。

And then -- just again, the sequential guide on the adjusted EBITDA also seems -- I know we're talking about the product mix, taking roughly 2.5% out of that $102 million midpoint guide another $1 million for the OpEx higher, but that still seems -- the $0.5 million of adjusted EBITDA seems like a pretty dramatic step down. Is that conservatism that you're kind of baking in there just from the $6.3 million and the $0.5 million seems dramatic?

然後——再一次，調整後的 EBITDA 的順序指南似乎也——我知道我們在談論產品組合，從 1.02 億美元的中點指南中大約佔 2.5%，另外 100 萬美元用於更高的運營支出，但是看起來仍然——50 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA 似乎是一個非常戲劇性的下降。那種保守主義，你只是從 630 萬美元和 50 萬美元看起來很戲劇化嗎？

I think mix has a lot to do with it. So if you start with your top line and looking at what you're shipping out there, the mix with the hyperscale plus this 1 customer, that's a lot of fall-through to EBITDA that was an impact. We were purposely mindful to also point out the OpEx increase with the commissions and the other end of year elements. We are seeing some inflationary pieces where the OpEx run rate will probably be more around that 35%, 36% range going forward with some of that inflationary and merit pressures going forward. So you take the $1 million from the OpEx piece that we called out, give or take, and then you call out the points of margin, that's about 2 to 3 plus of EBITDA that fell off.

我認為混合與它有很大關係。因此，如果你從你的收入開始，看看你在那裡運送的東西，超大規模加上這個 1 個客戶的組合，這對 EBITDA 產生了很大的影響。我們還特意指出了佣金和其他年末因素導致的運營支出增加。我們看到一些通貨膨脹的部分，其中 OpEx 運行率可能會在 35% 左右，隨著一些通貨膨脹和績效壓力的增加，未來將達到 36% 的範圍。因此，您從我們提出、給予或接受的 OpEx 部分中取出 100 萬美元，然後您提出保證金點，這大約是 EBITDA 下降的 2 到 3 倍。

Okay. And then royalty continues to dwindle here. I think on a year-on-year basis, I'm looking at -- if I just replicate what you did in Q3 into Q4 would be off about 20%. I know you're not guiding at the product line, but just at a high level, is this the new normal? Should we anticipate continued erosion on the royalty?

好的。然後這裡的版稅繼續減少。我認為與去年同期相比，我正在考慮——如果我只是將你在第三季度所做的複製到第四季度，將會減少大約 20%。我知道你不是在指導產品線，而是在高層指導，這是新常態嗎？我們是否應該預料到特許權使用費會繼續受到侵蝕？

Yes. I think it's probably safe to say, I think we were at $2.8 million. I think $2.8 million is the new normal. And none of us have a crystal ball, but I'd say unless something changes, I think running around $2.8 million is about right for your model.

是的。我認為可以肯定地說，我認為我們的收入為 280 萬美元。我認為 280 萬美元是新常態。我們都沒有水晶球，但我想說，除非有什麼變化，否則我認為大約 280 萬美元對你的模型來說是合適的。

There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to hand the call back over to Jamie Lerner for any closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題。我現在想將電話轉回 Jamie Lerner 以徵求任何結束意見。

Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We're pleased with the results and have a lot of work in front of us, but it's great to have Ken on board and have some fresh legs here, and we're excited about Q4 and entering the new year. So thanks, everyone. Thanks for joining.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們對結果很滿意，我們面前還有很多工作要做，但很高興 Ken 加入並在這裡有一些新鮮的腿，我們對第四季度和進入新的一年感到興奮。所以謝謝大家。感謝您的加入。

Thank you. This does conclude today's teleconference. We appreciate your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Enjoy the rest of your day.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開線路。享受你剩下的一天。