DRS
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As confidentially submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 13, 2016

This draft registration statement has not been filed publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission and all information herein remains strictly confidential.

Registration No. 333-            

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

 

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

 

 

Casa Systems, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware   3663   75-3108867

(State or other jurisdiction of

incorporation or organization)

 

(Primary Standard Industrial

Classification Code Number)

 

(I.R.S. Employer

Identification No.)

100 Old River Road

Andover, Massachusetts 01810

(978) 688-6706

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

 

 

Jerry Guo

President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

Casa Systems, Inc.

100 Old River Road

Andover, Massachusetts 01810

(978) 688-6706

(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

 

 

Copies to:

 

David A. Westenberg, Esq.

Michael D. Bain, Esq.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

60 State Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02109

Telephone: (617) 526-6000

Telecopy: (617) 526-5000

 

Todd M. Keebaugh, Esq.

Corporate Counsel

Casa Systems, Inc.

100 Old River Road

Andover, Massachusetts 01810

Telephone: (978) 688-6706

 

Robert D. Sanchez, Esq.

Mark R. Fitzgerald, Esq.

Michael C. Labriola, Esq.

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

28 State Street, 37th Floor

Boston, Massachusetts 02109

Telephone: (617) 598-7800

Telecopy: (866) 974-7329

 

 

Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after this Registration Statement is declared effective.

If any of the securities being registered on this form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933, check the following box.  ☐

If this form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

 

Large accelerated filer      Accelerated filer  
Non-accelerated filer      Smaller reporting company  
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)       

 

 

CALCULATION OF REGISTRATION FEE

 

 

Title of Each Class of

Securities To Be Registered

  Proposed Maximum Aggregate
Offering Price(1)
 

Amount of

Registration Fee(2)

Common Stock, $0.001 par value per share

  $               $            

 

 

(1) Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(o) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
(2) Calculated pursuant to Rule 457(o) based on an estimate of the proposed maximum aggregate offering price.

 

 

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

 

 

 


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The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

 

PROSPECTUS (Subject to Completion)

Issued                 , 2017

             Shares

 

 

LOGO

Common Stock

 

 

Casa Systems, Inc. is offering              shares of our common stock. This is our initial public offering, and no public market currently exists for our shares of common stock. We anticipate that the initial public offering price of our common stock will be between $        and $        per share.

 

 

We intend to apply to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “CASA.”

 

 

We are an “emerging growth company” under applicable federal securities laws and will be subject to reduced public company reporting requirements. Investing in our common stock involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11.

 

 

PRICE $            A SHARE

 

 

 

      

Price to

Public

      

Underwriting
Discounts

and
Commissions(1)

      

Proceeds to
Casa Systems

 

Per Share

       $                    $                    $            

Total

       $                               $                               $                       

 

(1) See “Underwriters” beginning on page 123 for additional information regarding underwriting compensation.

We have granted the underwriters the right to purchase up to an additional                  shares of common stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and state securities regulators have not approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

The underwriters expect to deliver the shares on                 , 2017.

 

 

 

Morgan Stanley   J.P. Morgan   Barclays
Raymond James     Stifel

                    , 2017


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

     Page  

Prospectus Summary

     1   

Risk Factors

     11   

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

     38   

Industry and Other Data

     39   

Use of Proceeds

     40   

Dividend Policy

     41   

Capitalization

     42   

Dilution

     44   

Selected Consolidated Financial Data

     47   

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

     51   

Business

     78   
     Page  

Management

     92   

Executive Compensation

     97   

Related Person Transactions

     107   

Principal Stockholders

     110   

Description of Capital Stock

     112   

Shares Eligible for Future Sale

     116   

Material U.S. Federal Income and Estate Tax Considerations for Non-U.S. Holders of Common Stock

     119   

Underwriters

     123   

Legal Matters

     129   

Experts

     129   

Where You Can Find More Information

     129   

Index to Consolidated Financial Statements

     F-1   
 

 

 

You should rely only on the information contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectus we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide you with additional information or information different from that contained in this prospectus or any free writing prospectus. We and the underwriters are offering to sell, and seeking offers to buy, shares of our common stock only in jurisdictions where offers and sales are permitted. The information contained in this prospectus is accurate only as of the date on the front cover of this prospectus, or other earlier date stated in this prospectus, regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of our common stock.

Through and including                 , 2017 (the 25th day after the date of this prospectus), all dealers effecting transactions in these securities, whether or not participating in this offering, may be required to deliver a prospectus. This delivery requirement is in addition to a dealer’s obligation to deliver a prospectus when acting as an underwriter and with respect to an unsold allotment or subscription.

For investors outside the United States: Neither we nor the underwriters have done anything that would permit our initial public offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons outside the United States who come into possession of this prospectus must inform themselves about, and observe any restrictions relating to, the offering of the shares of our common stock and the distribution of this prospectus outside of the United States.


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Terms Used in this Prospectus

 

Concept

  

Abbreviation

  

Definition

Cable Modem Termination System

   (CMTS)   

A CMTS is a critical element of a cable service provider’s network. A CMTS is typically located either on the cable service provider’s premises or at a remote hub in the field and is used to provide high-speed data services such as Internet Protocol, or IP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, to cable subscribers. A CMTS enables IP data and IP voice communication between a cable service provider’s networks and subscribers’ modems through coaxial cable. A CMTS performs several network services, including subscriber and access management, data security and service provisioning for cable subscribers. A CMTS communicates with subscribers’ cable modems using DOCSIS protocol. DOCSIS is a cable industry standard defined by CableLabs, a consortium of cable service providers.

Converged Cable Access Platform

   (CCAP)   

A CCAP is a part of a cable service provider’s network that enables the delivery of IP voice, digital video and data over a single port. A CCAP combines CMTS functions that enable data and IP voice communication with edge-quadrature amplitude modulation, or Edge-QAM, functionality to enable video delivery over cable networks in one integrated chassis.

Field Programmable Gate Array

   (FPGA)   

An FPGA is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer after manufacturing. FPGAs can be reprogrammed in the field to desired application or functionality requirements through the use of custom software. This feature distinguishes FPGAs from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), which are custom manufactured for specific tasks and are not able to be modified after manufacturing.

Remote-PHY

   (R-PHY)   

R-PHY refers to remotely deployable hardware that is typically located at the edge of a cable service provider’s network, near where the customers are located. R-PHY is capable of radio frequency signal generation that provides connectivity from where the customers are located to the data center via an optical network. R-PHY is typically connected to a CMTS or a CCAP system at a data center. By placing R-PHY equipment closer to subscribers, cable service providers are able to move fiber closer to the network edge. This allows for cable service providers to serve more subscribers at higher speed, resulting in overall increased network throughput.


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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. You should read the following summary together with the more detailed information appearing in this prospectus, including our consolidated financial statements and related notes, and the risk factors beginning on page 11, before deciding whether to purchase shares of our common stock. Unless the context otherwise requires, we use the terms “Casa Systems,” “Casa,” “our company,” “we,” “us” and “our” in this prospectus to refer to Casa Systems, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

OUR VISION

Our products help our customers provide and manage broadband connectivity. We believe consumers and enterprises should be able to enjoy ultra-fast speeds and enhanced digital content experiences through their phones, tablets, computers, TVs and other connected devices at home or on the go. We believe that connectivity should be ubiquitous and seamless; it should not matter whether the user is accessing the Internet through wireless or fixed connections, and it should not matter whether that service is being provided by a cable operator, fixed telecom carrier or wireless services provider. Our innovative, software-centric products are designed to help achieve this vision.

OVERVIEW

We provide a suite of software-centric infrastructure solutions that allow cable service providers to deliver voice, video and data services over a single platform at multi-gigabit speeds. In addition, we offer solutions for next-generation distributed and virtualized architectures in cable operator, fixed telecom and wireless networks. Our innovative solutions enable customers to cost-effectively and dynamically increase network speed, add bandwidth capacity and new services for consumers and enterprises, reduce network complexity and reduce operating and capital expenditures.

We focus our development efforts on innovation and being the first to market with new products at each generational shift in cable network technology. We pioneered the use of a software-centric approach to leverage the programmability of FPGAs and general purpose processors for use in the cable industry. In addition, we believe we were the first to provide each of the following to our customers: a solution enabling cable service providers to deliver IP voice, digital video and data over a single port; a solution enabling cable service providers to deliver multi-gigabit speeds to their subscribers; and a remote node solution to enable distributed broadband cable access at gigabit speeds.

We have created a software-centric, multi-service portfolio that enables a broad range of core and access network functions for fixed and wireless networks. These networks share a common set of core and access network functions that enable network services, such as subscriber management, session management, transport security and radio frequency, or RF, management. Our Axyom software architecture allows the deconstruction of these core and access network functions into modular building blocks so that they can be applied to a particular end-user service, across fixed and wireless networks, which enables us to be a leader in network transformation. While we have historically focused on cable service providers, our Axyom software platform allows us to improve and expand the functionality of wireless service provider networks.

We offer a scalable solution that can meet the evolving bandwidth needs of our customers and their subscribers. Our first installation in a cable service provider’s network frequently involves deploying our broadband products in only a portion of the provider’s network and with only a fraction of the capacity of our products enabled at the time of initial installation. Over time, our customers have generally expanded the use of our solutions to other areas of their networks to increase network capacity. Capacity expansions are accomplished either by deploying additional systems or line cards, or by our remote enablement of additional channels through the use of software. Sales of additional line cards and software-based capacity expansions generate higher gross margins than our initial hardware-based deployments.

 



 

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Our solutions are commercially deployed in over 60 countries by more than 350 customers, including regional service providers as well as some of the largest Tier 1 broadband service providers, serving millions of subscribers. Our principal customers include Charter/Time Warner Cable, Rogers and Mediacom in North America; Liberty Global, Vodafone and DNA Oyj in Europe; and Jupiter Communications and Beijing Gehua CATV Networks in Asia-Pacific.

One of our largest customers, Time Warner Cable, launched its flagship “TWC Maxx” initiative in the New York City metropolitan area in 2014 using our solution. Our solution enabled Time Warner Cable to triple the maximum speed offered to its customers. The deployment of our solution also enabled Time Warner Cable to reduce power consumption by nearly 30%, or approximately 11GWh per year, which we estimate is enough power for over 1,800 residential homes. Our solution also enabled Time Warner Cable to reduce facility space and remove over 140 miles of coaxial copper cable.

We have achieved significant growth and profitability. For the year ended December 31, 2015, we generated revenue of $272.5 million, net income of $67.9 million and adjusted EBITDA1 of $115.5 million, representing increases of 29.0%, 13.8% and 22.1%, respectively, from the amounts for the year ended December 31, 2014. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016, we generated revenue of $216.9 million, net income of $48.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $74.5 million, representing increases of 18.8% and 17.4% and a decrease of 1.5%, respectively, from the amounts for the nine months ended September 30, 2015.

INDUSTRY BACKGROUND

We believe broadband service providers are facing several key challenges, including:

 

    Rapidly increasing bandwidth demand. Bandwidth demand has grown substantially and is expected to continue to increase, caused by more users with more connected devices and applications, increased use of bandwidth-intensive streaming media services, and the increasing prevalence of Internet of Things, or IoT, solutions, among other factors.

 

    Competition fueled by increasing breadth of service offerings. With increased consumer and enterprise choice for access to broadband, broadband service providers are increasingly coming into competition with each other, and must develop differentiated service offerings with higher levels of performance at lower cost.

 

    Increasing network complexity. As the diversity of service offerings has grown, network complexity has increased.

 

    Need to control operating and capital expenditures. The operation of network infrastructure is space, power and personnel intensive. In addition, broadband service providers are frequently required to incur significant capital expenditures to upgrade existing equipment.

 

1  Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. Please see “Selected Consolidated Financial Data—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding the limitations of using adjusted EBITDA and for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

 



 

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OPPORTUNITY TO TRANSFORM BROADBAND NETWORKS

Given the challenges they face, broadband service providers are undertaking three key technology initiatives to help build next-generation networks:

 

    Densification. Broadband service providers are shifting from centralized to more distributed architectures, a process referred to as densification. Densification requires extending network connectivity and distributing access aggregation solutions closer to end users.

 

    Network convergence. As fixed and wireless providers continue to consolidate and integrate their service offerings, which is referred to as convergence, these service providers are seeking to integrate their separate delivery modes with all-IP architectures, shared transport and a common suite of software-centric core and access network functions.

 

    Virtualization. Software-enabled architectures that are decoupled from underlying hardware allow for increased efficiencies, upgradability, configuration flexibility, service agility and scalability not feasible with hardware-centric approaches.

OUR SOLUTIONS

We offer solutions for fixed and wireless networks. Our software-centric, multi-service broadband platform, Axyom, enables ultra-broadband delivery and convergence. We engineered our platform from the ground-up to be high performance, flexible and adaptable, and to allow our customers to seamlessly address the growing demand for bandwidth and connectivity and competitive need for service agility.

Our platform provides the following key benefits to broadband service providers:

 

    Addition of critical bandwidth capacity. Our solutions enable broadband service providers to offer multi-gigabit speeds and to expand capacity seamlessly to meet the growing demand for bandwidth.

 

    Flexibility to add new and expand existing services. Our platform provides us with the flexibility to adapt to changing industry standards and customer needs.

 

    Ability to upgrade networks remotely. Our programmable architecture allows us to deploy technology updates to our customers remotely without the expense, disruption or network downtime caused by hardware replacements or field visits by personnel.

 

    Reduced network complexity, operating costs and capital expenditures. Our converged software platform allows broadband service providers to significantly reduce the complexity and costs of their networks by reducing parallel and otherwise redundant network architectures.

 

    Ability to densify networks. Our products help broadband service providers deploy more capacity at the network edge, closer to where end users and devices are accessing the network, increasing available bandwidth and reducing latency to improve quality of service.

 

    Common platform capabilities to address the needs of both fixed and wireless networks. Our software-centric, multi-service platform enables a broad range of network services for fixed and wireless networks allowing for the delivery of diverse consumer and enterprise applications.

Our primary product line is our portfolio of converged cable access platform, or CCAP, solutions, which enable the provision of voice, video and data over a single port.

OUR COMPETITIVE STRENGTHS

The following competitive strengths have helped us become a market leader:

 

   

Highly flexible, software-centric architecture. We have designed our product portfolio from the ground up to be software-centric and modular in nature. Our proprietary software is at the heart of our

 



 

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products. Our software allows us to leverage the programmability of FPGAs and general purpose processors in our solutions. Our software-centric architecture enables us to virtualize core network and access functions allowing these functions to be decoupled from underlying hardware, which is not feasible with hardware-centric approaches and allows for increased efficiencies, upgradability, configuration flexibility, service agility and scalability.

 

    Proven engineering and product development track record. We have a proven history of anticipating network evolutions and developing solutions that enable next-generation networks. Our forward-looking design and investment approach, coupled with our proven product development track record, has enabled us to deliver fully featured next-generation solutions in advance of competitors.

 

    Strong management and engineering team with a culture of innovation. We pride ourselves on our culture of innovation, which is driven by our management team of experienced executives and engineers with deep industry expertise. As of September 30, 2016, approximately 85% of our employees were engineers or had other technical backgrounds.

 

    Customer focus. We have a passion to serve our customers and the agility and flexibility to offer solutions to meet their evolving requirements.

 

    Diversified and established customer base. Our solutions are commercially deployed in over 60 countries by more than 350 customers, including some of the world’s largest Tier 1 broadband service providers.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

We believe that the shift to software-centric ultra-broadband networks and fixed and wireless network convergence presents us with a compelling market opportunity. We believe the total addressable market for our CCAP solutions, which currently account for all of our revenue, was $1.9 billion in 2016. In addition we believe the CCAP market, together with new wireless communications segments that we intend to enter more substantially in coming periods, will grow from $10.6 billion in 2016 to $18.3 billion in 2020.

OUR GROWTH STRATEGY

The key elements of our growth strategy are:

 

    Continue to innovate and extend technology leadership through R&D investment.

 

    Further penetrate existing customers.

 

    Expand our customer base.

 

    Expand the breadth of solutions sold to customers, with particular focus on the development of new software-based and virtualized products.

 

    Leverage our core technology for the cable industry into adjacent wireless markets.

 

    Invest in our platform through selective acquisitions.

RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR BUSINESS

You should consider carefully the risks described under the “Risk Factors” section beginning on page 11 and elsewhere in this prospectus. These risks, which include the following, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results, cash flow and prospects, which could cause the trading price of our common stock to decline and could result in a partial or total loss of your investment:

 

    If we do not successfully anticipate technological shifts, market needs and opportunities, and develop new products and product enhancements that meet those technological shifts, needs and opportunities, we may not be able to compete effectively.

 



 

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    Our success depends in large part on broadband service providers’ continued deployment of, and investment in, ultra-broadband network capabilities that make use of our solutions.

 

    We expect certain of our customers will continue to account for a substantial portion of our revenue.

 

    Timing of large orders and seasonality in our revenue may cause our quarterly revenue and results of operations to fluctuate and possibly decline materially from quarter to quarter.

 

    Our sales to the broadband service provider market are volatile and our sales cycles can be long and unpredictable. As a result, our sales and revenue are difficult to predict and may vary substantially from period to period, which may cause our revenue and results of operations to fluctuate and possibly decline significantly.

 

    We may not generate positive returns on our research and development investments.

 

    Our CCAP solutions currently represent all of our sales; this concentration may limit our ability to increase our revenue.

 

    We have invested heavily in developing wireless solutions, and we face risks in seeking to expand our platform into the wireless market.

 

    We believe the broadband service provider industry is in the early stages of a major architectural shift toward the virtualization of networks and the use of networks with distributed architectures. If the architectural shift does not occur, if it does not occur at the pace we predict, or if the products and services we have developed are not attractive to our customers after such shift takes place, our revenues could decline.

 

    We face intense competition, including from larger, well-established companies, and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.

 

    If we are unable to sell additional products to our existing customers, our revenue growth will be adversely affected and our revenue could decline.

 

    We may have difficulty attracting new large customers or acquiring new customers due to the high costs of switching broadband equipment.

 

    Our results of operations are likely to vary significantly from period to period and be unpredictable. If we fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors, the market price of our common stock could decline substantially.

OUR CORPORATE INFORMATION

We were incorporated in the State of Delaware on February 28, 2003. Our principal executive offices are located at 100 Old River Road, Andover, Massachusetts 01810, and our telephone number at that address is (978) 688-6706. Our website address is www.casa-systems.com. Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus, and you should not consider information contained on our website to be part of this prospectus or in deciding whether to purchase shares of our common stock.

“Casa Systems,” “Casa,” our logo and other trademarks or tradenames of Casa Systems, Inc. appearing in this prospectus are our property. This prospectus also contains trademarks and trade names of other companies, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this prospectus may appear without the ® or ™ symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks and trade names.

 



 

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THE OFFERING

 

Common stock offered

  

                  shares

Common stock to be outstanding after this offering

  

                  shares

Option to purchase additional shares

   We have granted the underwriters an option, exercisable for 30 days after the date of this prospectus, to purchase up to an additional              shares from us.

Use of proceeds

  

The principal purposes of this offering are to create a public market for our common stock, facilitate access to the public equity markets, increase our visibility in the marketplace and obtain additional capital.

 

We estimate that we will receive net proceeds from this offering of $            million, based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for the repayment of indebtedness of $             million and for working capital and general corporate purposes. In addition, we believe that opportunities may exist from time to time to expand our current business through acquisitions of or investments in complementary products, technologies or businesses. While we have no current agreements, commitments or understandings for any specific acquisitions at this time, we may use a portion of our net proceeds for these purposes. See “Use of Proceeds” for more information.

Dividend policy

   Although we have declared a special dividend on two separate occasions since our inception to provide a return of capital to stockholders and intend to declare an additional special dividend of $            million prior to the closing of this offering, we do not anticipate declaring cash dividends following this offering. We expect to fund the additional special dividend with a debt financing. See “Dividend Policy” for more information.

Risk factors

   See “Risk Factors” for a discussion of factors you should carefully consider before deciding to invest in our common stock.

Proposed Nasdaq Global Market symbol

   “CASA”

 



 

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The number of shares of our common stock to be outstanding after this offering is based on 6,590,326 shares of common stock outstanding as of December 1, 2016 and 8,076,394 additional shares of our common stock issuable upon the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock upon the closing of this offering and excludes:

 

    40,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2003 Stock Incentive Plan as of December 1, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.05 per share;

 

    2,918,113 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of December 1, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $18.37 per share;

 

    279,740 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of restricted stock units outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of December 1, 2016;

 

    664,131 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of December 1, 2016, which plan will terminate as to new awards upon the closing of this offering; and

 

             additional shares of common stock that will become available for issuance in connection with this offering under our 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

Except as otherwise noted, all information in this prospectus assumes:

 

    the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into an aggregate of 8,076,394 shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering; and

 

    no exercise by the underwriters of their option to purchase up to an additional              shares.

 



 

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SUMMARY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables present summary consolidated financial and other financial data for our business. The summary consolidated statement of operations data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The summary consolidated statement of operations data for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2016 and the summary consolidated balance sheet data as of September 30, 2016 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and have been prepared on a basis consistent with our audited consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited data reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information in those statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in the future, and the results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. You should read this summary consolidated financial data in conjunction with the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014     2015     2015     2016  
     (in thousands, except per share amounts)  

Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:

        

Revenue:

        

Product

   $ 194,358      $ 247,588      $ 166,167      $ 191,763   

Service

     16,920        24,862        16,376        25,139   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total revenue

     211,278        272,450        182,543        216,902   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenue(1):

        

Product

     59,088        74,349        48,484        68,793   

Service

     5,917        5,265        3,652        5,983   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     65,005        79,614        52,136        74,776   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     146,273        192,836        130,407        142,126   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development(1)

     25,481        37,155        27,408        37,213   

Sales and marketing(1)

     21,409        36,157        23,876        27,289   

General and administrative(1)

     10,346        16,453        12,558        13,532   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     57,236        89,765        63,842        78,034   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     89,037        103,071        66,565        64,092   

Other income (expense), net

     (2,942     (1,408     (1,561     953   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     86,095        101,663        65,004        65,045   

Provision for income taxes

     26,387        33,742        23,405        16,228   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

   $ 59,708      $ 67,921      $ 41,599      $ 48,817   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash dividends declared per common share or common share equivalent

   $ 1.9173      $      $      $ 2.9455   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income attributable to common stockholders(2):

        

Basic

   $ 23,287      $ 27,302      $ 16,365      $ 19,928   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ 23,843      $ 30,402      $ 18,144      $ 20,006   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 



 

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     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands, except per share amounts)  

Net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):

           

Basic

   $ 3.88       $ 4.30       $ 2.58       $ 3.04   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ 3.65       $ 3.92       $ 2.36       $ 2.37   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):

           

Basic

     5,997         6,348         6,344         6,564   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Diluted

     6,537         7,761         7,690         8,427   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Pro forma net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):

           

Basic

      $            $     
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Diluted

      $            $     
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used to compute pro forma net income
per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):

           

Basic

           
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Diluted

           
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Other Financial Data:

           

Non-GAAP net income(3)

   $ 62,145       $ 72,812       $ 45,059       $ 53,301   

Adjusted EBITDA(3)

   $ 94,632       $ 115,541       $ 75,685       $ 74,517   

 

(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense related to stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units granted to employees and non-employee consultants as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands)  

Cost of revenue

   $ 161       $ 143       $ 103       $ 178   

Research and development expense

     852         1,843         1,422         1,637   

Sales and marketing expense

     598         775         542         846   

General and administrative expense

     380         4,560         3,340         3,313   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 1,991       $ 7,321       $ 5,407       $ 5,974   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(2) See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements and Note 12 to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, both included elsewhere in this prospectus, for an explanation of the calculations of basic and diluted net income per share attributable to common stockholders and pro forma basic and diluted net income per share attributable to common stockholders.
(3) These financial measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP. See “Selected Consolidated Financial Data—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding our use of these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of such measures to their nearest comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

 



 

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     As of September 30, 2016  
     Actual      Pro Forma(2)      Pro Forma
As Adjusted(3)
 
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

        

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 161,706       $                        $                

Working capital(1)

     158,675         

Total assets

     331,668         

Long-term debt, including current portion

     7,593         

Total liabilities

     147,816         

Convertible preferred stock

     97,479              

Total stockholders’ equity

     86,373         

 

(1) We define working capital as current assets less current liabilities.
(2) The pro forma balance sheet data gives effect to the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 8,076,394 shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering, our borrowing in                     , 2016 of $            million under our Term Loan B and the accrual of a special dividend of $        million, which was declared by our board of directors on                     .
(3) The pro forma as adjusted balance sheet data gives further effect to (i) our sale of              shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $            per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us and (ii) the repayment of $            million of indebtedness under our Term Loan B.

 



 

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RISK FACTORS

Risks Related to Our Business and Our Industry

If we do not successfully anticipate technological shifts, market needs and opportunities, and develop new products and product enhancements that meet those technological shifts, needs and opportunities, we may not be able to compete effectively.

The broadband service provider market, including fixed and wireless, is characterized by rapid technological shifts and increasingly complex customer requirements to achieve scalable networks that accommodate rapidly increasing consumer demand for bandwidth. To compete effectively, we must continue to develop new technologies and products that address emerging technological trends and changing customer needs. The process of developing new technology is complex and uncertain, and the development of new offerings requires significant upfront investment that may not result in material improvements to existing products or result in marketable new products or costs savings or revenue for an extended period of time, if at all.

We believe that our culture of innovation is a significant factor in our ability to develop new products. If we are not able to attract and retain employees that are able to contribute to our culture of innovation, our ability to identify emerging technological trends and changing customer needs and successfully develop new products to address them could be adversely impacted.

The success of new products and enhancements also depends on many other factors, including timely completion and introduction, differentiation from products offered by competitors and previous versions of our own products and, ultimately, market acceptance of these new products and enhancements. In addition, new technologies or standards could render our existing products obsolete or less attractive to customers. If we are unable to successfully introduce new products and enhancements, we would not be able to compete effectively and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Our success depends in large part on broadband service providers’ continued deployment of, and investment in, ultra-broadband network capabilities that make use of our solutions.

A significant portion of our product and solution suite is dedicated to enabling cable service providers to deliver voice, video and data services over newer and faster ultra-broadband networks. As a result, our success depends significantly on these cable service providers’ continued deployment of, and investment in, their networks, which depends on a number of factors outside of our control. These factors include capital constraints, the presence of available capacity on legacy networks, perceived subscriber demand for ultra-broadband networks, competitive conditions within the broadband service provider industry and regulatory issues. If broadband service providers do not continue deploying and investing in their ultra-broadband networks in ways that involve our solutions, for these or other reasons, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

We expect certain of our customers will continue to represent a substantial portion of our revenue.

Historically, certain of our customers have accounted for a significant portion of our revenue. For example, sales to Time Warner Cable accounted for 26% of our revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, 14% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2015 and 41% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2014. In addition, sales to Rogers accounted for 17% of our revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, sales to Liberty Global accounted for 17% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2015 and sales to SCSK Corporation accounted for 13% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2014. In addition, our customers generally make purchases from us on a purchase-order basis rather than pursuant to long-term contracts, and those that do enter long-term contracts typically have the right to terminate their contracts for convenience. We expect that large customers will continue to account for a substantial portion of

 

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our revenue for the foreseeable future. We may also see consolidation of our customer base, which could result in loss of customers. In addition, some of our large customers have used, and may in the future use, the sizes and relative importance of their orders to our business to require that we enter into agreements with more favorable terms than we would otherwise agree to and obtain price concessions. The loss of a significant customer, a significant delay or reduction in purchases by large customers or significant price concessions to one or more large customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Timing of large orders and seasonality in our revenue may cause our quarterly revenue and results of operations to fluctuate and possibly decline materially from quarter to quarter.

Our customers tend to make large purchases from us when initiating or upgrading services based on our solutions, followed by smaller purchases for maintenance and ongoing support. As a result, our quarterly revenue and results of operations may be significantly impacted by one or a small number of large individual orders. For example, any cancellation of orders or any acceleration or delay in anticipated product purchases or the acceptance of shipped products by a large customer could materially affect our revenue and results of operations in any quarterly period. We may be unable to sustain or increase our revenue from other new or existing customers to offset the discontinuation of purchases by one of our larger customers. As a result, our quarterly revenue and results of operations are difficult to estimate and may fluctuate or decline materially from quarter to quarter.

In addition, we believe that there are significant seasonal factors which may cause revenue to be greater for the first and fourth quarters of our fiscal year as compared to the second and third quarters. We believe that this seasonality results from a number of factors, including the procurement, budgeting and deployment cycles of many of our customers. These seasonal variations may cause our quarterly revenue and results of operations to fluctuate or decline materially from quarter to quarter.

Our sales to the broadband service provider market are volatile and our sales cycles can be long and unpredictable. As a result, our sales and revenue are difficult to predict and may vary substantially from period to period, which may cause our revenue and results of operations to fluctuate and possibly decline significantly.

Our sales to the broadband service provider market have been characterized by large and sporadic purchases and long sales cycles. Sales activity often depends upon the stage of completion of expanding network infrastructures, the availability of funding and the extent to which broadband service providers are affected by regulatory, economic and business conditions in the countries in which they operate.

In addition, the timing of our sales and revenue recognition is difficult to forecast because of the unpredictability of our products’ sales cycles. A sales cycle is the period between initial contact with a prospective customer and the sale of our products to that customer. Customer orders often involve the purchase of multiple products. These orders are complex and difficult to obtain because prospective customers generally consider a number of factors over an extended period of time before committing to purchase the products and solutions we sell. Customers, especially in the case of our large customers, often view the purchase of our products as a significant and strategic decision and require considerable time to evaluate, test and qualify our products prior to making a purchase decision and placing an order. The length of time that customers devote to their evaluation, contract negotiation and budgeting processes varies significantly, but can often exceed 24 months. During the sales cycle, we expend significant time and money on sales and marketing activities and make investments in evaluation equipment, all of which lower our operating margins, particularly if no sale occurs.

Even if a customer decides to purchase our products, there are many factors affecting the timing of our recognition of revenue, which makes our revenue difficult to forecast. For example, the sale of our products may be subject to acceptance testing or there may be unexpected delays in a customer’s internal procurement processes, particularly for some of our larger customers, for whom our products represent a very small

 

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percentage of their total procurement activity. These factors may result in our inability to recognize revenue for months or years following a sale. In addition, other factors that are specific to particular customers can affect the timing of their purchases and the variability of our revenue recognition, including the strategic importance of a particular project to a customer, budgetary constraints and changes in their personnel. For all of these reasons, it is difficult to predict whether a sale will be completed, the particular period in which a sale will be completed and the period in which revenue from a sale will be recognized. If our sales cycles lengthen, our revenue could be lower than expected, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may not generate positive returns on our research and development investments.

Developing our products is expensive, and the investment in product development may involve a long payback cycle or may result in investments in technologies or standards that do not get adopted in the timeframe we anticipate, or at all. In the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and the years ended December 31, 2015 and 2014, respectively, our research and development expenses were $37.2 million, or approximately 17.2% of our revenue, $37.2 million, or approximately 13.6% of our revenue, and $25.5 million, or approximately 12.1% of our revenue. We expect to continue to invest heavily in software development in order to expand the capabilities of our broadband and wireless infrastructure solutions, introduce new products and features and build upon our technology leadership. Our investments in research and development may not generate positive returns in a timely fashion or at all.

Our converged cable access platform, or CCAP, solutions currently represent all of our sales; this concentration may limit our ability to increase our revenue, and our business would be adversely affected in the event we are unable to sell one or more of our products.

We are heavily dependent upon the sales of our CCAP solutions. In the event we are unable to market and sell these products or any future product that represents a substantial amount of our revenue, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

We have invested heavily in developing wireless solutions, and we face risks in seeking to expand our platform into the wireless market.

We have invested heavily in developing wireless solutions that have yet to generate revenue. We cannot guarantee that these investments, or any of our other investments in research and development will ever generate revenue or become profitable for us, and the failure of these investments to generate positive returns may adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. The wireless market makes up a substantial portion of our total potential addressable market. In addition, expanding our offerings into the wireless market presents other significant risks and uncertainties, including potential distraction of management from other business operations that generate more substantial revenue, the dedication of significant research and development, sales and marketing, and other resources to this new business line at the expense of our other business operations and other risks that we may not have adequately anticipated.

We believe the broadband service provider industry is in the early stages of a major architectural shift toward the virtualization of networks and the use of networks with distributed architectures. If the architectural shift does not occur, if it does not occur at the pace we predict, or if the products and services we have developed are not attractive to our customers after such shift takes place, our revenues could decline.

We believe the broadband service provider industry is in the early stages of transitioning to the virtualization of networks and the use of networks with distributed architectures. We are developing products and services that we believe will be attractive to our customers and potential customers who make that shift. Our strategy depends in part on our belief that the industry shift to a software-centric cloud-based architecture and increasing densification will continue. In our experience, fundamental changes like this often take time to

 

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accelerate and the adoption rates of our customers may vary. As our customers determine their future network architectures and how to implement them, we may encounter delayed timing of orders, deferred purchasing decisions and reduced expenditures. These longer decision cycles and reduced expenditures may negatively impact our revenues, or make it difficult for us to accurately predict our revenues, either of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Moreover, it is possible that our customers may reverse or fail to expand upon current trends toward virtualization and distributed architectures, which could result in significantly reduced demand for the products that we have developed and currently plan to develop.

We face intense competition, including from larger, well-established companies, and we may lack sufficient financial or other resources to maintain or improve our competitive position.

The market for broadband infrastructure solutions is intensely competitive, and we expect competition to increase in the future from established competitors and new market entrants. This competition could result in increased pricing pressure, reduced profit margins, increased sales and marketing expenses and our failure to increase, or the loss of, market share, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

In the broadband service provider market, we primarily compete with larger and more established companies, such as Arris and Cisco. As we seek to enter the wireless market, we expect to encounter additional competition from large, established providers of wireless communication networks, including Ericsson and Nokia.

Many of our existing and potential competitors enjoy substantial competitive advantages, such as:

 

    greater name recognition and longer operating histories;

 

    larger sales and marketing budgets and resources;

 

    broader distribution and established relationships with customers;

 

    greater access to larger customer bases;

 

    greater customer support resources;

 

    greater manufacturing resources;

 

    the ability to leverage their sales efforts across a broader portfolio of products;

 

    the ability to leverage purchasing power with vendor subcomponents;

 

    the ability to incorporate additional functionality into their existing products;

 

    the ability to bundle offerings with other products and services;

 

    the ability to set more aggressive pricing policies;

 

    lower labor and development costs;

 

    greater resources to fund research and development or otherwise acquire new product offerings;

 

    larger intellectual property portfolios; and

 

    substantially greater financial, technical, research and development or other resources.

Our ability to compete will depend upon our ability to provide a better solution than our competitors at a price that offers superior value. We may be required to make substantial additional investments in research, development, sales and marketing in order to respond to competition.

 

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We also expect increased competition if our market continues to expand. Conditions in our market could change rapidly and significantly as a result of technological advancements or other factors. Current or potential competitors may be acquired by third parties that have greater resources available than we do. Our current or potential competitors might take advantage of the greater resources of the larger organization resulting from these acquisitions to compete more vigorously or broadly with us. In addition, continued industry consolidation might adversely affect customers’ perceptions of the viability of smaller and even medium-sized companies, such as us, consequently, customers’ willingness to purchase from us. Further, certain large customers may develop broadband infrastructure solutions for internal use and/or to broaden their portfolios of internally developed resources, which could allow these customers to become new competitors in the market.

If we are unable to sell additional products to our existing customers, our revenue growth will be adversely affected and our revenue could decline.

To increase our revenue, we must sell additional products to our existing customers and add new customers. For example, one of our sales strategies is to target sales of capacity expansions and implementation of wireless solutions at our current cable customers because they are familiar with the operational and economic benefits of our solutions. However, our existing customers may choose to use other providers for their infrastructure needs. If we fail to sell additional products to our existing customers, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

We may have difficulty attracting new large customers or acquiring new customers due to the high costs of switching broadband equipment.

Broadband service providers typically need to make substantial investments when deploying network infrastructure, which can delay a purchasing decision. Once a broadband service provider has deployed infrastructure for a particular portion of its network, it is often difficult and costly to switch to another vendor’s infrastructure. Unless we are able to demonstrate that our products offer significant performance, functionality or cost advantages that outweigh a customer’s expense of switching from a competitor’s product, it will be difficult for us to generate sales once that competitor’s equipment has been deployed. Accordingly, if a customer has already deployed a competitor’s product for its broadband infrastructure, it may be difficult for us to sell our products to that customer. If we fail to attract new large customers or acquire new customers, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

We are exposed to the credit risk of some of our customers and to credit exposures in the event of turmoil in the credit markets, which could result in material losses.

Due to our reliance on significant customers, we are dependent on the continued financial strength of these customers. If one or more of our significant customers experience financial difficulties, it could result in uncollectable accounts receivable and our loss of such customers and anticipated revenue.

The majority of our sales are on an open credit basis, with typical payment terms of one year or less. We monitor individual customer payment capability in granting such open credit arrangements, seeking to limit such open credit to amounts we believe our customers can pay and maintain reserves we believe are adequate to cover exposure for doubtful accounts. However, there can be no assurance that our open credit customers will pay the amounts they owe to us or that the reserves we maintain will be adequate to cover such credit exposure. Our customers’ failure to pay and/or our failure to maintain sufficient reserves could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial statements. In addition, in the event that turmoil in the credit markets makes it more difficult for some customers to obtain financing, those customers’ ability to pay could be adversely impacted, which in turn could have a material adverse impact on our business and operations.

A portion of our sales is also derived through our resellers, which tend to have more limited financial resources than other customers and to present increased credit risk. Our resellers also typically have the ability to terminate their agreements with us for any reason upon advance written notice.

 

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We are exposed to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our sales agreements are primarily denominated in U.S. dollars. Therefore, a strengthening U.S. dollar could increase the real cost of our products to our customers outside of the U.S., and alternatively a decrease in the value of the U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies could increase our product and operating costs in foreign locations. If we are not able to successfully hedge against the risks associated with the currency fluctuations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

We generate a significant amount of revenue from sales to customers outside of the United States, and we are therefore subject to a number of risks associated with international sales and operations.

We have extensive international operations and generate a significant amount of revenue from sales to customers in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Latin America. Our ability to grow our business and our future success will depend to a significant extent on our ability to continue to expand our operations and customer base worldwide.

As a result of our international reach, we must hire and train experienced personnel to staff and manage our foreign operations. To the extent that we experience difficulties in recruiting, training, managing and retaining an international staff, and specifically staff related to sales management and sales personnel, we may experience difficulties in sales productivity in foreign markets. We also enter into strategic relationships with resellers and sales agents in certain international markets where we do not have a local presence. If we are not able to maintain these relationships internationally or to recruit additional companies to enter into reseller and sales agent relationships, our future success in these international markets could be limited. Business practices in the international markets that we serve may differ from those in the U.S. and may require us in the future to include terms other than our standard terms in customer contracts. To the extent that we may enter into customer contracts in the future that include non-standard terms related to payment, warranties or performance obligations, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Our international sales and operations are subject to a number of risks, including the following:

 

    greater difficulty in enforcing contracts and accounts receivable collection and longer collection periods;

 

    increased expenses incurred in establishing and maintaining our international operations;

 

    fluctuations in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and foreign currencies where we do business;

 

    greater difficulty and costs in recruiting local experienced personnel;

 

    wage inflation in certain growing economies;

 

    general economic and political conditions in these foreign markets;

 

    economic uncertainty around the world as a result of sovereign debt issues;

 

    communication and integration problems resulting from cultural and geographic dispersion;

 

    limitations on our ability to access cash resources in our international operations;

 

    ability to establish necessary business relationships and to comply with local business requirements;

 

    risks associated with trade restrictions and foreign legal requirements, including the importation, certification and localization of our products required in foreign countries;

 

    greater risk of unexpected changes in regulatory practices, tariffs and tax laws and treaties;

 

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    the uncertainty of protection for intellectual property rights in some countries;

 

    delays resulting from our need to comply with foreign cybersecurity laws;

 

    greater risk of a failure of our operations and employees to comply with both U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including antitrust regulations, the FCPA, privacy and data protection laws and regulations and any trade regulations ensuring fair trade practices; and

 

    heightened risk of unfair or corrupt business practices in certain geographies and of improper or fraudulent sales arrangements that may impact financial results and result in restatements of, or irregularities in, financial statements.

These and other factors could harm our ability to gain future international revenue and, consequently, materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Expanding our existing international operations and entering into additional international markets will require significant management attention and financial commitments. Our failure to successfully manage our international operations and the associated risks effectively could limit our future growth or materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are subject to anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended.

We are subject to anti-corruption laws such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, which generally prohibits U.S. companies and their employees and intermediaries from making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business, securing an advantage or directing business to another, and requires companies to maintain accurate books and records. Under the FCPA, U.S. companies may be held liable for the corrupt actions taken by directors, officers, employees, agents, or other strategic or local partners or representatives. We rely on non-employee third-party representatives and other intermediaries to develop international sales opportunities, and generally have less direct control over such third parties’ actions taken on our behalf. If we or our intermediaries fail to comply with the requirements of the FCPA or similar legislation, governmental authorities in the United States and elsewhere could seek to impose civil and/or criminal fines and penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition. We intend to increase our international sales and business and, as such, the cost of complying with such laws, and the potential harm from our noncompliance, are likely to increase.

Failure to comply with anti-corruption laws, such as the FCPA and the United Kingdom Bribery Act 2010, or the Bribery Act, and similar laws associated with our activities outside the U.S., could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences. Any violation of the FCPA, Bribery Act or similar laws could result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, loss of export privileges, severe criminal or civil sanctions suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracts, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business, results of operations and prospects. In addition, responding to any enforcement action or related investigation may result in a materially significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees.

We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could impair our ability to compete in international markets or subject us to liability if we violate these controls.

Our products may be subject to various export controls and because we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our products, certain of our products may be exported from various countries only with the required export license or through an export license exception. Furthermore, certain export control and economic sanctions laws prohibit the shipment of certain products, technology, software and services to embargoed countries and sanctioned governments, entities, and persons. If we fail to comply with the applicable export control laws, customs regulations, economic sanctions or other applicable laws, we could be subject to monetary damages or the imposition of restrictions which could materially adversely affect our business, financial

 

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condition, results of operations and prospects and could also harm our reputation. Further, there could be criminal penalties for knowing or willful violations, including incarceration for culpable employees and managers. Obtaining the necessary export license or other authorization for a particular sale may be time-consuming and may result in the delay or loss of sales opportunities.

In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain encryption technology and products, including through import permit and license requirements, and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products or could limit our customers’ ability to implement our products in those countries. Any change in export or import regulations, economic sanctions or related legislation, shift in the enforcement or scope of existing regulations or change in the countries, governments, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to, existing or potential customers with international operations or create delays in the introduction of our products into international markets. Any decreased use of our products or limitation on our ability to export or sell our products could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our revenue growth rate in recent periods may not be indicative of our future performance.

Our revenue growth rate in recent periods may not be indicative of our future performance. Our revenue grew 29.0% from the year ended December 31, 2014 to the year ended December 31, 2015 and 18.8% from the nine months ended September 30, 2015 to the nine months ended September 30, 2016. We may not achieve similar revenue growth rates in future periods. You should not rely on our revenue for any prior quarterly or annual period as any indication of our future revenue or revenue growth. If we are unable to maintain consistent revenue or revenue growth, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

The majority of our revenue growth has occurred since 2013, making it difficult to evaluate our future prospects.

We were founded in 2003 and booked our first revenue in 2006. The majority of our revenue growth has occurred since 2013, making it difficult to evaluate our future prospects, including our ability to plan for and manage future growth. We have encountered and will continue to encounter risks and difficulties frequently experienced by rapidly growing companies in constantly evolving industries, including the risks described in this prospectus. If we do not address these risks successfully, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected, and the market price of our common stock could decline.

Our products are necessary for the operation of our customers’ broadband service operations. Product quality problems, warranty claims, services disruptions, or other defects, errors or vulnerabilities in our products or services could harm our reputation and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We assist our customers in the operation of their broadband service operations. Failures of our products could result in significant interruptions in our customers’ capabilities to maintain their networks and operations. Further, unsatisfactory performance could cause us to lose revenue or market share, increase our service costs, cause us to incur substantial costs in analyzing, correcting or redesigning our products, cause us to lose significant customers, subject us to liability for damages and divert our resources from other tasks, any one of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Additionally, errors, failures or bugs in our products could result in warranty claims or claims by customers for losses that they sustain or, in some cases, could allow customers to claim damages. In addition, in the past, we have had to replace certain components of products that we had shipped or provide remediation in response to the discovery of defects or bugs from failures in software protocols.

 

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Limitation of liability provisions in our standard terms and conditions of sale, and those of our resellers and sales agents, may not be enforceable under some circumstances or may not fully or effectively protect us from end-customer claims and related liabilities and costs. In some cases, including with respect to indemnification obligations under many of our agreements with customers and resellers, our contractual liability may be uncapped. The sale and support of our products also entail the risk of product liability claims. We maintain insurance to protect against certain types of claims associated with the use of our products, but our insurance coverage may not adequately cover any such claims. In addition, even claims that ultimately are unsuccessful could result in expenditures of funds in connection with litigation and divert management’s time and other resources.

Our products must interoperate with operating systems, software applications and hardware, and comply with industry standards, that are developed by others, and if we are unable to devote the necessary resources for our products to interoperate with such software and hardware and comply with such standards, we may lose or fail to increase market share and experience a weakening demand for our products.

Generally, our products comprise only a part of and must interoperate with our customers’ existing infrastructure, specifically their networks, servers, software and operating systems, which may be manufactured by a wide variety of vendors and original equipment manufacturers. Our products must also comply with industry standards, such as Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, or DOCSIS, 3.0 and 3.1, which are established by third parties, in order to interoperate with such servers, storage, software and other networking equipment such that all systems function efficiently together. We may depend on other vendors to support prevailing industry standards. Also, some industry standards may not be widely adopted or implemented uniformly, and competing standards and other approaches may emerge that may be preferred by our customers.

In addition, when new or updated versions of these industry standards, software systems or applications are introduced, we must sometimes develop updated versions of our software so that our products will interoperate properly. We may not accomplish these development efforts quickly, cost-effectively or at all. These development efforts require capital investment and the devotion of engineering resources. If we fail to maintain compatibility with these systems and applications, our customers may not be able to adequately utilize our products, and we may lose or fail to increase market share and experience a weakening in demand for our products, among other consequences, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our ability to sell our products is highly dependent on the quality of our support and services offerings, and our failure to offer high-quality support and services could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Once our products are deployed within our customers’ networks, our customers depend on our support organization to resolve any issues relating to our products. Our provision of high-quality support is critical for the successful marketing and sale of our products. If we do not assist our customers in deploying our products effectively, do not succeed in helping our customers resolve post-deployment issues quickly or do not provide adequate ongoing support, it could adversely affect our ability to sell our products to existing customers and could harm our reputation with potential customers. In addition, our standard sales contracts require us to provide minimum service requirements to our customers on an ongoing basis and our failure to satisfy these requirements could expose us to claims under these contracts. Our failure to maintain high-quality support and services, including compliance with our contractual minimum service obligations, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We base our inventory requirements on our forecasts of future sales. If these forecasts are materially inaccurate, we may procure inventory that we may be unable to use in a timely manner or at all.

We and our contract manufacturers procure components and build our products based on our forecasts. These forecasts are based on estimates of future demand for our products, which are in turn based on historical

 

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trends and analyses from our sales and marketing organizations, adjusted for overall market conditions. To the extent our forecasts are materially inaccurate or if we otherwise do not need such inventory, we may under- or over-procure inventory, and such inaccuracies in our forecasts could subject us to contractual damages and otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Because we depend on third-party manufacturers to build our hardware, we are susceptible to manufacturing delays and pricing fluctuations that could prevent us from delivering customer orders on time, if at all, or on a cost-effective basis, which may result in the loss of sales and customers.

We depend on third-party contract manufacturers to manufacture our product hardware. A significant portion of our cost of revenue consists of payments to these third-party contract manufacturers. Our reliance on these third-party contract manufacturers reduces our control over the manufacturing process, quality assurance, product costs and product supply and timing, which exposes us to risk. To the extent that our products are manufactured at facilities in foreign countries, we may be subject to additional risks associated with complying with local rules and regulations in those jurisdictions. If we are unable to manage our relationships with our third-party contract manufacturers effectively, or if these third-party manufacturers suffer delays or disruptions for any reason, experience increased manufacturing lead times, capacity constraints or quality control problems in their manufacturing operations or fail to meet our future requirements for timely delivery, our ability to ship products to our customers would be severely impaired, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Our contract manufacturers typically fulfill our supply requirements on the basis of individual orders. We do not have long-term contracts with our third-party manufacturers that guarantee capacity, the continuation of particular pricing terms or the extension of credit limits. Accordingly, they are not obligated to continue to fulfill our supply requirements, which could result in supply shortages, the prices we are charged for manufacturing services could be increased on short notice and we may not be able to develop alternate or second contract manufacturers in a timely manner. If we add or change contract manufacturers, or change any manufacturing plant locations within a contract manufacturer network, we would add additional complexity and risk to our supply chain management.

In addition, we may be subject to significant challenges in ensuring that quality, processes and costs, among other issues, are consistent with our expectations and those of our customers. A new contract manufacturer or manufacturing location may not be able to scale its production of our products at the volumes or quality we require. This could also adversely affect our ability to meet our scheduled product deliveries to our customers, which could damage our customer relationships and cause the loss of sales to existing or potential customers, late delivery penalties, delayed revenue or an increase in our costs which could adversely affect our gross margins. This could also result in increased levels of inventory subjecting us to increased excess and obsolete charges that could have a negative impact on our results of operations.

Because some of the key components in our products come from limited sources of supply, we are susceptible to supply shortages or supply changes, which could disrupt or delay our scheduled product deliveries to our customers and may result in the loss of sales and customers.

Our products rely on key components that our contract manufacturers purchase on our behalf from a limited number of suppliers, including Altera, Bell Power, Broadcom, Maxim, Mini-Circuits, Qorvo and Xilinx. We do not have guaranteed supply contracts with any of our component suppliers, and our suppliers could delay shipments or cease manufacturing such products or selling them to us at any time. The development of alternate sources for those components is time-consuming, difficult and costly. If we are unable to obtain a sufficient quantity of these components on commercially reasonable terms or in a timely manner, sales of our products could be delayed or halted entirely or we may be required to redesign our products. Any of these events could result in lost sales and damage to our customer relationships, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In the event of a shortage or supply interruption from our

 

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component suppliers, we may not be able to develop alternate or second sources in a timely manner, on commercially reasonable terms or at all. In addition, certain of our customer contracts require us to notify our customers of any discontinuation of the products that we supply to them and to provide support for discontinued products, and lack of supply from our suppliers could leave us unable to fulfill our customer support obligations. Adverse changes to our relationships with our sole suppliers could result in lost sales and damage to our customer relationships, which would adversely impact our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We rely on resellers and sales agents to sell our products into certain international markets, and the loss of such resellers and sales agents could delay or harm our ability to deliver our products to our customers.

We rely upon resellers and sales agents to coordinate sales and distribution of our products in certain international markets. We provide our resellers and sales agents with specific training and programs to assist them in selling our products, but these steps may not be effective. In addition, our resellers and sales agents may be unsuccessful in marketing, selling and supporting our products and services. If we are unable to develop and maintain effective sales incentive programs for our resellers and sales agents, we may not be able to incentivize these resellers and sales agents to sell our products to customers. Any of our resellers and sales agents could elect to consolidate or enter into a strategic partnership with one of our competitors, which could reduce or eliminate our future opportunities with that reseller or sales agent. Our agreements with our resellers and sales agents may generally be terminated for any reason by either party with advance notice. We may be unable to retain these resellers and sales agents or secure additional or replacement resellers and sales agents. The replacement of one or more of our significant resellers or sales agents requires extensive training, and any new or expanded relationship with a reseller or sales agent may take several months or more to achieve productivity. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business and operations have experienced rapid growth in recent years, and if we do not appropriately manage any future growth or are unable to improve our systems and processes, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects will be adversely affected.

We have experienced rapid growth and increased demand for our products in recent years, which have placed a strain on our management, administrative, operational and financial infrastructure. For example, our revenue increased from $211.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2014 to $272.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 and from $182.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 to $216.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016. To handle the increase in demand, we have significantly expanded our headcount, from 352 as of December 31, 2014 to 579 as of September 30, 2016, and expect to continue to increase our headcount. As we have grown, we have had to manage an increasingly larger and more complex array of internal systems and processes to scale with all aspects of our business, including our software development, contract manufacturing and purchasing, logistics and fulfillment and sales, maintenance and support. Our success will depend in part upon our ability to manage our growth effectively. To do so, we must continue to increase the productivity of our existing employees and continue to hire, train and manage new employees as needed. To manage domestic and international growth of our operations and personnel, we will need to continue to improve our operational, financial and management controls and our reporting processes and procedures and implement more extensive and integrated financial and business information systems. We may not be able to successfully implement these or other improvements to our systems and processes in an efficient or timely manner, and we may discover deficiencies in their capabilities or effectiveness. Our failure to improve our systems and processes, or their failure to operate effectively and in the intended manner, may result in disruption of our current operations and customer relationships, our inability to manage the growth of our business and our inability to accurately forecast our revenue, expenses and earnings.

 

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If we are unable to hire, retain, train and motivate qualified personnel and senior management, including in particular our founders, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to continue to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, particularly software engineering and sales personnel. Competition for highly skilled personnel is often intense, particularly in the greater Boston region where we are headquartered, and we may not be able to attract and retain the highly skilled employees that we need to support our business. Many of the companies with which we compete for experienced personnel have greater resources than we have to provide more attractive compensation packages and other amenities. Research and development personnel are aggressively recruited by startup and growth companies, which are especially active in many of the technical areas and geographic regions in which we conduct product development. In addition, in making employment decisions, particularly in the high-technology industry, job candidates often consider the value of the stock-based compensation they are to receive in connection with their employment. Declines in the market price of our stock could adversely affect our ability to attract, motivate or retain key employees. If we are unable to attract or retain qualified personnel, or if there are delays in hiring required personnel, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Also, to the extent we hire personnel from competitors, or from certain customers or other third parties whose employees we have agreed not to solicit, we may be subject to allegations that such personnel have been improperly solicited, that such personnel have divulged proprietary or other confidential information or that former employers own certain inventions or other work product. Such claims could result in litigation.

Our future performance also depends on the continued services and continuing contributions of our founders and senior management to execute our business plan and to identify and pursue new opportunities and product innovations. Our employment arrangements with our employees do not require that they continue to work for us for any specified period, and therefore, they could terminate their employment with us at any time. In particular, the loss of Jerry Guo, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Weidong Chen, our Chief Technology Officer, could have a material adverse impact on our business. Further, the loss of other members of our senior management team, sales and marketing team or engineering team, or any difficulty attracting or retaining other highly qualified personnel in the future, could significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our development and strategic objectives, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Except with respect to Mr. Guo, we do not maintain “key person” life insurance on our officers, directors or key employees.

If we do not effectively expand and train our direct sales force, we may be unable to increase sales to our existing customers or add new customers, and our business will be adversely affected.

We depend on our direct sales force to increase sales with existing customers and to obtain new customers. As such, we have invested and will continue to invest substantially in our sales organization. In recent periods, we have been adding personnel to our sales function as we focus on growing our business, entering new markets and increasing our market share, and we expect to incur significant additional expenses in expanding our sales personnel in order to achieve revenue growth. There is significant competition for sales personnel with the skills and technical knowledge that we require. Our ability to achieve significant revenue growth will depend, in large part, on our success in recruiting, training, retaining and integrating sufficient numbers of sales personnel to support our growth, particularly in international markets. In addition, we have significantly increased the number of personnel in our sales and marketing departments in recent periods, with headcount growing from 67 as of December 31, 2014 to 94 as of December 31, 2015 to 114 as of September 30, 2016. New hires require significant training and may take significant time before they achieve full productivity. Our recent hires and planned hires may not become productive as quickly as we expect, and we may be unable to hire, retain or integrate into our corporate culture sufficient numbers of qualified individuals in the markets where we do business or plan to do business. If we are unable to hire, integrate and train a sufficient number of effective sales

 

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personnel, or the sales personnel we hire are not successful in obtaining new customers or increasing sales to our existing customer base, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected.

Adverse economic conditions or reduced broadband infrastructure spending may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business depends on the overall demand for broadband connectivity. Weak domestic or global economic conditions, fear or anticipation of such conditions or a reduction in broadband infrastructure spending even if economic conditions improve, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects in a number of ways, including longer sales cycles, lower prices for our products and services, reduced sales and lower or no growth. Continued turmoil in the geopolitical environment in many parts of the world may also affect the overall demand for our products and services. Deterioration in global economic or political conditions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects in the future. A prolonged period of economic uncertainty or a downturn may also significantly affect the availability of capital and the terms and conditions of financing arrangements, including the overall cost of financing as well as the financial health or creditworthiness of our customers. Circumstances may arise in which we need, or desire, to raise additional capital, and such capital may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

Breaches of our cybersecurity systems and measures could degrade our ability to conduct our business operations and deliver products and services to our customers, delay our ability to recognize revenue, compromise the integrity of our products, result in significant data losses and the theft of our intellectual property, damage our reputation, expose us to liability to third parties and require us to incur significant additional costs to maintain the security of our networks and data.

We increasingly depend upon our IT systems to conduct virtually all of our business operations, ranging from our internal operations and product development activities to our marketing and sales efforts and communications with our customers and business partners. Certain persons and entities may attempt to penetrate our network, or of the systems hosting our website, or our other networks and systems, and may otherwise seek to misappropriate our proprietary or confidential information or cause interruptions of our service. Because the techniques used by such persons and entities to access or sabotage networks and systems change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques. In addition, sophisticated hardware and operating system software and applications that we produce or procure from third parties may contain defects in design or manufacture, including “bugs” and other problems that could unexpectedly interfere with the operation of our networks, system, or products. We have also outsourced a number of our business functions to third-parties, including our manufacturers and logistics providers, and our business operations also depend, in part, on the success of these third parties’ own cybersecurity measures. Additionally, we depend upon our employees and independent contractors to appropriately handle confidential data and deploy our IT resources in a safe and secure fashion that does not expose our network systems to security breaches and the loss of data. Accordingly, if any of our cybersecurity systems, processes or policies, or those of any of our manufacturers, logistics providers, customers or independent contractors fail to protect against unauthorized access, sophisticated hacking or terrorism and the mishandling, misuse, or misappropriation of data by employees, contractors or other persons or entities, our ability to conduct our business effectively could be damaged in a number of ways, including:

 

    sensitive data regarding our business, including intellectual property, personal information and other confidential and proprietary data, could be stolen;

 

    our electronic communications systems, including email and other methods, could be disrupted, and our ability to conduct our business operations could be seriously damaged until such systems can be restored;

 

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    our ability to process customer orders and electronically deliver products and services could be degraded, and our distribution channels could be disrupted, resulting in delays in revenue recognition, damage to our relationships with customers and prospective customers and damage to our reputation;

 

    defects and security vulnerabilities could be introduced into our software, products, network and systems, thereby damaging our reputation and perceived reliability and security of our products and potentially making the systems of our customers vulnerable to data loss and cyber incidents; and

 

    personally identifiable data relating to various parties, including end users, employees and business partners could be compromised.

Should any of the above events occur, we could be subject to significant claims for liability from our customers, employees or others and regulatory investigations or actions from governmental agencies. In addition, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights could be compromised and our reputation and competitive position could be significantly harmed. Any regulatory, contractual or other actions, litigations, investigations, fines, penalties and liabilities relating to any actual or alleged misuse or misappropriation of personal data or other confidential or proprietary information could be significant in terms of monetary exposure and reputational impact and necessitate changes to our business operations that may be disruptive to us. Additionally, we could incur significant costs in order to upgrade our cybersecurity systems, processes, policies and procedures and remediate damages. Consequently, our financial performance and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.

If we are unable to obtain, maintain or protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed or we could be required to incur significant expenses to enforce our rights.

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to protect our proprietary technology. We rely on trade secret, patent, copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties to protect and enforce our rights to our proprietary technology, all of which offer only limited protection.

In order to protect our trade secrets and proprietary information, we rely in significant part on confidentiality arrangements with our employees, licensees, independent contractors, advisers and customers. These arrangements may not be effective to prevent disclosure of confidential information, including trade secrets, and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information. In addition, if others independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information, we would not be able to assert trade secret rights against such parties. Effective trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services are available or where we have employees or independent contractors. The loss or unavailability of trade secret protection could make it easier for third parties to compete with our products by copying functionality. In addition, any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, the trade secret and employment laws in any country in which we operate may compromise our ability to enforce our trade secret and intellectual property rights. Costly and time-consuming litigation could be necessary to enforce and determine the scope of our proprietary rights, and failure to obtain or maintain trade secret protection could adversely affect our competitive business position.

We also rely on patents to protect certain aspects of our proprietary technology in the United States. The process of obtaining patent protection is expensive and time-consuming, and we may not be able to prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. We may choose not to seek patent protection for certain innovations and may choose not to pursue patent protection in certain jurisdictions. Further, we cannot guarantee that any of our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents or that any patents that do issue from such applications will have adequate scope to provide us with a competitive advantage. There is no assurance that all potentially relevant prior art relating to our patents and patent applications has been found. To the extent that additional patents are issued from our patent applications, which is not certain, third parties may challenge their validity, enforceability or scope, which may result in such patents being narrowed or invalidated. If third parties have prepared and filed patent applications in the United States

 

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that also claim technology to which we have rights, we may have to participate in interference proceedings in the United States Patent and Trademark Office to determine priority of invention for patent applications filed before March 16, 2013, or in derivation proceedings to determine inventorship for patent applications filed after such date. In addition, patents have a limited lifespan. In the United States, the natural expiration of a patent is generally 20 years after its effective filing date. Even if patents covering our products are obtained by us or by our licensors, once such patents expire, we may be vulnerable to competition from similar products. Moreover, the rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with adequate protection or competitive advantages, and, as with any technology, competitors may be able to develop similar or superior technologies to our own now or in the future.

Despite our efforts, the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to preclude misappropriation of our proprietary information or infringement of our intellectual property rights, and our ability to police such misappropriation or infringement is uncertain, particularly in countries outside of the United States. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained or are unable to adequately enforce intellectual property protection to develop their own products. We are also restricted from asserting our intellectual property rights against certain customers under our contracts with them.

Detecting and protecting against the unauthorized use of our products, technology and proprietary rights is expensive, difficult and, in some cases, impossible. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of management resources, either of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, and there is no guarantee that we would be successful. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to protecting their technology or intellectual property rights than we do. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property, which could result in a substantial loss of our market share. Even if we did succeed in enforcing our intellectual property through litigation, this may be costly and divert management resources.

Finally, certain of our license agreements with our third-party licensors provide for joint ownership of developments or inventions that we create that are related to the subject matter of the license. Other agreements to which we are subject, including member agreements with standards bodies and research and development consortia, may require us to disclose and/or grant licenses to technology that is related to the subject matter of the standards body or the consortium and included in our contributions to specifications established by these bodies. These agreements could result in third parties having ownership or license rights to important intellectual property that we otherwise may have elected to maintain exclusive ownership of.

If our trademarks and trade names are not adequately protected, then we may not be able to build name recognition in our markets of interest and our business may be adversely affected.

We have not applied for trademark registration for our name and logo in all geographic markets. In those markets where we have applied for trademark registration, failure to secure those registrations could adversely affect our ability to enforce and defend our trademark rights and result in indemnification claims. Our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names, as well as the registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names used by our resellers or distributors associated with our products, may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks. Any claim of infringement by a third party, even those claims without merit, could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against such claim, could divert management attention from our business and could require us to cease use of such intellectual property in certain geographic markets. Over the long term, if we, or our resellers or distributors, are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks and trade names, then our business may be adversely affected.

 

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Assertions by third parties of infringement or other violations by us of their intellectual property rights, or other lawsuits asserted against us, could result in significant costs and materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Patent and other intellectual property disputes are common in the broadband infrastructure industry and have resulted in protracted and expensive litigation for many companies. Many companies in the broadband infrastructure industry, including our competitors and other third parties, as well as non-practicing entities, own large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, which they may use to assert claims of patent infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights against us. From time to time, they have or may in the future also assert such claims against us, our customers whom we typically indemnify against claims that our products infringe, misappropriate or otherwise violate the intellectual property rights of third parties.

As the number of products and competitors in our market increases and overlaps occur, claims of infringement, misappropriation and other violations of intellectual property rights may increase. Any claim of infringement, misappropriation or other violations of intellectual property rights by a third party, even those without merit, could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim, distract our management from our business and require us to cease use of such intellectual property, which may impact important elements of our business. In addition, some claims for patent infringement may relate to subcomponents that we purchase from third parties. If these third parties are unable or unwilling to indemnify us for these claims, we could be substantially harmed.

The patent portfolios of most of our competitors are larger than ours. This disparity may increase the risk that our competitors may sue us for patent infringement and may limit our ability to counterclaim for patent infringement or settle through patent cross-licenses. In addition, future assertions of patent rights by third parties, and any resulting litigation, may involve patent holding companies or other adverse patent owners who have no relevant product revenue and against whom our own patents may therefore provide little or no deterrence or protection. We cannot guarantee that we are not infringing or otherwise violating any third-party intellectual property rights.

The third-party asserters of intellectual property claims may be unreasonable in their demands, or may simply refuse to settle, which could lead to expensive settlement payments, prolonged periods of litigation and related expenses, additional burdens on employees or other resources, distraction from our business, supply stoppages and lost sales. Moreover, in recent years, individuals and groups that are non-practicing entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls”, have purchased patents and other intellectual property assets for the purpose of making claims of infringement in order to extract settlements. In the past, we have received threatening letters or notices and have been the subject of claims that our solutions and underlying technology infringe or violate the intellectual property rights of others. Responding to such claims, regardless of their merit, can be time consuming, costly to defend in litigation, divert management’s attention and resources, damage our reputation and brand, and cause us to incur significant expenses.

An adverse outcome of a dispute may require us to pay substantial damages including treble damages if we are found to have willfully infringed a third party’s patents; cease making, licensing or using solutions that are alleged to infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property of others; expend additional development resources to attempt to redesign our products or services or otherwise to develop non-infringing technology, which may not be successful; enter into potentially unfavorable royalty or license agreements in order to obtain the right to use necessary technologies or intellectual property rights; and indemnify our partners and other third parties. Any damages or royalty obligations we may become subject to as a result of an adverse outcome, and any third-party indemnity we may need to provide, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Royalty or licensing agreements, if required or desirable, may be unavailable on terms acceptable to us, or at all, and may require significant royalty payments and other expenditures. Further, there is little or no information publicly available concerning market or fair values for license fees, which can lead to

 

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overpayment of license or settlement fees. In addition, some licenses may be non-exclusive, and therefore our competitors may have access to the same technology licensed to us. Suppliers subject to third-party intellectual property claims also may choose or be forced to discontinue or alter their arrangements with us, with little or no advance notice to us. Any of these events could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Unavailability, termination or breach of licenses to third-party software and other intellectual property could materially harm our business.

Many of our products and services include software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties, and we otherwise use software and other intellectual property licensed from third parties in our business. We exercise no control over our third-party licensors, and the failure or unsuitability of their software or other intellectual property exposes us to risks that we will have little ability to control. For example, a licensor may have difficulties keeping up with technological changes or may stop supporting the software or other intellectual property that it licenses to us; our licensors may also have the ability to terminate our licenses if the licensed technology becomes the subject of a claim of intellectual property infringement. Also, it will be necessary in the future to renew licenses, expand the scope of existing licenses or seek new licenses, relating to various aspects of these products and services or otherwise relating to our business, which may result in increased license fees. Any new licenses may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. In addition, a third party may assert that we or our customers are in breach of the terms of a license, which could, among other things, give such third party the right to terminate a license or seek damages from us, or both. The inability to obtain or maintain certain licenses or other rights or to obtain or maintain such licenses or rights on favorable terms, or the need to engage in litigation regarding these matters, could result in delays in releases of products and services and could otherwise disrupt our business, until equivalent technology can be identified, licensed or developed, if at all, and integrated into our products and services or otherwise in the conduct of our business. Moreover, the inclusion in our products and services of software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties on a nonexclusive basis may limit our ability to differentiate our products from those of our competitors. Any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our products contain third-party open source software components, and failure to comply with the terms of the underlying open source software licenses could restrict our ability to sell our products.

Our products contain software modules licensed to us by third-party authors under “open source” licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. Some open source licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software that we use. If we combine our software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain open source licenses, be required to release portions of the source code of our software to the public. This would allow our competitors to create similar products with lower development effort and time and ultimately could result in a loss of product sales for us.

Although we monitor our use of open source software to avoid subjecting our products to undesirable conditions, we do not have a formal open source policy in place that gives our developers written guidance on what open source licenses we deem “safe.” Further, even where we believe an open source license may have acceptable conditions, the terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and these licenses could be construed in a way that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products. Moreover, we cannot assure you that our informal processes for controlling our use of open source software in our products will be effective or that our compliance with open source licenses, including notice and attribution requirements, are adequate. If we are held to have breached the terms of an open source software license, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties to continue offering our products on terms that are not economically feasible, to re-engineer our products, to discontinue the sale of our products if

 

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re-engineering could not be accomplished on a timely basis or to make generally available, in source code form, our proprietary code. We also could face infringement claims. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our failure to adequately protect personal data and to comply with related laws and regulations could result in material liability.

A wide variety of provincial, state, national, foreign, and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer (including across national boundaries), and other processing of personal data. These data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and being tested in courts and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions.

Any failure by us to comply with applicable laws and regulations, or to protect such data, could result in enforcement action against us, including fines, imprisonment of company officials and public censure, claims for damages by end-customers and other affected persons and entities, damage to our reputation and loss of goodwill, and other forms of injunctive or operations-limiting relief, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, financial performance, and business.

Definitions of personal data and personal information, and requirements relating to the same under applicable laws and regulations within the European Union, the United States, and elsewhere, change frequently and are subject to new and different interpretations by courts and regulators. Because the interpretation and application of laws and other obligations relating to privacy and data protection are uncertain, it is possible that existing or future laws, regulations, and other obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data management practices. We may be required to expend significant resources to modify our products and otherwise adapt to these changes, which we may be unable to do on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and our ability to develop new products and features could be limited. These developments could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. Even if not subject to legal challenge, the perception of privacy concerns, whether or not valid, may harm our reputation and inhibit adoption of our products by current and prospective customers.

Failure to comply with governmental laws and regulations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to regulation by various federal, state, local and foreign governmental agencies, including agencies responsible for monitoring and enforcing employment and labor laws, workplace safety, product safety, environmental laws, consumer protection laws, anti-bribery laws, import/export controls, federal securities laws and tax laws and regulations. In certain jurisdictions, these regulatory requirements may be more stringent than those in the United States. From time to time, we may receive inquiries from such governmental agencies or we may make voluntary disclosures regarding our compliance with applicable governmental regulations or requirements. Noncompliance with applicable government regulations or requirements could subject us to sanctions, mandatory product recalls, enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, fines, damages, civil and criminal penalties or injunctions. If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We may invest in or acquire other businesses, which could require significant management attention, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

As part of our growth strategy, we may make investments in or acquire complementary companies, products or technologies. We do not have experience in making investments in other companies nor have we made any

 

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acquisitions to date, and as a result, our ability as an organization to evaluate and/or complete investments or acquire and integrate other companies, products or technologies in a successful manner is unproven. We may not be able to find suitable investment or acquisition candidates, and we may not be able to complete such investments or acquisitions on favorable terms, if at all. If we do complete investments or acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve our goals, and any investments or acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by our customers, investors and securities analysts.

In addition, investments and acquisitions may result in unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. For example, if we are unsuccessful at integrating any acquisitions or retaining key talent from those acquisitions, or the technologies associated with such acquisitions, into our company, the business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects of the combined company could be materially adversely affected. Any integration process may require significant time and resources, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully. We may not successfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology or personnel or accurately forecast the financial effects of an acquisition transaction, including accounting charges. We may have to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for any such investment or acquisition, each of which could adversely affect our financial condition or the market price of our common stock. The sale of equity or issuance of debt to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could also include covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to manage our operations. Moreover, if the investment or acquisition becomes impaired, we may be required to take an impairment charge, which could adversely affect our financial condition or the market price of our common stock.

Our international operations may give rise to potentially adverse tax consequences.

We are expanding our international operations and staff to better support our growth into the international markets. We generally conduct our international operations through wholly-owned subsidiaries and report our taxable income in various jurisdictions worldwide based upon our business operations in those jurisdictions. Our corporate structure and associated transfer pricing policies contemplate the business flows and future growth into the international markets, and consider the functions, risks and assets of the various entities involved in the intercompany transactions. The amount of taxes we pay in different jurisdictions may depend on the application of the tax laws of the various jurisdictions, including the United States, to our international business activities, changes in tax rates, new or revised tax laws or interpretations of existing tax laws and policies and our ability to operate our business in a manner consistent with our corporate structure and intercompany arrangements. The taxing authorities of the jurisdictions in which we operate may challenge our methodologies for pricing intercompany transactions, which are required to be computed on an arm’s-length basis pursuant to the intercompany arrangements or disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a challenge or disagreement were to occur, and our position was not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations. Our financial statements could fail to reflect adequate reserves to cover such a contingency.

Current U.S. tax laws could impact the tax treatment of our foreign earnings by creating limits on the ability of taxpayers to claim and utilize foreign tax credits and deferring certain tax deductions until earnings outside of the United States are repatriated to the United States. Due to our existing, and anticipated expansion of, our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.

Taxing authorities may successfully assert that we should have collected or in the future should collect sales and use, value added or similar taxes, and we could be subject to liability with respect to past or future sales, which could adversely affect our operating results.

We do not collect sales and use, value added or similar taxes in all jurisdictions in which we have sales, and we have been advised that such taxes are not applicable to our products and services in certain jurisdictions.

 

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Sales and use, value added and similar tax laws and rates vary greatly by jurisdiction. Certain jurisdictions in which we do not collect such taxes may assert that such taxes are applicable, which could result in tax assessments, penalties and interest, to us or our end-customers for the past amounts, and we may be required to collect such taxes in the future. If we are unsuccessful in collecting such taxes from our end-customers, we could be held liable for such costs. Such tax assessments, penalties and interest, or future requirements may adversely affect our operating results.

If we needed to raise additional capital to expand our operations and invest in new products, our failure to do so on favorable terms could reduce our ability to compete and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents, together with our net proceeds from this offering, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. However, if we need to raise additional funds to expand our operations and invest in new products, we may not be able to obtain additional debt or equity financing on favorable terms, if at all. If we raise additional equity financing, our stockholders may experience significant dilution of their ownership interests, and the market price of our common stock could decline. Furthermore, we intend to engage in a debt financing and the holders of such debt will have priority over the holders of common stock, and we expect to be required to accept terms that will restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness and impose other restrictions on our business. We also expect to be required to take other actions that would otherwise be in the interests of the debt holders, including maintaining specified liquidity or other ratios, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Our business is subject to the risks of fire, power outages, floods and other catastrophic events and to interruption by manmade problems such as terrorism.

Our corporate headquarters and the operations of our key manufacturing vendors, as well as many of our customers, are located in areas exposed to risks of natural disasters such as fires and floods. A significant natural disaster, such as a fire, flood or other catastrophic events such as a disease outbreak, could have a material adverse effect on our or their business, which could in turn materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. For example, in the event our manufacturing or logistics abilities are hindered by any of the events discussed above, shipments could be delayed, which could result in missed financial targets, such as revenue and shipment targets, for a particular quarter. Further, if a natural disaster occurs in a region from which we derive a significant portion of our revenue, customers in that region may delay or forego purchases of our products, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. In addition, acts of terrorism could cause disruptions in our business or the business of our manufacturers, logistics providers, partners or customers or the economy as a whole. All of the aforementioned risks may be compounded if our disaster recovery plans and those of our manufacturers, logistics providers or partners prove to be inadequate. To the extent that any of the above results in delays or cancellations of customer orders, or delays in the manufacture, deployment or shipment of our products, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects would be adversely affected.

Regulations affecting broadband infrastructure could reduce demand for our products.

Laws and regulations governing the Internet and electronic commerce are emerging but remain largely unsettled, even in the areas where there has been some legislative action. Regulations may focus on, among other things, assessing access or settlement charges, or imposing tariffs or regulations based on the characteristics and quality of products, either of which could restrict our business or increase our cost of doing business. Government regulatory policies are likely to continue to have a major impact on the pricing of existing and new network services and, therefore, are expected to affect demand for those services and the communications products, including our products, supporting those services.

 

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Any changes to existing laws or the adoption of new regulations by federal or state regulatory authorities or any legal challenges to existing laws or regulations affecting IP networks could materially adversely affect the market for our products. Moreover, customers may require us, or we may otherwise deem it necessary or advisable, to alter our products to address actual or anticipated changes in the regulatory environment. Our inability to alter our products or address any regulatory changes could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Our credit facility contains restrictive and financial covenants that may limit our operating flexibility.

Our credit facility contains certain restrictive covenants that either limit our ability to, or require a mandatory prepayment in the event we, incur additional indebtedness and liens, merge with other companies or consummate certain changes of control, acquire other companies, engage in new lines of business, change business locations, make certain investments, make any payments on any subordinated debt, transfer or dispose of assets, amend certain material agreements, and enter into various specified transactions. We, therefore, may not be able to engage in any of the foregoing transactions unless we obtain the consent of our lender or prepay the outstanding amount under the credit facility. The credit facility also contains certain financial covenants and financial reporting requirements. Our obligations under the credit facility are secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding intellectual property and investments in foreign subsidiaries. We may not be able to generate or sustain sufficient cash flow or sales to meet the financial covenants or pay the principal and interest under the credit facility. Furthermore, our future working capital, borrowings or equity financing could be unavailable to repay or refinance the amounts outstanding under the credit facility. In the event of a liquidation, our lender would be repaid all outstanding principal and interest prior to distribution of assets to unsecured creditors, and the holders of our common stock would receive a portion of any liquidation proceeds only if all of our creditors, including our lender, were first repaid in full.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and this Offering

Our results of operations are likely to vary significantly from period to period and be unpredictable. If we fail to meet the expectations of analysts or investors, the market price of our common stock could decline substantially.

Our results of operations have historically varied from period to period, and we expect that this trend will continue. As a result, you should not rely upon our past financial results for any period as indicators of future performance. Our results of operations in any given period can be influenced by a number of factors, many of which are outside of our control and may be difficult to predict, including the factors described above as well as:

 

    changes in our pricing policies, whether initiated by us or as a result of competition;

 

    the amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures related to the operation and expansion of our business;

 

    changes in the growth rate of the broadband services market;

 

    the actual or rumored timing and success of new product and service introductions by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or customers;

 

    our ability to successfully expand our business geographically;

 

    insolvency or credit difficulties confronting our customers, which could adversely affect their ability to purchase or pay for our products and services, or confronting our key suppliers, including our sole source suppliers, which could disrupt our supply chain;

 

    our inability to fulfill our customers’ orders due to supply chain delays, access to key commodities or technologies or events that impact our manufacturers or their suppliers;

 

    the cost and possible outcomes of any potential litigation matters;

 

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    our overall effective tax rate, including impacts caused by any changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and any new legislation or regulatory developments;

 

    increases or decreases in our expenses caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; and

 

    general economic conditions, both domestically and in foreign markets.

Any one of the factors above or the cumulative effect of several of the factors described above may result in significant fluctuations in our financial and other results of operations. This variability and unpredictability could result in our failure to meet expectations of securities analysts or investors for a particular period. If we fail to meet or exceed such expectations for these or any other reasons, the market price of our common stock could decline substantially, and we could face costly lawsuits, including securities class action suits.

An active trading market for our common stock may not develop, and you may not be able to resell your shares of our common stock at or above the initial offering price.

Before this offering, there was no public trading market for our common stock. If a market for our common stock does not develop or is not sustained, it may be difficult for you to sell your shares of common stock at an attractive price, at the time that you would like to sell them, or at all. The initial public offering price of our common stock was determined through negotiations between us and the underwriters. This initial public offering price may not be indicative of the market price of our common stock after the offering. We cannot predict the prices at which our common stock will trade. It is possible that in one or more future periods our results of operations may be below the expectations of public market analysts and investors and, as a result of these and other factors, the price of our common stock may fall.

The market price of our common stock may be volatile, which could result in substantial losses for investors purchasing shares in this offering.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to significant fluctuations after this offering, and it may decline below the initial public offering price. Some of the factors that may cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate include:

 

    price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

 

    volatility in the market price and trading volume of comparable companies;

 

    actual or anticipated changes in our earnings or fluctuations in our results of operations or in the expectations of securities analysts;

 

    announcements of technological innovations, new products, strategic alliances, or significant agreements by us or by competitive vendors;

 

    announcements by our customers regarding significant increases or decreases in capital expenditures;

 

    departure of key personnel;

 

    litigation involving us or that may be perceived as having an impact on our business;

 

    changes in general economic, industry and market conditions and trends;

 

    investors’ general perception of us;

 

    sales of large blocks of our stock; and

 

    announcements regarding further industry consolidation.

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Because of the potential volatility of our stock

 

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price, we may become the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

We will have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion to use the net proceeds from this offering, and you will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of these proceeds. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering for the repayment of outstanding indebtedness of $         million and for working capital and general corporate purposes. Because we will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering, our management may fail to apply these funds effectively, which could adversely affect our ability to operate and grow our business. You will not have the opportunity to influence our decisions on how to use our net proceeds from this offering.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish, or cease publishing, research or reports about us, our business or our market, or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock or the stock of other companies in our industry, the price of our stock and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about us, our business, our market or our competitors. We do not currently have and may never obtain research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no analysts or few analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our stock would likely decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock or the stock of other companies in our industry, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

Purchasers in this offering will incur immediate and substantial dilution in the book value of their investment as a result of this offering.

If you purchase common stock in this offering, you will incur immediate and substantial dilution of $        per share, representing the difference between the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after giving effect to this offering and the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock in connection with the closing of this offering. Moreover, to the extent outstanding options are exercised, you will incur further dilution. See “Dilution”.

Because we do not expect to declare any dividends on our common stock for the foreseeable future following this offering, investors in this offering may never receive a return on their investment.

Although we have paid special dividends in the past, you should not rely on an investment in our common stock to provide dividend income. Following this offering, we do not anticipate that we will declare any cash dividends to holders of our common stock in the foreseeable future. Instead, we plan to retain any earnings to maintain and expand our existing operations. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize any return on their investment. As a result, investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.

Insiders will continue to have substantial control over us after this offering, which could limit your ability to influence the outcome of key transactions, including a change of control.

After this offering, our directors and executive officers and their affiliates will beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately     % of our outstanding common stock, assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares of our common stock in this offering. As a result, these stockholders could

 

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have significant influence over the outcome of matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election of directors and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, and over the management and affairs of our company. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company and might affect the market price of our common stock.

Some of these persons or entities may have interests different than yours. For example, because many of these stockholders purchased their shares at prices substantially below the price at which shares are being sold in this offering and have held their shares for a longer period, they may be more interested in selling our company to an acquirer than other investors or may want us to pursue strategies that deviate from the interests of other stockholders.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares may be sold into the public market in the near future, which could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time after the expiration of the lock-up agreements described in the “Underwriters” section of this prospectus. These sales, or the market perception that the holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. After this offering and after giving effect to the conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 8,076,394 shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering, we will have                  shares of common stock outstanding based on the number of shares outstanding as of December 1, 2016. This includes the                  shares that we are selling in this offering, which may be resold in the public market immediately. The remaining 14,666,720 shares, or     % of our outstanding shares after this offering, are currently, and will be following the closing of this offering, restricted as a result of securities laws or lock-up agreements but will be able to be sold, subject to any applicable volume limitations under federal securities laws with respect to affiliate sales, in the near future as described in the “Shares Eligible for Future Sale” and “Underwriters” sections of this prospectus.

In addition, as of December 1, 2016, there were 2,958,113 shares subject to outstanding options, 279,740 shares subject to outstanding restricted stock unit awards, or RSUs, and an additional 664,131 shares reserved for future issuance under our equity incentive plans that will become eligible for sale in the public market to the extent permitted by any applicable vesting requirements, lock-up agreements and Rules 144 and 701 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Moreover, after this offering, holders of an aggregate of approximately 6,590,326 shares of our common stock as of December 1, 2016, will have rights, subject to some conditions, to require us to file registration statements covering their shares or to include their shares in registration statements that we may file for ourselves or other stockholders. We also intend to register all shares of common stock that we may issue under our equity incentive plans. Once we register these shares, they can be freely sold in the public market upon issuance, subject to the lock-up agreements and the restrictions imposed on our affiliates under Rule 144.

Anti-takeover provisions in our restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, might discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company or changes in our management and, therefore, depress the trading price of our common stock.

Our restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws and Delaware law contain provisions that may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares of our common stock. These provisions may also prevent or delay attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our management. Our corporate governance documents include provisions:

 

    establishing a classified board of directors with staggered three-year terms so that not all members of our board are elected at one time;

 

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    providing that directors may be removed by stockholders only for cause and only with a vote of the holders of at least                of the issued and outstanding shares of common stock;

 

    limiting the ability of our stockholders to call and bring business before special meetings and to take action by written consent in lieu of a meeting;

 

    requiring advance notice of stockholder proposals for business to be conducted at meetings of our stockholders and for nominations of candidates for election to our board of directors;

 

    authorizing blank check preferred stock, which could be issued with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our common stock; and

 

    limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers.

As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which limits the ability of stockholders holding more than 15% of our outstanding common stock from engaging in certain business combinations with us. Any provision of our restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.

The existence of the foregoing provisions and anti-takeover measures could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock. They could also deter potential acquirers of our company, thereby reducing the likelihood that you could receive a premium for your common stock in an acquisition.

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our certificate of incorporation or our bylaws; or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or the JOBS Act, and may remain an emerging growth company until the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering, subject to specified conditions. For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted, and intend, to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include being permitted to provide reduced disclosure regarding executive compensation and exemptions from the requirements to hold non-binding advisory votes on executive compensation and golden parachute payments, not

 

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being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 related to our internal control over financial reporting, and not being required to comply with any requirement that may be adopted by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board regarding mandatory audit firm rotation or a supplement to the auditor’s report providing additional information about the audit and the financial statements. In this prospectus, we have not included all of the executive compensation related information that would be required if we were not an emerging growth company. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.

We will remain an emerging growth company until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of this offering or such earlier time that we are no longer an emerging growth company. We would cease to be an emerging growth company if we have more than $1 billion in annual revenue, we have more than $700 million in market value of our stock held by non-affiliates (and we have been a public company for at least 12 months and have filed one annual report on Form 10-K) or we issue more than $1 billion of non-convertible debt securities over a three-year period.

In addition, the JOBS Act provides that an emerging growth company can take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards. This allows an emerging growth company to delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have irrevocably elected not to avail ourselves of this exemption from new or revised accounting standards and, therefore, we will be subject to new or revised accounting standards at the same time that they become applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

Our management team has limited experience managing a public company.

Most members of our management team have limited experience managing a publicly traded company, interacting with public company investors and complying with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies. Our management team may not successfully or efficiently manage our transition to being a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under the federal securities laws and the scrutiny of securities analysts and investors. These new obligations and constituents will require significant attention from our management team and could divert their attention away from the day-to-day management of our business, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources, divert management’s attention and affect our ability to attract and retain qualified board members.

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly, and increase demand on our systems and resources, particularly after we are no longer an emerging growth company. Among other things, the Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and results of operations and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and results of operations. Although we have already hired additional employees to comply with these requirements, we may need to hire even more employees in the future, which will increase our costs and expenses.

 

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We are currently evaluating our internal controls, identifying and remediating any deficiencies in those internal controls and documenting the results of our evaluation, testing and remediation. We may not be able to complete our evaluation, testing and any required remediation in a timely fashion. During the evaluation and testing process, if we identify one or more material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting that we are unable to remediate before the end of the same fiscal year in which the material weakness is identified, we will be unable to assert that our internal controls are effective. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our auditors are unable to attest to management’s report on the effectiveness of our internal controls, which will be required after we are no longer an emerging growth company, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which would cause the price of our common stock to decline.

In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are increasing legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expense and a diversion of management’s time and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies, regulatory authorities may initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.

We also expect that being a public company will make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors and qualified executive officers.

 

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this prospectus, including statements regarding our future results of operations and financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “could,” “intends,” “target,” “projects,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this prospectus are only predictions. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions described in the “Risk Factors” section and elsewhere in this prospectus. Because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. The events and circumstances reflected in our forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Some of the key factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations include:

 

    our ability to anticipate technological shifts;

 

    our ability to generate positive returns on our research and development;

 

    changes in the rate of broadband service providers’ deployment of, and investment in, ultra-broadband network capabilities;

 

    the lack of predictability of revenue due to lengthy sales cycles and the volatility in capital expenditure budgets of broadband service providers;

 

    our ability to maintain and expand gross profit and net income;

 

    the sufficiency of our cash resources and needs for additional financing;

 

    our ability to further penetrate our existing customer base and obtain new customers;

 

    changes in our pricing policies, whether initiated by us or as a result of competition;

 

    the amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures related to the operation and expansion of our business;

 

    the actual or rumored timing and success of new product and service introductions by us or our competitors or any other change in the competitive landscape of our industry, including consolidation among our competitors or customers;

 

    our ability to successfully expand our business domestically and internationally;

 

    insolvency or credit difficulties confronting our customers, which could adversely affect their ability to purchase or pay for our products and services, or confronting our key suppliers, which could disrupt our supply chain;

 

    our inability to fulfill our customers’ orders due to supply chain delays, access to key commodities or technologies or events that impact our manufacturers or their suppliers;

 

    future accounting pronouncements or changes in our accounting policies;

 

    stock-based compensation expense;

 

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    the cost and possible outcomes of any potential litigation matters;

 

    our overall effective tax rate, including impacts caused by any changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and any new legislation or regulatory developments;

 

    increases or decreases in our expenses caused by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;

 

    general economic conditions, both domestically and in foreign markets;

 

    our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our products; and

 

    our use of proceeds from this offering.

Except as required by applicable law, we do not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein until after we distribute this prospectus, whether as a result of any new information, future events or otherwise.

INDUSTRY AND OTHER DATA

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate, including our general expectations and market position, is based on information from independent industry analysts and third-party sources and management estimates. Management estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and third-party sources, as well as data from our internal research, and are based on assumptions, which we believe to be reasonable, made by us based on such data, as well as our knowledge of our industry and solutions. This information involves a number of assumptions and limitations, and we caution you not to give undue weight to such estimates. Projections, assumptions and estimates of our future performance and the future performance of the industry in which we operate are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties or us and contained in this prospectus.

 

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USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from the sale of our common stock in this offering will be approximately $        million, based upon an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses payable by us. If the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares in this offering, we estimate that our net proceeds will be approximately $        million.

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the net proceeds from this offering by $        million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, each 1,000,000 share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the net proceeds from this offering by $        million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The principal purposes of this offering are to create a public market for our common stock, facilitate access to the public equity markets, increase our visibility in the marketplace and obtain additional capital.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay $        million of outstanding indebtedness under our Term Loan B and for working capital and general corporate purposes. In addition, we believe that opportunities may exist from time to time to expand our current business through acquisitions of or investments in complementary products, technologies or businesses. While we have no current agreements, commitments or understandings for any specific acquisitions at this time, we may use a portion of the net proceeds from this offering for these purposes.

On                     , 2016, we entered into a Term Loan B providing for                     . We intend to use the proceeds from our Term Loan B to fund the payment of a special dividend of $        million, which was declared by our board of directors on                     . For additional information related to our outstanding indebtedness, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Term Loan B.”

Our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds from this offering, and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the net proceeds. The timing and amount of our actual expenditures will be based on many factors, including cash flows from operations, the anticipated growth of our business, and the availability and terms of alternative financing sources to fund our growth. Pending use of the net proceeds as described above, we intend to invest the proceeds in short-term, interest-bearing obligations, investment-grade securities, certificates of deposit or direct or guaranteed obligations of the U.S. government. The goal with respect to the investment of these net proceeds will be capital preservation and liquidity so that these funds are readily available to fund our operations.

 

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DIVIDEND POLICY

We declared special dividends in the amount of $30.0 million in November 2014 and $50.0 million in June 2016 to provide a return of capital to stockholders, and we intend to declare an additional special dividend of $         million prior to the closing of this offering. We do not anticipate declaring cash dividends following this offering. Any future determination to declare dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on a number of factors, including future earnings, capital requirements, financial conditions, future prospects, contractual restrictions and covenants and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant. Our credit facility contains covenants that could limit our ability to pay dividends on our capital stock.

 

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CAPITALIZATION

The following table sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and our capitalization as of September 30, 2016:

 

    on an actual basis;

 

    on a pro forma basis, giving effect to:

 

    the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 8,076,394 shares of common stock upon the closing of this offering;

 

    our borrowing in                     , 2016 of $        million under our Term Loan B;

 

    the accrual of a special dividend of $         million, which was declared by our board of directors on                     ; and

 

    the filing and effectiveness of our restated certificate of incorporation; and

 

    on a pro forma as adjusted basis, giving further effect to the sale of                  shares of our common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The pro forma as adjusted information set forth in the table below is illustrative only and will be adjusted based on the actual initial public offering price and other terms of this offering determined at pricing.

This information should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing at the end of this prospectus and the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section of and other financial information contained in this prospectus.

 

     As of September 30, 2016  
     Actual     Pro Forma      Pro Forma
As Adjusted
 
    

(in thousands, except per

share amounts)

 

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 161,706      $                    $                
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Long-term debt, including current portion

   $ 7,593      $         $     
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Convertible preferred stock (Series A, B and C), $0.001 par value; 5,502 shares authorized, 4,038 shares issued and outstanding, actual; no shares authorized, issued or outstanding, pro forma and pro forma as adjusted

     97,479             
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Stockholders’ equity:

       

Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; no shares authorized, issued or outstanding, actual;                  shares authorized, no shares issued or outstanding, pro forma and pro forma as adjusted

                 

Common stock, $0.001 par value; 20,000 shares authorized, 6,587 shares issued and outstanding, actual;                  shares authorized, 14,663 shares issued and outstanding, pro forma;                  shares authorized,                  shares issued and outstanding, pro forma as adjusted

     6        

Additional paid-in capital

     20,298        

Accumulated other comprehensive loss

     (788     

Retained earnings

     66,857        
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stockholders’ equity

     86,373        
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total capitalization

   $ 191,445      $         $     
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $         per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by $         million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, each 1,000,000 share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of cash and cash equivalents, additional paid-in capital, total stockholders’ equity and total capitalization by $         million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The table above does not include:

 

    40,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2003 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.05 per share;

 

    2,925,378 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $18.40 per share;

 

    279,740 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of restricted stock units outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016;

 

    660,220 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, which plan will terminate as to new awards upon the closing of this offering; and

 

                additional shares of common stock that will become available for issuance in connection with this offering under our 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

 

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DILUTION

If you invest in our common stock in this offering, your ownership interest will be immediately diluted to the extent of the difference between the initial public offering price per share of our common stock and the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of our common stock immediately after this offering.

Our historical net tangible book value as of September 30, 2016 was $86.4 million, or $13.11 per share of our common stock. Our historical net tangible book value is the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities and convertible preferred stock, which is not included within our stockholders’ equity. Historical net tangible book value per share represents historical net tangible book value divided by the 6,586,972 shares of our common stock outstanding as of September 30, 2016.

Our pro forma net tangible book value as of September 30, 2016 was $        million, or $        per share of our common stock. Pro forma net tangible book value represents the amount of our total tangible assets less our total liabilities, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of our convertible preferred stock into 8,076,394 shares of our common stock upon the closing of this offering, our borrowing in                     , 2016 of $        million under our Term Loan B and the accrual of a special dividend of $        million, which was declared by our board of directors on                     . Pro forma net tangible book value per share represents our pro forma net tangible book value divided by the total number of shares outstanding as of September 30, 2016, after giving effect to the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of convertible preferred stock upon the closing of this offering.

After giving further effect to our issuance and sale of          shares of common stock in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us and the repayment of $        million of indebtedness under our Term Loan B, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value as of September 30, 2016 would have been $        million, or $        per share. This represents an immediate increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share of $        to existing stockholders and immediate dilution per share of $        to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering. Dilution per share to new investors is determined by subtracting pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering from the initial public offering price per share paid by new investors. The following table illustrates this dilution on a per share basis:

 

Assumed initial public offering price per share

      $                

Historical net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2016

   $ 13.11      

Decrease per share attributable to the pro forma adjustments described above

     
  

 

 

    

Pro forma net tangible book value per share as of September 30, 2016

     

Increase in pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share attributable to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering and the repayment of $        million of indebtedness under our Term Loan B

     
  

 

 

    

Pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering

     
     

 

 

 

Dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering

      $     
     

 

 

 

Each $1.00 increase (decrease) in the assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of cash and cash equivalents, working capital, total assets and total stockholders’ equity by $        million, assuming that the number of shares offered by us, as set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, remains the same and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. Similarly, each 1,000,000 share increase (decrease) in the number of shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the pro forma as adjusted amount of cash and cash equivalents,

 

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working capital, total assets and total stockholders’ equity by $        million, assuming no change in the assumed initial public offering price per share and after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

If the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares of common stock in this offering, our pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $        per share, and the dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering would be $        per share, in each case assuming an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

The following table summarizes, on the pro forma as adjusted basis described above, the total number of shares of common stock purchased from us after giving effect to the conversion of our convertible preferred stock into common stock, the total consideration paid or to be paid, and the average price per share paid or to be paid by existing stockholders and by new investors in this offering at an assumed initial public offering price of $        per share, which is the midpoint of the price range set forth on the cover page of this prospectus, before deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

 

     Shares Purchased     Total Consideration     Average
Price
Per Share
 
     Number      Percent     Amount      Percent    

Existing stockholders

     14,663,366             $ 105,223,727             $ 7.18   

New investors

             $     
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

Total

        100.0   $           100.0  
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

The table above assumes no exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares in this offering. If the underwriters fully exercise their option to purchase additional shares in this offering, the number of shares of our common stock held by new investors purchasing common stock in this offering would be increased to     % of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding after this offering, and the number of shares held by existing stockholders would be reduced to     % of the total number of shares of common stock outstanding after this offering.

The table above does not include:

 

    40,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2003 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $1.05 per share;

 

    2,925,378 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of stock options outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, with a weighted-average exercise price of $18.40 per share;

 

    279,740 shares of common stock issuable upon the vesting of restricted stock units outstanding under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016;

 

    660,220 shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under our 2011 Stock Incentive Plan as of September 30, 2016, which plan will terminate as to new awards upon the closing of this offering; and

 

                additional shares of common stock that will become available for issuance in connection with this offering under our 2017 Stock Incentive Plan.

 

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To the extent any of these outstanding options are exercised, you will experience further dilution, which may be significant. To the extent all of such outstanding options had been exercised as of September 30, 2016, the pro forma as adjusted net tangible book value per share after this offering would be $        , and the total dilution per share to new investors purchasing common stock in this offering would be $        .

In addition, we may choose to raise additional capital due to market conditions or strategic considerations, even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. To the extent that additional capital is raised through the sale of equity or securities convertible into equity, the issuance of these securities may result in further dilution to our stockholders.

 

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SELECTED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL DATA

The following tables present selected consolidated financial and other financial data for our business. The selected consolidated statement of operations data presented below for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2014 and 2015 have been derived from our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus. The selected consolidated statement of operations data for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2016 and the selected consolidated balance sheet data as of September 30, 2016 have been derived from our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this prospectus and have been prepared on a basis consistent with our audited consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, the unaudited data reflects all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of the financial information in those statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected in any future period, and the results for any interim period are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the full year. You should read the following selected consolidated financial data in conjunction with the section of this prospectus titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014     2015     2015     2016  
     (in thousands, except per share amounts)  

Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:

        

Revenue:

        

Product

   $ 194,358      $ 247,588      $ 166,167      $ 191,763   

Service

     16,920        24,862        16,376        25,139   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total revenue

     211,278        272,450        182,543        216,902   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenue(1):

        

Product

     59,088        74,349        48,484        68,793   

Service

     5,917        5,265        3,652        5,983   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     65,005        79,614        52,136        74,776   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     146,273        192,836        130,407        142,126   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development(1)

     25,481        37,155        27,408        37,213   

Sales and marketing(1)

     21,409        36,157        23,876        27,289   

General and administrative(1)

     10,346        16,453        12,558        13,532   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     57,236        89,765        63,842        78,034   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     89,037        103,071        66,565        64,092   

Other income (expense), net

     (2,942     (1,408     (1,561     953   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     86,095        101,663        65,004        65,045   

Provision for income taxes

     26,387        33,742        23,405        16,228   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

   $ 59,708      $ 67,921      $ 41,599      $ 48,817   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cash dividends declared per common share or common share equivalent

   $ 1.9173      $      $      $ 2.9455   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income attributable to common stockholders(2):

        

Basic

   $ 23,287      $ 27,302      $ 16,365      $ 19,928   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ 23,843      $ 30,402      $ 18,144      $ 20,006   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands, except per share amounts)  

Net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):

           

Basic

   $ 3.88       $ 4.30       $ 2.58       $ 3.04   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Diluted

   $ 3.65       $ 3.92       $ 2.36       $ 2.37   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used to compute net income per share attributable to common stockholders(2):

           

Basic

     5,997         6,348         6,344         6,564   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Diluted

     6,537         7,761         7,690         8,427   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Pro forma net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):

           

Basic

      $            $     
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Diluted

      $            $     
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Weighted-average shares used to compute pro forma net income per share attributable to common stockholders (unaudited)(2):

           

Basic

           
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Diluted

           
     

 

 

       

 

 

 

Other Financial Data:

           

Non-GAAP net income(3)

   $ 62,145       $ 72,812       $ 45,059       $ 53,301   

Adjusted EBITDA(3)

   $ 94,632       $ 115,541       $ 75,685       $ 74,517   

 

(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense related to stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units granted to employees and non-employee consultants as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months
Ended

September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands)  

Cost of revenue

   $ 161       $ 143       $ 103       $ 178   

Research and development expense

     852         1,843         1,422         1,637   

Sales and marketing expense

     598         775         542         846   

General and administrative expense

     380         4,560         3,340         3,313   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 1,991       $ 7,321       $ 5,407       $ 5,974   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(2) See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements and Note 12 to our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, both included elsewhere in this prospectus, for an explanation of the calculations of basic and diluted net income per share attributable to common stockholders and pro forma basic and diluted net income per share attributable to common stockholders.
(3) See “—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding our use of these non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of such measures to comparable financial measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

 

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     As of December 31,      As of
September 30,

2016
 
     2014      2015     
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

        

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 77,155       $ 92,496       $ 161,706   

Working capital(1)

     99,237         162,981         158,675   

Total assets

     230,815         283,097         331,668   

Long-term debt, including current portion

             7,795         7,593   

Total liabilities

     124,636         103,160         147,816   

Convertible preferred stock

     97,479         97,479         97,479   

Total stockholders’ equity

     8,700         82,458         86,373   

 

(1) We define working capital as current assets less current liabilities.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, we monitor and consider non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA. These non-GAAP financial measures are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly titled measures presented by other companies.

Non-GAAP net income. We define non-GAAP net income as net income as reported in our consolidated statements of operations, excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense and changes in the fair value of the warrant liability, both of which are non-cash charges, and the tax effect on those excluded items applied using our effective income tax rate for the period. We have presented non-GAAP net income because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. The presentation of non-GAAP net income also allows our management and board of directors to make additional comparisons of our results of operations to other companies in our industry.

Adjusted EBITDA. We define adjusted EBITDA as our net income, excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense; other income (expense), net, which includes changes in the fair value of the warrant liability; depreciation and amortization expense; and our provision for income taxes. We have presented adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, to establish budgets and to develop operational goals for managing our business. In particular, we believe that excluding the impact of these expenses in calculating adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our core operating performance.

We use these non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our operating performance and trends and make planning decisions. We believe that each of these non-GAAP financial measures helps identify underlying trends in our business that could otherwise be masked by the effect of the expenses that we exclude in the calculations of each non-GAAP financial measure. Accordingly, we believe that these financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results, enhancing the overall understanding of our past performance and future prospects.

Our non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP, and should not be considered in isolation of, or as an alternative to, measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of these non-GAAP financial measures rather than net income, which is the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

 

    we exclude stock-based compensation expense from each of our non-GAAP financial measures as it has recently been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring non-cash expense for our business and an important part of our compensation strategy;

 

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    we exclude the changes in the fair value of a warrant liability from our non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA measures as it had been a recurring non-cash charge in our statement of operations until the warrant was exercised in March 2014;

 

    adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization expense and, although this is a non-cash expense, the assets being depreciated and amortized may have to be replaced in the future;

 

    adjusted EBITDA does not reflect the cash requirements necessary to service interest or the cash received from our interest bearing financial assets, both of which impact the cash available to us, and does not reflect foreign currency transaction gains and losses, all of which are reflected in other income (expense), net;

 

    adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax payments that reduce cash available to us; and

 

    the expenses and other items that we exclude in our calculations of non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA may differ from the expenses and other items, if any, that other companies may exclude from non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA when they report their operating results.

In addition, other companies may use other measures to evaluate their performance, all of which could reduce the usefulness of our non-GAAP financial measures as tools for comparison.

The following tables reconcile non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014     2015     2015     2016  
     (in thousands)  

Reconciliation of Net Income to Non-GAAP Net Income:

        

Net income

   $ 59,708      $ 67,921      $ 41,599      $ 48,817   

Stock-based compensation

     1,991        7,321        5,407        5,974   

Change in fair value of warrant liability

     1,523                        

Tax effect of excluded items

     (1,077     (2,430     (1,947     (1,490
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Non-GAAP net income

   $ 62,145      $ 72,812      $ 45,059      $ 53,301   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands)  

Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDA:

           

Net income

   $ 59,708       $ 67,921       $ 41,599       $ 48,817   

Stock-based compensation

     1,991         7,321         5,407         5,974   

Depreciation and amortization

     3,604         5,149         3,713         4,451   

Other income (expense), net

     2,942         1,408         1,561         (953

Provision for income taxes

     26,387         33,742         23,405         16,228   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Adjusted EBITDA

   $ 94,632       $ 115,541       $ 75,685       $ 74,517   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes and other financial information included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed below and elsewhere in this prospectus, particularly in the section titled “Risk Factors.” In this discussion, we use financial measures that are considered non-GAAP financial measures under Securities and Exchange Commission rules. These rules require supplemental explanation and reconciliation, which is included elsewhere in this prospectus. Investors should not consider non-GAAP financial measures in isolation from, or in substitution for, financial information presented in compliance with GAAP.

Overview

We provide a suite of software-centric infrastructure solutions that allow cable service providers to deliver voice, video and data services over a single platform at multi-gigabit speeds. In addition, we offer solutions for next-generation distributed and virtualized architectures in cable operator, fixed telecom and wireless networks. Our innovative solutions enable customers to cost-effectively and dynamically increase network speed, add bandwidth capacity and new services for consumers and enterprises, reduce network complexity and reduce operating and capital expenditures.

We were founded in 2003 with the vision of enabling consumers and enterprises to enjoy ultra-fast speeds and enhanced digital content experiences through their phones, tablets, TVs and other connected devices at home or on the go with ubiquitous and seamless access, regardless of how the user is accessing the Internet. Our forward-looking design and investment approach, coupled with our proven product development track record, has enabled us to deliver fully featured next-generation solutions in advance of competitors. For example, we believe we were:

 

    the first to market (2005) with a software-centric cable solution leveraging the programmability of field programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, and general purpose processors;

 

    the first to market (2008) with a commercially deployed, fully qualified Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification, or DOCSIS, cable modem termination system;

 

    the first to market (2012) with a commercially deployed converged cable access platform, or CCAP, delivering IP voice, digital video and data over a single port;

 

    the first to market (2015) with commercially deployed DOCSIS 3.1-compliant solutions supporting speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second; and

 

    the first to market (2016) with a commercially deployable remote-PHY, or R-PHY, solution.

Our solutions are commercially deployed in more than 60 countries by more than 350 customers, including regional service providers as well as some of the world’s largest Tier 1 broadband service providers, serving millions of subscribers.

We believe that the shift to software-centric ultra-broadband networks and fixed and wireless network convergence presents us with a compelling market opportunity. We intend to maintain our technological leadership through the enhancement of existing products and the development of new products in both our current and adjacent markets. By investing in research and development, we believe we will be well positioned to continue our rapid growth and take advantage of the large market opportunity across fixed and wireless networks. We also intend to continue to expand our sales and marketing initiatives in key geographies.

 

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We have achieved significant growth and profitability. For the year ended December 31, 2015, we generated revenue of $272.5 million, net income of $67.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $115.5 million, representing increases of 29.0%, 13.8% and 22.1%, respectively, from the amounts for the year ended December 31, 2014. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016, we generated revenue of $216.9 million, net income of $48.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $74.5 million, representing increases of 18.8% and 17.4% and a decrease of 1.5%, respectively, from the amounts for the nine months ended September 30, 2015.

Our Business Model

We derive revenue from sales of our products and services. We generate product revenue primarily from sales of our broadband products. The majority of our product revenue is derived from sales of our CCAP solutions, particularly our C100G CCAP. We generate service revenue primarily from sales of maintenance and support services, which end customers typically purchase in conjunction with our products, and, to a lesser extent, from sales of professional services and extended warranty services.

Since shipping our first products in 2005, our cumulative end-customer base has grown significantly. Our revenue and installed base of equipment has increased significantly with the introduction of our CCAP solution in 2012 and our DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities in 2015, both of which run on our Axyom software platform.

We offer a scalable broadband solution that can meet the evolving bandwidth needs of our customers and their subscribers.

Our sales model focuses on the following key areas:

 

    Adding New Customers. With several thousand broadband service providers existing globally, we believe that we have opportunities for growth by acquiring new customers in all of the geographic regions in which we compete. Potential new customers include broadband service providers that provide fixed or wireless services or both. We intend to add new customers over time by continuing to invest in our technology and our sales team to capitalize on these new opportunities. Our sales team works closely with prospective customers to educate them on and demonstrate to them the technical and business merits of our products, including the ability to capture new revenue opportunities and realize cost savings through the use of our broadband solutions. We build relationships with prospective customers at multiple levels and within numerous departments in a customer’s organization and, through the sales process, we strive to be a strategic business partner for our customers. We believe that the technological strengths and capabilities of our broadband solutions and the introduction and implementation of next-generation standards, such as DOCSIS 3.1, have been, and will continue to be, an important factor in our ability to add new customers.

 

    Expanding Sales to Our Existing Customer Base. Our first installation in a cable service provider’s network frequently involves deploying our broadband products in only a portion of the provider’s network and with only a fraction of the capacity of our products enabled at the time of initial installation. Over time, our customers have generally expanded the use of our solutions to other areas of their networks to increase network capacity. Capacity expansions are accomplished either by deploying additional systems or line cards, or by our remote enablement of additional channels through the use of software. Sales of additional line cards and software-based capacity expansions generate higher gross margins than our initial hardware-based deployments.

We work with our existing customers to identify expansion and cross selling opportunities. Existing customers are familiar with and have benefited from the operational and economic benefits of our broadband products, and therefore, sales cycles for existing customers are generally shorter. We believe expansion and cross selling opportunities with existing customers are significant given their existing and expected infrastructure spend as service providers leverage their investment in our platform to deliver new services to their customers. Our top 20 customers over the period from 2013 to 2016 made subsequent purchases of our products in a majority of the fiscal quarters following their initial purchases. As of September 30, 2016, our customers that have been with us for at least one year

 

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have, in subsequent years in the aggregate, generally purchased more than the initial amount of purchases made in the first year. The first year of purchases is typically the beginning of the deployment of our broadband products. This analysis is based on billings, which represent amounts invoiced to customers for products shipped, or for services performed or to be performed, which will be recorded as either revenue or deferred revenue depending on the nature of the arrangement.

Our solutions are commercially deployed in over 60 countries by more than 350 customers. We expect that a substantial portion of our future sales will be follow-on sales to existing customers. During the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015 and the nine months ended September 30, 2016, sales to existing customers represented 78%, 63% and 74% of our revenue, respectively. Our business and results of operations will depend on our ability to sell additional products to our existing customer base.

 

    Selling New Products. Our results of operations have been, and we believe will continue to be, affected by our ability to quickly and effectively design and sell products with improved performance and increased functionality. As networks and standards for broadband solutions evolve, we aim to deliver new products prior to our competition. For example, the introduction of our DOCSIS 3.0 broadband solution, our CCAP solution and our DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities allowed us to obtain new customers, increase our sales to existing customers, increase our revenue and capture market share. We aim to increase our revenue by enabling customers to transition from previously deployed data and video solutions to our integrated CCAP solutions, which can incorporate DOCSIS 3.1 standards as well as our remote-PHY distributed access solution. Over the last several years, we have made substantial investments to extend our Axyom software platform to serve the wireless market. We are currently engaged in several trials with potential customers for our wireless solutions and expect to generate revenue in the future from sales of wireless solutions to new and existing customers. We have also developed solutions for telecommunications service providers. Our ability to sustain our revenue growth will depend, in part, upon our sales of new products.

We market and sell our products and services through our direct global sales force, supported by sales agents, and through resellers. A majority of our revenue is derived from direct sales, which generate higher gross margins than sales made through resellers. Our sales organization includes systems engineers with deep technical expertise that provide pre-sales technical support. These systems engineers also assist with post-sales support. Our resellers receive an order from an end customer prior to placing an order with us, and we confirm the identification of or are aware of the end customer prior to accepting such orders. We use sales agents to assist our direct global sales force in the sales process with certain customers primarily located in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. If a sales agent is engaged in the sales process, we receive the order directly from and sell the products and services directly to the end customer, and we pay a commission to the sales agent, calculated as a percentage of the related customer payment.

Each of our sales teams is responsible for a geographic territory and/or has responsibility for a number of major direct end-customer accounts. We have a diverse, global customer base and our revenue by geographic region fluctuates from period to period based on the timing of customer projects. The percentages of our revenue derived from customers in each geographic region were as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
         2014             2015             2015             2016      

Revenue by geographic region:

  

North America

     50.8     20.0     24.6     59.2

Latin America

     14.2     32.1     26.6     15.2

Europe, Middle East and Africa

     15.3     27.8     27.6     12.6

Asia-Pacific

     19.7     20.1     21.2     13.0
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total

     100.0     100.0     100.0     100.0
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

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Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our operating performance, to identify trends affecting our business, and to establish budgets and develop operational goals for managing our business.

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014      2015      2015      2016  
     (in thousands)  

Non-GAAP net income

   $ 62,145       $ 72,812       $ 45,059       $ 53,301   

Adjusted EBITDA

   $ 94,632       $ 115,541       $ 75,685       $ 74,517   

These financial measures are non-GAAP financial measures. Please see “Selected Consolidated Financial Data—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding the limitations of using these financial measures and for reconciliations of non-GAAP net income and adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Key Components of Our Results of Operations

Revenue

We generate product revenue from sales of our software-centric broadband products, including our CCAP solution and our DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities. The majority of our revenue is derived from sales of our CCAP solutions, particularly our C100G CCAP. We also generate product revenue from sales of additional line cards and software-based capacity expansions.

We generate service revenue from sales of initial maintenance and support services contracts, which are typically purchased by end customers in conjunction with our products, and from our customers’ subsequent annual renewals of those contracts. We offer maintenance and support services under renewable, fee-based contracts, which include telephone support and unspecified software upgrades and updates provided on a when-and-if-available basis. To a lesser extent, we generate service revenue from sales of professional services, such as installation and configuration, and extended warranty services.

The sale of our software-centric broadband products generally includes a 90-day warranty on the software and a one-year warranty on the hardware component of the products, which includes repair or replacement of the applicable hardware. We record a warranty accrual for the initial software and hardware warranty included with our product sales and do not defer revenue. In addition, in conjunction with customers’ renewals of maintenance and support services contracts, we offer an extended warranty for periods typically of one to three years for agreed-upon fees, which we record as service revenue.

Cost of Revenue

Our cost of product revenue consists primarily of the costs of procuring goods, such as chassis and line cards embedded with FPGAs, from our contract manufacturers and other suppliers. In addition, cost of product revenue includes salary and benefit expenses, including stock-based compensation, for manufacturing and supply-chain management personnel, allocated facilities-related costs, estimated warranty costs, third-party logistics costs, and estimated costs associated with excess and obsolete inventory.

Our cost of service revenue includes salary and benefit expenses, including stock-based compensation, for our maintenance and support services and professional services personnel, fees incurred for subcontracted professional services provided to our customers, and allocated facilities-related costs.

 

 

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Gross Profit

Our product gross profit and gross margin have been, and may in the future be, influenced by several factors, including changes in the volume of our software-centric broadband products sold, product configuration, sales of capacity expansions, geographic location of our customers, pricing due to competitive pressure, estimated warranty costs, inventory obsolescence, and favorable and unfavorable changes in inventory production volume and component costs. As some products mature, the average selling prices of those products may decline. We expect that over time our product mix will move toward a higher percentage of sales of software-based capacity expansions and incremental line cards, which generate higher gross margins than sales of our initial hardware-based deployments.

Our service gross profit and gross margin have been, and may in the future be, influenced by the amount and timing of renewals of maintenance and support services contracts by customers and, to a lesser extent, the amount of professional services ordered by customers and performed by us.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses consist of research and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative expenses.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of salary and benefit expenses, including stock-based compensation, for our employees engaged in research, design and development activities. Research and development expenses also include project-specific engineering services purchased from external vendors, prototype costs, depreciation expense, amortization of purchased intellectual property, allocated facilities-related costs and travel expenses.

We expect our research and development costs to continue to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to make significant investments to enhance our software-centric broadband products and develop new software-centric broadband products and technologies, including our new wireless solutions.

Sales and Marketing Expenses

Sales and marketing expenses include salary and benefit expenses, including stock-based compensation, for employees and costs for contractors engaged in sales and marketing activities. Sales and marketing expenses also include commissions, calculated as a percentage of the related customer payment, to sales agents that assist us in the sales process with certain customers primarily located in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. These sales agent commissions fluctuate from period to period based on the amount and timing of sales to the customers subject to sales agent commissions. Sales and marketing expenses also include marketing activities, such as trade shows, marketing programs and promotional materials, as well as allocated facilities-related costs. We are also establishing a new sales force to sell and undertake new marketing programs to promote our new wireless solutions.

We expect our sales and marketing expenses to increase in absolute dollars as we continue to make investments in our sales and marketing organizations and expand our marketing programs and efforts to increase the market awareness and sales of our products and services.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative expenses include salary and benefit expenses, including stock-based compensation, for employees engaged in general and administrative activities, as well as professional service fees, allocated facilities-related costs, insurance, travel and bad debt expenses related to accounts receivable.

 

 

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We expect our general and administrative expenses to increase in absolute dollars primarily due to our continued growth and the increased cost of compliance associated with being a public company.

Other Income (Expense), Net

Other income (expense), net consists of interest income from our investments in short-term financial instruments, such as certificates of deposits, money market mutual funds and commercial paper, and interest expense associated with the mortgage on our corporate office and debt maintenance costs related to our working capital line of credit. Other income (expense), net also includes realized and unrealized gains and losses from foreign currency transactions. We hedge certain significant transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, and we expect to continue to do so to minimize our exposure to foreign currency fluctuations.

We classified warrants for the purchase of shares of our common stock as a liability on our consolidated balance sheets due to the anti-dilution provisions in those warrants. The warrants were initially recorded at fair value on date of issuance and were subsequently remeasured to fair value at each balance sheet date. Changes in fair value of these warrants were recognized as a component of other income (expense), net in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income, and we continued to adjust the liability for changes in fair value until the warrants were exercised on March 31, 2014.

Provision for Income Taxes

We are subject to income taxes in the United States and the foreign jurisdictions in which we do business. These foreign jurisdictions have statutory tax rates different from those in the United States. Our effective tax rates will vary depending on the relative proportion of foreign to U.S. income, the utilization of foreign tax and research and development credits, changes in corporate structure, the amount and timing of certain employee stock-based compensation transactions, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and changes in tax laws and interpretations. We plan to regularly assess the likelihood of outcomes that could result from the examination of our tax returns by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, and other tax authorities to determine the adequacy of our income tax reserves and expense. Should actual events or results differ from our then-current expectations, charges or credits to our provision for income taxes may become necessary. Any such adjustments could have a significant effect on our results of operations.

In the third quarter of 2016, we began the process of restructuring our international operations and, as a result, we expect that our future effective tax rates may be lower than our historical effective tax rates. However, due to the timing and status of this restructuring program as of September 30, 2016, the impact on our effective tax rate in the third quarter of 2016 was insignificant.

 

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Results of Operations

The following tables set forth our consolidated results of operations in dollar amounts and as percentage of total revenue for the periods shown:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014     2015     2015     2016  
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Statement of Operations Data:

        

Revenue:

        

Product

   $ 194,358      $ 247,588      $ 166,167      $ 191,763   

Service

     16,920        24,862        16,376        25,139   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total revenue

     211,278        272,450        182,543        216,902   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenue(1):

        

Product

     59,088        74,349        48,484        68,793   

Service

     5,917        5,265        3,652        5,983   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     65,005        79,614        52,136        74,776   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     146,273        192,836        130,407        142,126   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development(1)

     25,481        37,155        27,408        37,213   

Sales and marketing(1)

     21,409        36,157        23,876        27,289   

General and administrative(1)

     10,346        16,453        12,558        13,532   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     57,236        89,765        63,842        78,034   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     89,037        103,071        66,565        64,092   

Other income (expense), net

     (2,942     (1,408     (1,561     953   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     86,095        101,663        65,004        65,045   

Provision for income taxes

     26,387        33,742        23,405        16,228   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

   $ 59,708      $ 67,921      $ 41,599      $ 48,817   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

(1) Includes stock-based compensation expense related to stock options, stock appreciation rights and restricted stock units granted to employees and non-employee consultants as follows:

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
         2014              2015              2015              2016      
     (in thousands)  

Cost of revenue

   $ 161       $ 143       $ 103       $ 178   

Research and development expense

     852         1,843         1,422         1,637   

Sales and marketing expense

     598         775         542         846   

General and administrative expense

     380         4,560         3,340         3,313   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total stock-based compensation expense

   $ 1,991       $ 7,321       $ 5,407       $ 5,974   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
         2014             2015             2015             2016      
     (as a percentage of total revenue)  

Revenue:

        

Product

     92     91     91     88

Service

     8        9        9        12   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total revenue

     100        100        100        100   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenue:

        

Product

     28        27        27        32   

Service

     3        2        2        3   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     31        29        29        34   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     69        71        71        66   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

        

Research and development

     12        14        15        17   

Sales and marketing

     10        13        13        13   

General and administrative

     5        6        7        6   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     27        33        35        36   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     42        38        36        30   

Other income (expense), net

     (1     (1     (1       
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     41        37        36        30   

Provision for income taxes

     12        12        13        7   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

     28     25     23     23
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Percentages in the table above are based on actual values. As a result, some totals may not sum due to rounding.

Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015 Compared to Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016

Revenue

 

     Nine Months Ended September 30,              
     2015     2016     Change  
     Amount      % of Total     Amount      % of Total     Amount     %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Revenue:

              

Product

   $ 166,167         91.0   $ 191,763         88.4   $ 25,596        15.4

Service

     16,376         9.0     25,139         11.6     8,763        53.5
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total revenue

   $ 182,543         100.0   $ 216,902         100.0   $ 34,359        18.8
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Revenue by geographic region:

              

North America

   $ 44,820         24.6   $ 128,298         59.2   $ 83,478        186.3

Latin America

     48,636         26.6     33,043         15.2     (15,593     (32.1 )% 

Europe, Middle East and Africa

     50,351         27.6     27,377         12.6     (22,974     (45.6 )% 

Asia-Pacific

     38,736         21.2     28,184         13.0     (10,552     (27.2 )% 
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total revenue

   $ 182,543         100.0   $ 216,902         100.0   $ 34,359        18.8
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

The increase in product revenue was due to an increase in sales of our software-centric broadband products in North America primarily due to an increase of $50.4 million in sales to new customers, which predominantly

 

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deployed our CCAP solution that includes DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities, and an increase of $26.6 million in sales of our CCAP solutions to existing customers to increase the proportion of their networks using our products to provide their subscribers with greater bandwidth capacity through capacity expansions. These increases were partially offset by an aggregate decrease of $51.4 million in sales in all other regions resulting from decreases in purchases in those regions due to the timing of their network upgrade and expansion projects.

The increase in service revenue was primarily due to a $7.0 million increase in maintenance and support services revenue due to an increase in our installed base of customers from both new customers and existing customers renewing their maintenance and support service contracts as well as a $1.8 million increase in professional services revenue related to new customer installations to deploy our DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities.

Cost of Revenue and Gross Profit

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
     Change  
     2015      2016      Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Cost of revenue:

           

Product

   $ 48,484       $ 68,793       $ 20,309         41.9

Service

     3,652         5,983         2,331         63.8
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

Total cost of revenue

   $ 52,136       $ 74,776       $ 22,640         43.4
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

The increase in cost of product revenue was primarily due to an increase in the quantity of our software-centric broadband products sold and an increase in personnel-related costs resulting from hiring additional employees.

The increase in cost of service revenue was primarily due to a $1.7 million increase in subcontracted professional services related to new customer deployments of our DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities and a $0.6 million increase in personnel-related costs resulting from hiring additional employees.

 

     Nine Months Ended September 30,               
     2015     2016     Change  
     Amount      Gross
Margin
    Amount      Gross
Margin
    Amount      Gross
Margin (bps)
 
     (dollars in thousands)  

Gross profit:

               

Product

   $ 117,683         70.8   $ 122,970         64.1   $ 5,287         (670

Service

     12,724         77.7     19,156         76.2     6,432         (150
  

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

    

Total gross profit

   $ 130,407         71.4   $ 142,126         65.5   $ 11,719         (590
  

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

    

The decrease in product gross margin was primarily due to higher cost of goods related to initial sales of our software-centric broadband products as a result of the significant amount of hardware in these sales.

Service gross margin declined slightly due to an increase in professional services revenue as a percentage of total service revenue during the nine months ended September 30, 2016.

Research and Development

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Change  
     2015     2016     Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Research and development

   $ 27,408      $ 37,213      $ 9,805         35.8

Percentage of revenue

     15.0     17.2     

 

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The increase in research and development expense was due to a $7.7 million increase in personnel-related costs (including a $0.2 million increase in stock-based compensation expense) as a result of the increase in the headcount of our research and development personnel from 243 to 321 to support the development of our new wireless and software-centric broadband products and to enhance our existing software-centric broadband products, a $0.9 million increase in facilities and infrastructure expenses and a $0.7 million increase in prototype development costs for new broadband products.

Sales and Marketing

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Change  
     2015     2016     Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Sales and marketing

   $ 23,876      $ 27,289      $ 3,413         14.3

Percentage of revenue

     13.1     12.6     

The increase in sales and marketing expense was due to a $6.2 million increase in personnel-related costs (including a $0.3 million increase in stock-based compensation expense) as a result of the increase in the headcount of our sales and marketing personnel from 90 to 114 in order to increase the sales force associated with our software-centric broadband products and to develop a new sales force assigned to our new wireless solutions and a $1.2 million increase in marketing costs related to trade shows and events to promote our solutions, both partially offset by a $4.3 million decrease in sales agent commissions related to a decrease in sales in Latin America.

General and Administrative

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Change  
     2015     2016     Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

General and administrative

   $ 12,558      $ 13,532      $ 974         7.8

Percentage of revenue

     6.9     6.2     

The increase in general and administrative expense was primarily due to a $1.5 million increase in personnel-related costs (which reflected no change in stock-based compensation expense) to support the continued growth in our business, partially offset by a $0.3 million decrease in professional fees.

Other Income (Expense), Net

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Change  
         2015             2016         Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Other income (expense), net

   $ (1,561   $ 953      $ 2,514         161.1

Percentage of revenue

     0.9     0.4     

The change from a net other expense of $1.6 million to a net other income of $1.0 million was primarily due to a lower carrying value of foreign-denominated cash and receivables during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and the related absence of foreign currency transaction losses arising from the depreciation of the euro.

 

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Provision for Income Taxes

 

     Nine Months Ended
September 30,
    Change  
     2015     2016     Amount     %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Provision for income taxes

   $ 23,405      $ 16,228      $ (7,177     (30.7 )% 

Effective tax rate

     36.0     24.9    

The 11.1% decrease in our effective tax rate primarily resulted from the tax benefits from certain employee stock-based compensation transactions during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 related to our adoption effective as of January 1, 2016 of a new share-based payment accounting standard, a decrease in the foreign tax rate differential, and the timing of the enactment of the U.S. federal research and development credit, which was effective as of September 30, 2016 but not effective as of September 30, 2015.

Year Ended December 31, 2014 Compared to Year Ended December 31, 2015

Revenue

 

     Year Ended December 31,              
     2014     2015     Change  
     Amount      % of Total     Amount      % of Total     Amount     %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Revenue:

              

Product

   $ 194,358         92.0   $ 247,588         90.9   $ 53,230        27.4

Service

     16,920         8.0     24,862         9.1     7,942        46.9
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total revenue

   $ 211,278         100.0   $ 272,450         100.0   $ 61,172        29.0
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Revenue by geographic region:

              

North America

   $ 107,376         50.8   $ 54,518         20.0   $ (52,858     (49.2 )% 

Latin America

     29,915         14.2     87,382         32.1     57,467        192.1

Europe, Middle East and Africa

     32,407         15.3     75,767         27.8     43,360        133.8

Asia-Pacific

     41,580         19.7     54,783         20.1     13,203        31.8
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

Total revenue

   $ 211,278         100.0   $ 272,450         100.0   $ 61,172        29.0
  

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

The increase in product revenue was primarily due to product sales to new customers that deployed our CCAP solution of $42.4 million in Latin America, $16.8 million in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and $13.8 million in Asia-Pacific; an increase in product sales of $8.9 million to existing customers in such regions; and recognition of previously deferred revenue of $23.1 million upon the product acceptance by a new customer in Europe that deployed our CCAP solution. These increases were partially offset by a decrease in product sales in North America of $51.9 million due to the timing of customer network upgrade and expansion projects.

The increase in service revenue was primarily due to a $12.7 million increase in maintenance and support services as a result of an increase in our installed base of customers from both new customers and existing customers renewing their maintenance and support service contracts, which was partially offset by a $4.7 million decrease in professional services due to the timing of customer network upgrade and expansion projects.

 

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Cost of Revenue and Gross Profit

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Change  
     2014      2015      Amount     %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Cost of revenue:

          

Product

   $ 59,088       $ 74,349       $ 15,261        25.8

Service

     5,917         5,265         (652     (11.0 )% 
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

Total cost of revenue

   $ 65,005       $ 79,614       $ 14,609        22.5
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

   

The increase in cost of product revenue was primarily due to an increase in the quantity of our software-centric broadband products sold and an increase in personnel-related costs resulting from hiring additional employees.

The decrease in cost of service revenue was primarily due to a $1.8 million decrease in subcontracted professional services related to new customer deployments of our CCAP solution, partially offset by a $0.9 million increase in personnel-related costs resulting from hiring additional employees.

 

     Year Ended December 31,               
     2014     2015     Change  
     Amount      Gross
Margin
    Amount      Gross
Margin
    Amount      Gross
Margin (bps)
 
     (dollars in thousands)  

Gross profit:

               

Product

   $ 135,270         69.6   $ 173,239         70.0   $ 37,969         40   

Service

     11,003         65.0     19,597         78.8     8,594         1,380   
  

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

    

Total gross profit

   $ 146,273         69.2   $ 192,836         70.8   $ 46,563         160   
  

 

 

      

 

 

      

 

 

    

The slight increase in product gross margin was primarily due to an increase in sales of software-based capacity expansions during the year ended December 31, 2015.

The increase in service gross margin was due to a decrease in sales of lower-margin professional services related to new customer deployments of our CCAP solution during 2015 as compared to 2014.

Research and Development

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Change  
     2014     2015     Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Research and development

   $ 25,481      $ 37,155      $ 11,674         45.8

Percentage of revenue

     12.1     13.6     

The increase in research and development expense was due to a $8.9 million increase in personnel-related costs (including a $1.0 million increase in stock-based compensation expense) as a result of the increase in headcount of our research and development personnel from 187 to 256 to support the development of our new wireless and software-centric broadband products and to enhance our existing software-centric broadband products, a $1.5 million increase in facilities and infrastructure expenses and a $1.1 million increase in hardware prototype development costs for new broadband products.

 

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Sales and Marketing

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Change  
     2014      2015      Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Sales and marketing

   $ 21,409       $ 36,157       $ 14,748         68.9

Percentage of revenue

     10.1      13.3      

The increase in sales and marketing expense was due to a $7.5 million increase in sales agent commissions related to an increase in sales in Latin America, a $5.7 million increase in personnel-related costs (including a $0.2 million increase in stock-based compensation expense) as a result of the increase in the headcount of our sales and marketing personnel from 67 to 94 in order to increase the sales force associated with our software-centric broadband products and to start the development a new sales force assigned to our new wireless solutions, a $0.8 million increase in facilities and infrastructure expenses and a $0.5 million increase in marketing costs related to trade shows and events to promote our solutions.

General and Administrative

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Change  
     2014      2015      Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

General and administrative

   $ 10,346       $ 16,453       $ 6,107         59.0

Percentage of revenue

     4.9      6.0      

The increase in general and administrative expense was primarily due to a $4.0 million increase in stock-based compensation expense, a $1.3 million increase in personnel-related costs due to an increase in the headcount of personnel in our general and administrative functions due to the growth in our business and a $0.7 million increase in professional fees.

Other Income (Expense), Net

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Change  
     2014      2015      Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Other income (expense), net

   $ (2,942    $ (1,408    $ 1,534         52.1

Percentage of revenue

     1.4      0.5      

The change from a net other expense of $2.9 million to a net other expense of $1.4 million was due to a $1.5 million decrease in other expense associated with our revaluation in 2014 of a liability for a common stock warrant, which was exercised on March 31, 2014.

Provision for Income Taxes

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
     Change  
     2014      2015      Amount      %  
     (dollars in thousands)  

Provision for income taxes

   $ 26,387       $ 33,742       $ 7,355         27.9

Effective tax rate

     30.6      33.2      

The increase in the effective tax rate of 2.6% primarily resulted from an increase in the foreign tax rate differential.

 

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Consolidated Quarterly Results of Operations

The following table sets forth our unaudited quarterly consolidated statement of operations data, in both dollar amounts and as a percentage of total revenue, for each of the seven fiscal quarters in the period ended September 30, 2016. In management’s opinion, the quarterly statement of operations data has been prepared on the same basis as the audited consolidated financial statements included in this prospectus and reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation of this data. This information should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. Our operating results may fluctuate due to a variety of factors. The results of historical periods are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations for a full year or any future period.

 

     Three Months Ended  
     Mar. 31,
2015
    June 30,
2015
     Sept. 30,
2015
    Dec. 31,
2015
     Mar. 31,
2016
     June 30,
2016
     Sept. 30,
2016
 
     (in thousands)  

Revenue:

                  

Product

   $ 55,884      $ 68,276       $ 42,007      $ 81,421       $ 76,433       $ 56,777       $ 58,553   

Service

     3,505        6,814         6,057        8,486         6,996         8,148         9,995   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total revenue

     59,389        75,090         48,064        89,907         83,429         64,925         68,548   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Cost of revenue:

                  

Product

     16,379        18,783         13,322        25,865         27,103         22,427         19,263   

Services

     1,141        1,233         1,278        1,613         1,408         1,997         2,578   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     17,520        20,016         14,600        27,478         28,511         24,424         21,841   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Gross profit

     41,869        55,074         33,464        62,429         54,918         40,501         46,707   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

                  

Research and development

     8,270        9,284         9,854        9,747         12,189         12,573         12,451   

Sales and marketing

     7,129        7,155         9,592        12,281         8,644         9,125         9,520   

General and administrative

     3,600        4,671         4,287        3,895         4,347         4,665         4,520   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     18,999        21,110         23,733        25,923         25,180         26,363         26,491   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Income from operations

     22,870        33,964         9,731        36,506         29,738         14,138         20,216   

Other income (expense), net

     (3,464     2,016         (113     153         319         278         356   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     19,406        35,980         9,618        36,659         30,057         14,416         20,572   

Provision for income taxes

     6,757        13,278         3,370        10,337         8,345         2,412         5,471   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Net income

   $ 12,649      $ 22,702       $ 6,248      $ 26,322       $ 21,712       $ 12,004       $ 15,101   
  

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

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     Three Months Ended  
     Mar. 31,
2015
    June 30,
2015
    Sept. 30,
2015
    Dec. 31,
2015
    Mar. 31,
2016
    June 30,
2016
    Sept. 30,
2016
 
     (as a percentage of total revenue)  

Revenue:

              

Product

     94     91     87     91     92     87     85

Service

     6        9        13        9        8        13        15   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total revenue

     100        100        100        100        100        100        100   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Cost of revenue:

              

Product

     28        25        28        29        32        35        28   

Service

     2        2        3        2        2        3        4   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total cost of revenue

     30        27        30        31        34        38        32   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Gross profit

     70        73        70        69        66        62        68   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Operating expenses:

              

Research and development

     14        12        21        11        15        19        18   

Sales and marketing

     12        10        20        14        10        14        14   

General and administrative

     6        6        9        4        5        7        7   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Total operating expenses

     32        28        49        29        30        41        39   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income from operations

     39        45        20        41        36        22        29   

Other income (expense), net

     (6     3                                    1   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Income before provision for income taxes

     33        48        20        41        36        22        30   

Provision for income taxes

     11        18        7        11        10        4        8   
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Net income

     21     30     13     29     26     18     22
  

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

Percentages in the table above are based on actual values. As a result, some totals may not sum due to rounding.

Quarterly Revenue and Cost of Revenue

Our revenue has been influenced over the periods presented by demand for and sales of our software-centric broadband products, including our CCAP solution and DOCSIS 3.1 capabilities, an increase in our sales of software-based capacity expansions, and an increase in our maintenance and support services revenue due to an increase in the supported installed base of equipment. An overall increase in demand for our products over the periods presented, combined with the introduction of new products, has contributed to the overall increase in our revenue.

We believe that seasonality generally causes product revenue to be greater for the first and fourth quarters of our year as compared to the second and third quarters. We believe that this seasonality results primarily from the procurement, budgeting and deployment cycles of many of our customers.

Product revenue during the three months ended June 30, 2015 included the recognition of previously deferred product revenue of $23.1 million upon the product acceptance by a new customer in Europe that deployed our CCAP solution. The cost of product revenue for the same period also included the recognition of previously deferred inventory costs related to this product acceptance.

Quarterly Gross Profit

Our gross profit and gross margin are primarily driven by the mix of products sold, the amount of capacity expansions sold, and the amount of maintenance and support services revenue recognized for the period. The

 

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decreases in gross profit and gross margin during the three months ended March 31, 2016 and June 30, 2016 were primarily due to lower gross profit from the initial sales to new customers of our broadband products as a result of the amount of hardware in these sales.

Quarterly Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses have generally increased over the periods presented primarily related to the increase in personnel and the related salary and benefit costs to support the growth of our business and the development of new products. Our total headcount was 352, 481 and 579 as of December 31, 2014 and 2015 and September 30, 2016, respectively. The increase in research and development costs was primarily attributable to increased personnel added throughout each of the quarters presented to support the development of our new wireless and software-centric broadband products and to enhance our existing software-centric broadband products. Sales and marketing expenses and general and administrative expenses have increased over the periods presented primarily due to increases in personnel to support the growth of our business.

Sales and marketing expenses during the three months ended September 30, 2015 and December 31, 2015 included sales agent commissions of $3.5 million and $4.4 million, respectively, related to sales to certain customers in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Since our inception, we have primarily funded our operations through issuances of shares of our convertible preferred stock and cash flows from operations. The following tables set forth our cash and cash equivalents and working capital as of December 31, 2014 and 2015 and September 30, 2016 as well as our net cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015 and the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2016:

 

     As of December 31,      As of
September 30,
2016
 
     2014      2015     
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:

        

Cash and cash equivalents

   $ 77,155       $ 92,496       $ 161,706   

Working capital

     99,237         162,981         158,675   

 

     Year Ended
December 31,
    Nine Months Ended
September 30,
 
     2014     2015     2015     2016  
     (in thousands)  

Consolidated Cash Flow Data:

  

Net cash provided by operating activities

   $ 60,348      $ 24,602      $ 27,086      $ 124,069   

Net cash used in investing activities

     (4,030     (15,503     (14,009     (6,159

Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities

     (21,695     7,304        7,428        (48,146

As of September 30, 2016, we had cash and cash equivalents of $161.7 million and accounts receivable of $74.9 million. We maintain a $25.0 million working capital line of credit under which $24.0 million was available and $1.0 million was used as collateral for a standby letter of credit as of September 30, 2016.

We believe our existing cash and cash equivalents and anticipated cash flows from future operations and liquidity available from our line of credit will be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for at least the next 12 months. Our future capital requirements may vary materially from those currently planned and will depend on many factors, including our rate of revenue growth, the timing and extent of spending on research and development efforts and other business initiatives, purchases of capital equipment to support our growth, the expansion of sales and marketing activities, expansion of our business through acquisitions or our investments in complementary products, technologies or businesses, the use of working capital to purchase additional inventory, the timing of new product introductions, market acceptance of our

 

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products and overall economic conditions. To the extent that current and anticipated future sources of liquidity are insufficient to fund our future business activities and requirements, we may be required to seek additional equity or debt financing. In the event additional financing is required from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all.

Our board of directors has declared a special dividend on two separate occasions since our inception to provide a return of capital to stockholders. The dividend payments totaled $28.9 million and $0.7 million in the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2015, respectively, and totaled $47.8 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2016. We do not anticipate declaring cash dividends following the closing of this offering. Any future determination to declare dividends will be subject to the discretion of our board of directors and applicable law, and will depend on various factors, including our results of operations, financial condition, prospects and any other factors deemed relevant by our board of directors.

Cash Flows

Operating Activities

Our primary source of cash from operating activities has been from cash collections from our customers. We expect cash inflows from operating activities to be affected by increases in sales and timing of collections and by purchases and shipments of inventory. Our primary uses of cash from operating activities have been for personnel costs and investment in sales and marketing and research and development. We expect cash outflows from operating activities to increase as a result of further investment in research and development and sales and marketing and increases in personnel costs as we continue to enhance our products and introduce new products in an effort to continue to expand our business.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2016, cash provided by operating activities was $124.1 million, primarily resulting from our net income of $48.8 million, net non-cash charges of $6.4 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $68.9 million. The net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was primarily due to a $25.8 million decrease in accounts receivable due to the timing of billings and collections during the period and a higher proportion of our sales in geographic regions with shorter payment terms, a $22.3 million increase in deferred revenue due to the deferral of the revenue recognition for certain sales transactions resulting from the customer acceptance provisions of those arrangements and an increase in sales of maintenance and support service contracts as a result of an increase in our installed base, a $15.6 million increase in accounts payable primarily attributable to the timing of our payments for the purchases of inventory, and a $10.3 million increase in accrued expenses and other current liabilities, which included an increase of $13.9 million for accrued customer incentives, all partially offset by a $4.9 million increase in accrued income taxes as a result of increased taxable income.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2015, cash provided by operating activities was $27.1 million, primarily resulting from net income of $41.6 million and net non-cash charges of $9.2 million, both partially offset by net cash used by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $23.7 million. The net cash used by changes in our operating assets and liabilities during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was primarily due to a $27.9 million increase in inventory due to the anticipated growth in our business, a $15.7 million decrease in accrued income taxes due to the timing of tax payments and an $11.7 million decrease in deferred revenue primarily due to recognition of $23.1 million of revenue upon the product acceptance by a new customer in Europe that deployed our CCAP solution, which was partially offset by a $12.3 million increase in deferred revenue due primarily to the deferral of revenue recognition related to the finalization of a contractual arrangement with a customer in Europe. These uses of cash were partially offset by a $24.2 million decrease in accounts receivable due to the timing of billings and collections during the period and a high concentration of our sales in geographic regions with shorter payment terms, and a $9.4 million increase in accounts payable primarily attributable to timing of vendor payments.

During the year ended December 31, 2015, cash provided by operating activities was $24.6 million, primarily resulting from our net income of $67.9 million and net non-cash charges of $12.7 million, both partially offset by net cash used by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $56.0 million. The net cash used by changes in our operating assets and liabilities during the year ended December 31, 2015 was primarily

 

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due to a $28.6 million decrease in deferred revenue primarily due to recognition of $23.1 million of revenue upon the product acceptance by a new customer in Europe that deployed our CCAP solution, a $10.8 million decrease in accrued income taxes due to the timing of tax payments, a $17.4 million increase in inventory for anticipated growth in our business and a $9.7 million increase in accounts receivable due to an increase in sales and timing of the related collections. These uses of cash were partially offset by a $2.7 million increase in accounts payable primarily attributable to the timing of our payments for the purchases of inventory and an $8.0 million increase in accrued expenses and other current liabilities, which included an increase of $3.4 million for personnel-related accrued liabilities, such as accrued salaries and bonuses, due to the growth in headcount.

During the year ended December 31, 2014, cash provided by operating activities was $60.3 million, primarily resulting from our net income of $59.7 million and net cash provided by changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $1.9 million, both partially offset by net non-cash gains of $1.2 million. The net cash provided by changes in our net operating assets and liabilities during the year ended December 31, 2014 was primarily due to a $46.6 million increase in accounts receivable as a result of an increase in sales, the timing of our billings and a higher proportion of our sales in geographic regions with shorter payment terms; a $22.1 million increase in inventory due to anticipated growth in our business; and a $6.6 million decrease in accounts payable primarily attributable to the timing of our payments for the purchases of inventory. These uses of cash were partially offset by a $59.4 million increase in deferred revenue due primarily to the deferral of the revenue recognition for several sales transactions resulting from the customer acceptance provisions of those arrangements, a $13.9 million increase in accrued income taxes and an $8.0 million increase in accrued expenses and other current liabilities, which included an increase of $6.6 million for personnel-related accrued liabilities, such as accrued salaries and bonuses, due to the growth in headcount.

Investing Activities

Our investing activities have consisted primarily of expenditures for lab and computer equipment and software to support the development of new products and increase our manufacturing capacity to meet customer demand for our products. In addition, our investing activities include expansion of, improvements to, and the purchase of our facilities. As our business expands, we expect that we will continue to invest in these areas.

Net cash used in investing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was $6.2 million for purchases of property and equipment.

Net cash used in investing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was $14.0 million for purchases of property and equipment, consisting primarily of the purchase of and improvements to our corporate offices totaling $10.3 million during that period.

Net cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2015 was $15.5 million for purchases of property and equipment, consisting primarily of the purchase of and improvements to our corporate offices totaling $10.4 million during that period.

Net cash used in investing activities during year ended December 31, 2014 was $4.0 million for purchases of property and equipment.

Financing Activities

Net cash used in financing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was $48.1 million and consisted primarily of dividend payments of $47.8 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities during the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was $7.4 million and consisted primarily of proceeds of $7.9 million from the commercial mortgage on our corporate offices, partially offset by $0.6 million of dividends paid.

Net cash provided by financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2015 was $7.3 million and consisted primarily of proceeds of $7.9 million from the commercial mortgage on our corporate offices, partially offset by $0.7 million of dividends paid.

 

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Net cash used in financing activities during the year ended December 31, 2014 was $21.7 million and primarily consisted of dividend payments of $28.9 million, partially offset by proceeds from the exercise of stock options and a common stock warrant totaling $6.7 million.

Working Capital Facility and Commercial Mortgage

In April 2014, we entered into a revolving credit agreement with Bank of America, which, as amended in 2016, provides for borrowings of up to $25.0 million, subject to certain limitations. Borrowings under the revolver accrue interest, at our election, at either (1) the bank’s prime rate or (2) LIBOR plus two percentage points, due quarterly in arrears. We are required to pay a fee of 0.20% per year, payable quarterly in arrears, on the unused amount of the revolver. The revolver matures on June 30, 2019.

Borrowings under the revolver are secured by substantially all of our assets, excluding intellectual property and investments in foreign subsidiaries. In connection with the revolver, we are subject to various affirmative, negative and financial covenants, including a funded debt to consolidated EBITDA ratio and a basic fixed charge coverage ratio. We were in compliance with all the covenants of the revolver as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2016. As of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2016, we did not have any borrowings under the revolver, but we used $1.0 million as collateral for a stand-by letter of credit to guarantee our contractual performance with a customer.

In July 2015, we entered into an $8.0 million commercial mortgage loan agreement. The annual interest rate on the loan is 3.5%, and the loan is repayable in 60 monthly installments of principal and interest based on a 20-year amortization schedule. The loan is secured by the land and building, which are our corporate offices, purchased in March 2015, and contains annual affirmative, negative and financial covenants, including maintenance of a minimum debt service ratio. We were in compliance with all the covenants of the loan as of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2016. As of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2016, the outstanding principal amount under the loan was $7.8 million and $7.6 million, respectively.

Term Loan B

On                         , 2016, we entered into a Term Loan B providing for                                                  .

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations and commitments as of December 31, 2015.

 

     Payments Due by Period  
     Total      Less than
1 Year
     1 to 3
Years
     4 to 5
Years
     More than
5 Years
 
     (in thousands)  

Commercial mortgage

   $ 7,835       $ 282       $ 595       $ 6,958       $   

Interest expense(1)

     1,168         274         516         378           

Operating lease(2)

     1,124         291         612         204         17   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

Total

   $ 10,127       $ 847       $ 1,723       $ 7,540       $ 17   
  

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

(1) Reflects contractual obligations to pay interest on the commercial mortgage until the maturity date.
(2) In January 2016, we leased 9,000 square feet of manufacturing space in China through 2019. In September 2016, we leased 29,880 square feet of manufacturing, warehouse and office space in Ireland through 2026, with a right to terminate in 2021. Aggregate payments due under these leases are $40,000 during the year ending December 31, 2016, $747,000 in total during the years ending December 31, 2017 and 2018, $820,000 in total during the years ending December 31, 2019 and 2020, and $305,000 thereafter. Such amounts are not reflected in the table.

We enter into purchase agreements with our contract manufacturers and suppliers, generally with terms of a year or more. We have no minimum purchase requirements under these agreements.

 

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Critical Accounting Policies and Significant Judgments and Estimates

Our management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP. In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we make estimates, assumptions and judgments that can have a significant effect on our reported revenue, results of operations and net income or loss, as well as on the value of certain assets and liabilities on our balance sheet during and as of the reporting periods. These estimates, assumptions and judgments are necessary because future events and their effects on our results and the value of our assets cannot be determined with certainty, and are made based on our historical experience and on other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. These estimates may change as new events occur or additional information is obtained, and we may periodically be faced with uncertainties, the outcomes of which are not within our control and may not be known for a prolonged period of time. As the use of estimates is inherent in the financial reporting process, actual results could differ from those estimates.

While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements appearing at the end of this prospectus, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

We generate revenue from sales of our broadband products, along with associated maintenance and support services, and, to a lesser extent, from sales of professional services and extended warranty services. We also generate revenue from sales of additional line cards and software-based capacity expansions. Maintenance and support services include telephone support and unspecified software upgrades and updates provided on a when-and-if-available basis.

We recognize revenue from sales when the following revenue recognition criteria are met:

 

    Persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists. Binding contracts and/or customer purchase orders are generally evidence of an arrangement. For professional services, evidence of an arrangement may also include information documenting the scope of work to be performed, and customer acceptance terms, if any.

 

    Delivery has occurred. For broadband products, shipping documents and customer acceptance, if applicable, verify that delivery has occurred. For software-enabled capacity expansions, delivery occurs when the additional bandwidth capacity is made available to the customer. For professional services, delivery occurs as the services are completed.

 

    The sales price is fixed or determinable. The sales price is considered fixed or determinable when the fees have been contractually agreed with the customer and are not deemed to be subject to refund, adjustment or future discounts, and when the payment terms of the transaction do not extend beyond our customary payment terms, which are one year or less.

 

    Collectibility is reasonably assured. We assess the ability to collect from our customers based on a number of factors that generally include information supplied by credit agencies, references and/or analysis of customer accounts and payment history. If collection from a customer is not considered reasonably assured, all revenue related to the customer arrangement is deferred until payment is received and all other revenue recognition criteria have been met.

When customer acceptance of the product is required and is other than perfunctory, revenue for the entire customer arrangement is deferred until the acceptance has been received.

Our products have both software and non-software (i.e., hardware) components that function together to deliver the products’ essential functionality. In addition, the hardware sold generally cannot be used apart from

 

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the embedded software. As a result, all of our product and service offerings are excluded from the scope of software revenue recognition requirements and instead fall within the scope of Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Topic 605, Revenue Recognition.

Many of our sales involve multiple-deliverable arrangements that include products and maintenance and support services and, on a limited basis, may also include professional services and extended warranty services. We have determined that our products, maintenance and support services, professional services and extended warranty services have standalone value to the customer because each of these elements is sold separately to our customers or, in the case of professional services, is sold separately by other vendors. As a result, we treat each of these elements as a separate unit of accounting for purposes of allocating the arrangement fee and recognizing the revenue of each unit.

For our multiple-deliverable arrangements, we allocate the arrangement fee to each deliverable based on the relative selling prices of each of the deliverables in the arrangement using the selling price hierarchy. In such circumstances, we determine the selling price of each deliverable based on vendor-specific objective evidence, or VSOE, of selling price, if it exists; otherwise, third-party evidence, or TPE, of selling price. If neither VSOE nor TPE exists, we use our best estimate of the selling price, or BESP, for the deliverable. We limit the amount of the arrangement fee allocated to deliverables to the amount that is not contingent on the future delivery of products or services or future performance obligations and the amount that is not subject to customer-specific return or refund privileges.

To date, we have not been able to establish VSOE of selling price of any of our products, maintenance and support services, professional services or extended warranty services because we have not established a history of consistently pricing each product or service within a narrow range. In addition, we are not able to determine TPE of selling price for our products or services because our various product and service offerings contain a significant level of differentiation and, therefore, comparable pricing of competitors’ products and services with similar functionality cannot be obtained. As we are unable to establish selling price using VSOE or TPE, we use BESP to allocate the arrangement fee to products, maintenance and support services, professional services and extended warranty services in multiple-deliverable arrangements. The objective of BESP is to determine the price at which we would transact a sale if a product or service was sold on a standalone basis. We determine BESP of selling price for our products and services by considering multiple factors, including, but not limited to, our historical pricing practices by customer type and geographic-specific market factors.

Revenue from product sales is recognized upon delivery to the customer, or upon the later receipt of customer acceptance of the product when such acceptance is required.

Revenue from maintenance and support services is recognized ratably over the contract period, which is typically one year, but can be as long as three or five years. When customer acceptance of a product is required, the recognition of any associated maintenance and support services revenue commences only upon customer acceptance of the associated product. Revenue from extended warranty services is recognized ratably over the contract period, which is typically one to three years.

Revenue from professional services is recognized as the services are performed. Professional services generally include installation or configuration services that are not deemed to be essential to the functionality of the products. When customer acceptance is required, the recognition of any associated professional services revenue is deferred until the associated product and/or professional service is accepted by the customer.

Resellers

We market and sell our products through our direct global sales force, supported by sales agents, and through resellers. Our resellers receive an order from an end customer prior to placing an order with us, and we confirm the identification of or are aware of the end customer prior to accepting such order. We invoice the reseller and record revenue based on the amount set forth in the reseller’s purchase order submitted to us. Our resellers do not stock inventory received from us.

 

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When we transact with a reseller, our contractual arrangement is with the reseller and not with the end customer. Whether we transact business with and receive the order from a reseller or directly from an end customer, our revenue recognition policy and resulting pattern of revenue recognition for the order are the same.

We also use sales agents that assist us in the sales process with certain customers primarily located in the Latin America and Asia-Pacific regions. Sales agents are not resellers. If a sales agent is engaged in the sales process, we receive the order directly from and sell the products and services directly to the end customer, and we pay a commission to the sales agent, calculated as a percentage of the related customer payment. Sales agent commissions are recorded as expenses when incurred and are classified as sales and marketing expenses in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Deferred Revenue

Amounts billed in excess of revenue recognized are recorded as deferred revenue. Deferred revenue includes customer deposits, amounts billed for maintenance and support services contracts in advance of services being performed, amounts for trade-in right liabilities and amounts related to arrangements that have been deferred as a result of not meeting the required revenue recognition criteria as of the end of the reporting period. Deferred revenue expected to be recognized as revenue more than one year subsequent to the balance sheet date is reported within long-term liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets.

When the payment terms of a customer order extend beyond our customary payment terms, which are one year or less, we consider the arrangement to be an extended payment term arrangement and conclude that the sales price is not fixed or determinable for revenue recognition purposes. In these circumstances, we defer all revenue of the arrangement and only recognize revenue to the extent of the payment amounts that become due, provided that all other revenue recognition criteria have been met.

We defer recognition of incremental direct costs, such as cost of goods and services, until recognition of the related revenue. Such costs are classified as current assets if the related deferred revenue is classified as current, and such costs are classified as non-current assets if the related deferred revenue is classified as non-current.

Other Revenue Recognition Policies

In limited instances, we have offered future rebates to customers based on a fixed or variable percentage of actual sales volumes over specified periods. The future rebates earned based on the customer’s purchasing from us in one period may be used as credits to be applied by them against accounts receivable due to us in later periods. We account for these future rebates as a reduction of the revenue recorded for the customer’s current purchasing activity giving rise to the future rebates. The liability for these future rebates is recorded as accrued customer incentives until the credits have been applied by the customer against accounts receivable due to us or the credits expire.

When future trade-in rights are granted to customers at the time of sale, we defer a portion of the revenue recognized for the sale and account for it as a guarantee at fair value until the trade-in right is exercised or the right expires, in accordance with ASC Topic 460, Guarantees. Determining the fair value of the trade-in right requires us to estimate the probability of the trade-in right being exercised and the future value of the product upon trade-in. We assess and update these estimates at each reporting period, and our updates to these estimates may result in either an increase or decrease in the amount of revenue deferred.

Billings to customers for shipping costs and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses are recorded as revenue, and the associated costs incurred by us for those items are recorded as cost of revenue.

We exclude any taxes assessed by a governmental authority that are directly imposed on a revenue-producing transaction (e.g., sales, use and value added taxes) from our revenue and costs.

 

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Inventories

Inventories are valued at the lower of cost or market value. Cost is computed using the first-in first-out convention. Inventories are composed of hardware and related component parts of finished goods. We establish provisions for excess and obsolete inventories after evaluating historical sales, future demand, market conditions, expected product life cycles, and current inventory levels to reduce such inventories to their estimated net realizable value. Such provisions are made in the normal course of business and charged to cost of revenue in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

Deferred inventory costs are included within inventory in our consolidated balance sheets. Deferred inventory costs represent the cost of products that have been delivered to the customer for which revenue associated with the arrangement has been deferred as a result of not meeting all of the required revenue recognition criteria, such as receipt of customer acceptance. Until the revenue recognition criteria are met, we retain the right to a return of the underlying inventory. Deferred inventory costs are recognized as cost of revenue in our consolidated statement of operations and comprehensive income when the related revenue is recognized.

Product Warranties

Substantially all of our products are covered by a warranty for software and hardware for periods ranging from 90 days to one year. In addition, in conjunction with customers’ renewals of maintenance and support services contracts, we offer an extended warranty for periods typically of one to three years for agreed-upon fees. In the event of a failure of a hardware product or software covered by these warranties, we must repair or replace the software or hardware or, if those remedies are insufficient, provide a refund at our discretion. Our warranty reserve, which is included in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in our consolidated balance sheets, reflects estimated material, labor and other costs related to potential or actual software and hardware warranty claims for which we expect to incur an obligation. Our estimates of anticipated rates of warranty claims and the costs associated therewith are primarily based on historical information and future forecasts. We periodically assess the adequacy of the warranty reserve and adjust the amount as necessary. If the historical data used to calculate the adequacy of the warranty reserve are not indicative of future requirements, additional or reduced warranty reserves may be required.

Derivative Instruments

We have certain international customers that are billed in foreign currencies. To mitigate the volatility related to fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates for accounts receivable denominated in foreign currencies, we enter into foreign currency forward contracts. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes. As of September 30, 2016, we had foreign currency forward contracts outstanding with notional amounts totaling 2.3 million euros maturing in the fourth quarter of 2016. There were no outstanding derivative instruments as of December 31, 2015.

Our foreign currency forward contracts economically hedge certain risk but are not designated as hedges for financial reporting purposes, and accordingly, all changes in the fair value of these derivative instruments are recorded as unrealized foreign currency transaction gains or losses and are included in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. We record all derivative instruments on the balance sheet at fair value and had a liability of $12,000 related to foreign currency forward contracts outstanding as of September 30, 2016, which was included in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in our consolidated balance sheet.

Income Taxes

We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of temporary differences between the financial statement and tax basis of assets and liabilities, as measured by enacted tax rates anticipated to be in effect when these differences reverse. This method also requires the recognition of future tax benefits to the extent that

 

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realization of such benefits is more likely than not. Deferred tax expense or benefit is the result of changes in the deferred tax assets and liabilities. We assess the likelihood that our deferred tax assets will be recovered from future taxable income and, to the extent we believe, based upon the weight of available evidence, that it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the deferred tax assets will not be realized, we establish a valuation allowance through a charge to income tax expense. We evaluate the potential for recovery of deferred tax assets by estimating the future taxable profits expected and considering prudent and feasible tax planning strategies.

We record a liability for potential payments of taxes to various tax authorities related to uncertain tax positions and other tax matters. The recorded liability is based on a determination of whether and how much of a tax benefit in our tax filings or positions is more likely than not to be realized. The amount of the benefit that may be recognized in the financial statements is the largest amount that has a greater than 50% likelihood of being realized upon ultimate settlement. To the extent that the assessment of such tax positions changes, the change in estimate is recorded in the period in which the determination is made. We establish a liability, which is included in accrued income taxes in our consolidated balance sheets, for tax-related uncertainties based on estimates of whether, and the extent to which, additional taxes will be due. These liabilities are established when we believe that certain positions might be challenged despite our belief that the tax return positions are fully supportable. We adjust the recorded liability in light of changing facts and circumstances. Our provision for income taxes includes the impact of the recorded liability and changes thereto.

We recognize interest and penalties related to uncertain tax positions within other income (expense) in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. Accrued interest and penalties are included in accrued income taxes in our consolidated balance sheets.

Stock-Based Compensation

We measure stock options and other stock-based awards granted to employees and directors based on the fair value on the date of the grant and recognize compensation expense of those awards, net of estimated forfeitures, over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. Generally, we issue stock options with only service-based vesting conditions and record the expense for these awards using the straight-line method.

For stock-based awards granted to non-employee consultants, compensation expense is recognized over the period during which services are rendered by such non-employee consultants until completed. At the end of each financial reporting period prior to completion of the service, the fair value of these awards is remeasured using the then-current fair value of our common stock and updated assumption inputs in the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.

We have also granted stock appreciation rights, or SARs, to certain employees, which require us to pay in cash upon exercise an amount equal to the product of the excess of the per share fair market value of our common stock on the date of exercise over the exercise price, multiplied by the number of shares of common stock with respect to which the stock appreciation right is exercised. Because these awards may require us to settle the awards in cash, they are accounted for as a liability in our consolidated balance sheets. The liability related to these awards, as well as related compensation expense, is recognized over the period during which services are rendered until completed. Changes in the fair value of the SAR liability are recorded in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. After vesting is completed, we will continue to remeasure the fair market value of the liability until the award is either exercised or cancelled, with changes in the fair value of the liability recorded in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.

We estimate the fair value of each stock option and SAR grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model, which uses as inputs the fair value of our common stock and assumptions we make for the volatility of our common stock, the expected term of the award, the risk-free interest rate for a period that approximates the expected term of our stock options and our expected dividend yield.

 

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Valuation of Common Stock

Given the absence of an active market for our common stock prior to our initial public offering, the estimated fair value of our common stock has been determined by our board of directors at the time of each award grant based upon several factors, including its consideration of input from management, our most recently available third-party valuations of common stock and our board of directors’ assessment of additional objective and subjective factors that it believed were relevant and which may have changed from the date of the most recent valuation through the date of the grant. These third-party valuations were performed in accordance with the guidance outlined in the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ Accounting and Valuation Guide, Valuation of Privately-Held-Company Equity Securities Issued as Compensation and used a combination of income and market approaches to estimate our enterprise value. Cash is added and interest bearing debt is subtracted from the estimated enterprise value in order to estimate the underlying equity value. Once the equity value is estimated, it is then allocated among the various classes of securities to arrive at the fair value of the common stock. These allocations were prepared using the option-pricing method, or OPM. The OPM treats common stock and preferred stock as call options on the total equity value of a company, with exercise prices based on the value thresholds at which the allocation among the various holders of a company’s securities changes. Under this method, the common stock has value only if the funds available for distribution to stockholders exceed the value of the preferred stock liquidation preferences at the time of a liquidity event, such as a strategic sale or merger.

The third-party valuations were performed at various dates, which resulted in valuations of our common stock of $41.97 per share as of October 23, 2015 and $54.22 per share as of April 30, 2016. In addition to considering the results of these third-party valuations, our board of directors considered various objective and subjective factors to determine the fair value of our common stock as of each grant date, which may be a date later than the most recent third-party valuation date, including:

 

    our historical operating and financial performance;

 

    the market performance of comparable publicly traded companies within our industry;

 

    external market conditions affecting the networking industry, and trends within the networking industry;

 

    the identification and analysis of mergers and acquisitions of comparable companies;

 

    the prices, rights, preferences and privileges of our convertible preferred stock relative to the common stock;

 

    the likelihood of achieving a liquidity event such as an initial public offering or sale given prevailing market conditions and the nature and history of our business;

 

    any adjustments necessary to recognize a lack of marketability for our common stock;

 

    our financial position, including cash on hand, and our historical and forecasted performance and operating results; and

 

    U.S. and global economic market conditions.

The assumptions underlying these valuations represent management’s best estimates. There are significant judgments and estimates inherent in the determination of the fair value of our common stock. These judgments and estimates include assumptions regarding our future operating performance, the timing of a potential IPO or other liquidity event and the determination of the appropriate valuation method at each valuation date. If we had made different assumptions, our stock-based compensation expense, net income and net income per share attributable to common stockholders could have been significantly different.

Once a public trading market for our common stock has been established in connection with the closing of this offering, it will no longer be necessary for our board of directors to estimate the fair value of our common stock in connection with our accounting for stock-based awards, as the fair value of our common stock will be its trading price in the public market.

 

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Awards Granted

The following table summarizes by grant date the number of shares of common stock subject to stock options, restricted stock units, or RSUs, and SARs granted from January 1, 2016 through the date of this prospectus, as well as the associated per share exercise price or reference price and the estimated fair value per share of our common stock on each grant date:

 

Grant Date

   Type of
Award
   Number of
Shares
Underlying
Awards
     Per Share
Exercise Price
of Options or
SARs
     Per Share Fair
Value of
Common Stock
on Grant Date
     Per Share
Estimated
Fair Value of
Awards
 

March 26, 2016

   Options      165,463       $ 41.97       $ 41.97       $ 16.80   

March 26, 2016

   RSUs      48,894         N/A       $ 41.97       $ 41.97   

March 28, 2016

   Options      60,500       $ 41.97       $ 41.97       $ 17.09   

July 7, 2016

   Options      79,500       $ 54.22       $ 54.22       $ 21.84   

September 6, 2016

   Options      50,340       $ 54.22       $ 54.22       $ 20.84   

September 6, 2016

   SARs      6,000       $ 54.22       $ 54.22       $ 20.52   

Emerging Growth Company Status

The JOBS Act provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period afforded by the JOBS Act for the implementation of new or revised accounting standards. However, we are choosing to “opt out” of such extended transition period, and as a result, we will comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. The JOBS Act provides that our decision to not take advantage of the extended transition period for complying with new or revised accounting standards is irrevocable.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

As of December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2016, we did not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, as defined in Item 303(a)(4)(ii) of Regulation S-K, such as the use of unconsolidated subsidiaries, structured finance, special purpose entities or variable interest entities.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

We have reviewed all recently issued standards and have determined that, other than as disclosed in Note 2 to our audited consolidated financial statements appearing at the end of this prospectus, such standards will not have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements or do not otherwise apply to our operations.

Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risks

Market risk is the risk of loss to future earnings, values or future cash flows that may result from changes in the price of a financial instrument. The value of a financial instrument may change as a result of changes in interest rates, exchange rates, commodity prices, equity prices and other market changes. We are exposed to market risk related to changes in foreign currency exchange rates. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative or trading purposes. However, we have entered into, and in the future expect to continue to enter into, exchange rate hedging arrangements to manage the risks described below.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

We have accounts receivables denominated in foreign currencies, and our operations outside of the United States incur their operating expenses in foreign currencies. To date, the majority of our product sales and inventory purchases have been denominated in U.S. dollars. The functional currency of our international subsidiaries, except for our subsidiary in Ireland, is their local currency. During the years ended December 31,

 

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2014 and 2015 and the nine months ended September 30, 2015 and 2016, we incurred foreign currency transaction losses of $3.2 million, $3.0 million, $2.6 million and $45,000, respectively, primarily related to unrealized and realized foreign currency losses for accounts receivables denominated in foreign currencies. These foreign currency transaction losses were recorded as a component of other income (expense), net in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. We believe that a 5% change in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and euro would not materially impact our operating results or financial position. We entered into foreign currency exchange contracts during the nine months ended September 30, 2016, and we expect to continue to hedge certain significant transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar in the future.

Interest Rate Sensitivity

Our cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2016 consisted of cash maintained in FDIC-insured operating accounts as well as investments in money market funds, certificates of deposits and commercial paper. Our primary exposure to market risk for our cash and cash equivalents is interest income sensitivity, which is affected by changes in the general level of U.S. interest rates. However, we do not believe a sudden change in the interest rates would have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

Our revolving credit agreement with Bank of America provides for aggregate borrowings of up to $25.0 million, under which, as of September 30, 2016, $1.0 million was pledged as collateral for a stand-by letter of credit to guarantee our contractual performance with a customer and reduced the aggregate amount of borrowings available to us. Borrowings under the revolving line of credit accrue interest, at our election, at either (1) the bank’s prime rate or (2) LIBOR plus two percentage points. A 10% increase or decrease in interest rates would not result in a material change in our obligations under the line of credit, even at the borrowing limit.

Inflation Risk

We do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business. However, if global demand for the base materials utilized in our suppliers’ components were to significantly increase for the components we purchase from our suppliers to manufacture our products, our costs could become subject to significant inflationary pressures, and we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

 

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BUSINESS

Our Vision

Our products help our customers provide and manage broadband connectivity. We believe consumers and enterprises should be able to enjoy ultra-fast speeds and enhanced digital content experiences through their phones, tablets, computers, TVs and other connected devices at home or on the go. We believe that connectivity should be ubiquitous and seamless; it should not matter whether the user is accessing the Internet through wireless or fixed connections, and it should not matter whether that service is being provided by a cable operator, fixed telecom carrier or wireless services provider. Our innovative, software-centric products are designed to help achieve this vision.

Overview

We provide a suite of software-centric infrastructure solutions that allow cable service providers to deliver voice, video and data services over a single platform at multi-gigabit speeds. In addition, we offer solutions for next-generation distributed and virtualized architectures in cable operator, fixed telecom and wireless networks. Our innovative solutions enable customers to cost-effectively and dynamically increase network speed, add bandwidth capacity and new services for consumers and enterprises, reduce network complexity and reduce operating and capital expenditures.

We focus our development efforts on innovation and being the first to market with new products at each generational shift in cable network technology. We pioneered the use of a software-centric approach to leverage the programmability of field programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, and general purpose processors for use in the cable industry. In addition, we believe we were the first to provide each of the following to our customers: a solution enabling cable service providers to deliver IP voice, digital video and data over a single port; a solution enabling cable service providers to deliver multi-gigabit speeds to their subscribers; and a remote node solution to enable distributed broadband cable access at gigabit speeds.

We have created a software-centric, multi-service portfolio that enables a broad range of core and access network functions for fixed and wireless networks. These networks share a common set of core and access network functions that enable network services such as subscriber management, session management, transport security and radio frequency, or RF, management. Our Axyom software architecture allows the deconstruction of core and access network functions into modular building blocks so that they can be applied to a particular end-user service, across fixed and wireless networks, which enables us to be a leader in network transformation. While we have historically focused on cable service providers, our Axyom software platform allows us to improve and expand the functionality of wireless service provider networks.

We offer a scalable solution that can meet the evolving bandwidth needs of our customers and their subscribers. Our first installation in a cable service provider’s network frequently involves deploying our broadband products in only a portion of the provider’s network and with only a fraction of the capacity of our products enabled at the time of initial installation. Over time, our customers have generally expanded the use of our solutions to other areas of their networks to increase network capacity. Capacity expansions are accomplished either by deploying additional systems or line cards, or by our remote enablement of additional channels through the use of software. Sales of additional line cards and software-based capacity expansions generate higher gross margins than our initial hardware-based deployments.

Our solutions are commercially deployed in over 60 countries by more than 350 customers, including regional service providers as well as some of the world’s largest Tier 1 broadband service providers, serving millions of subscribers. Our principal customers include Charter/Time Warner Cable, Rogers and Mediacom in North America; Liberty Global, Vodafone and DNA Oyj in Europe; and Jupiter Communications and Beijing Gehua CATV Networks in Asia-Pacific.

 

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One of our largest customers, Time Warner Cable, launched its flagship “TWC Maxx” initiative in the New York City metropolitan area in 2014 using our solution. Our solution enabled TimeWarner Cable to triple the maximum speed offered to its customers. The deployment of our solution also enabled Time Warner Cable to reduce power consumption by nearly 30%, or approximately 11GWh per year, which we estimate is enough power for over 1,800 residential homes. Our solution also enabled Time Warner Cable to reduce facility space and remove over 140 miles of coaxial copper cable.

We have achieved significant growth and profitability. For the year ended December 31, 2015, we generated revenue of $272.5 million, net income of $67.9 million and adjusted EBITDA of $115.5 million, representing increases of 29.0%, 13.8% and 22.1%, respectively, from the amounts for the year ended December 31, 2014. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016, we generated revenue of $216.9 million, net income of $48.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of $74.5 million, representing increases of 18.8% and 17.4% and a decrease of 1.5%, respectively, from the amounts for the nine months ended September 30, 2015.

Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure. Please see “Selected Consolidated Financial Data—Non-GAAP Financial Measures” for information regarding the limitations of using adjusted EBITDA and for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Industry Background and Broadband Service Provider Challenges

As broadband service providers look to address the rapidly evolving demands of consumers and enterprises, we believe they must address several key challenges.

Rapidly Increasing Bandwidth Demand

Bandwidth demand has grown substantially and is expected to continue to increase. Key drivers of this increased demand include:

 

    more users with more connected devices and applications;

 

    more time spent online by users;

 

    the increased use of bandwidth-intensive streaming media services, such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube; cloud applications, such as iCloud and Dropbox; and augmented and virtual reality applications;

 

    Internet of Things, or IoT, solutions, as already seen in connected homes, business and industries; connected devices such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant; machine-to-machine connectivity; car connectivity and smart cities;

 

    the backhaul demand by wireless service providers; and

 

    the rise of data consumption by enterprises with strict latency requirements on mission-critical and public safety-related applications.

According to a July 2016 Cisco Systems Visual Networking Index report, global IP traffic per capita per month is forecast to grow 150% from 2015 to 2020, from 10GB to 25GB, and the number of connected devices per capita in North America is expected to reach 12 in 2020, up from 7 in 2015, representing an increase of more than 70%.

Competition Fueled by Increasing Breadth of Service Offerings

Consumers and enterprises enjoy increased choice among broadband service providers, including cable service providers such as Charter and Comcast, diversified telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon, and mobile-only network operators such as Sprint and T-Mobile. As a result, broadband service providers are facing increasing pressure to develop differentiated service offerings with higher levels of

 

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performance at lower cost to consumers and enterprises. They are also under competitive pressure to offer a wider range of services, from Internet access, television, telephone and wireless services to additional services such as voice over Wi-Fi, video calling and, in general, smart Internet and security-related services. Moreover, the increasing popularity of over-the-top services puts additional pressure on the traditional video business of broadband service providers. In this new environment, fixed service providers have deployed fiber and Wi-Fi networks and have been exploring ways to provide mobile service offerings.

Increasing Network Complexity

Historically, broadband service providers have deployed separate systems within their fixed broadband networks for video and data services and have operated separate networks for fixed, Wi-Fi and mobile services. This traditional model requires service providers to maintain separate network infrastructure and personnel for each service. As network capacity and coverage have increased, and the diversity of service offerings has grown, the lack of interoperability of these separate networks has resulted in increasing network complexity and inefficient parallel network infrastructure.

Need to Control Operating and Capital Expenditures

The operation of network infrastructure is space, power and personnel intensive. In addition, the lack of interoperability between networks means that broadband service providers cannot optimize bandwidth usage by allocating traffic from networks experiencing high demand to those experiencing low demand, which can result in unused capacity and an unsatisfactory user experience.

Hardware-centric networks can also be expensive to update or replace. With frequent technology shifts and introductions of new service offerings, competition in the broadband industry is constantly changing. To remain competitive, service providers are regularly required to incur significant capital expenditures to upgrade existing equipment.

Opportunity to Transform Broadband Networks

Given the challenges they face, broadband service providers are undertaking three key technology initiatives to help build next-generation networks.

Densification

Increasing demand for bandwidth and user expectations for ubiquitous and seamless connectivity require, among other things, the addition of more end points for users to access broadband networks, also known as network densification. Consequently, broadband service providers are shifting from centralized to more distributed architectures. Densification requires extending network connectivity and distributing access aggregation solutions closer to end users. This results in the deployment of additional hardware, such as access aggregation nodes, small cells and related gateways.

Network Convergence

Many traditional service providers have historically either operated just one network type or operated fixed and wireless networks as separate businesses. However, more and more service providers that may have started out providing just fixed or wireless services are recognizing the benefits, especially those associated with quality of experience, of being able to provide both services to their subscribers. For example, cable service providers in the United States have formed a joint consortium, Cable WiFi, that provides Wi-Fi access to broadband cable subscribers at over 500,000 access points. Continued acquisition activity, such as Altice’s acquisitions of Cablevision and SuddenLink and Vodafone’s acquisition of Kabel Deutschland, has accelerated fixed and wireless convergence. This consolidation trend has caused a heightened focus on the economics of maintaining

 

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two networks. Broadband service providers are seeking to integrate their separate delivery modes with all-IP architectures, shared transport and a common suite of software-centric core and access network functions.

Virtualization

Service providers are re-thinking traditional network architectures and moving toward more software-driven architectures. The use of software permits a fundamental change in the way broadband service providers deliver critical network functions. Software-enabled architectures that are decoupled from underlying hardware allow for increased efficiencies, upgradability, configuration flexibility, service agility and scalability not feasible with hardware-centric approaches.

Our Solutions

We offer solutions for fixed and wireless networks. Our software-centric, multi-service broadband platform, Axyom, enables ultra-broadband delivery and convergence.

We engineered our platform from the ground-up to be high performance, flexible and adaptable, and to allow our customers to seamlessly address the growing demand for bandwidth and connectivity and competitive need for service agility. Axyom also enables our customers to efficiently manage their networks and provide their subscribers with additional services.

Our software-centric broadband platform provides the following key benefits to broadband service providers:

Addition of Critical Bandwidth Capacity

Our solutions enable broadband service providers to offer multi-gigabit speeds to meet the growing demand for bandwidth. Our platform permits software-centric expansion of network capacity to enable rapid bandwidth and service provisioning, helping broadband service providers to respond flexibly to increased customer demands.

Flexibility to Add New and Expand Existing Services

Our platform provides us with the flexibility to adapt to changing industry standards and customer needs. We designed our Axyom software platform using what we refer to as Network Function Virtualization 2.0, or NFV 2.0, principles, which allow us to deconstruct core and access network functions into modular building blocks for rapid end-user service creation and optimization. This provides us flexibility and allows us to extend our platform to new applications leveraging a common infrastructure. When possible, we also seek to implement new features and enhanced customization through the use of FPGAs, which can be re-programmed in the field as service needs evolve. This software-centric approach enables our customers, in turn, to commercialize new features faster than they could with hardware-centric solutions. For example, our solutions enable broadband service providers to efficiently add new services and features, such as wholesale connectivity services for wireless service providers, enterprise-class connectivity services and interactive communication services, such as voice over Wi-Fi and video calling.

Ability to Upgrade Networks Remotely

Our programmable architecture allows us to deploy technology updates to our customers remotely without the expense, disruption or network downtime caused by hardware replacements or field visits by personnel, while minimizing network downtime. Similarly, we can remotely turn on additional features or capacity in order to scale our solutions to meet the needs of our customers as they look to broaden the use and capabilities of our products. Similarly, we are often able to troubleshoot and assist our customers with technical issues through seamless software updates.

 

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Reduced Network Complexity, Operating Costs and Capital Expenditures

Our converged software platform allows broadband service providers to significantly reduce the complexity and costs of their networks by reducing parallel and otherwise redundant network architecture. The large capacity increases that our solutions enable, and the ability of our solutions to deliver voice, video and data over a single platform, mean fewer pieces of equipment in the network, and lower energy usage, operating costs and capital expenditures. For example, our solutions permit our customers to transition from DOCSIS 3.0 to DOCSIS 3.1 with less network downtime and fewer hardware replacements that result in lower costs than those of our competitors.

Ability to Densify Networks

Our products help broadband service providers deploy more capacity at the network edge, closer to where end users and devices are accessing the network, thereby increasing available bandwidth and reducing latency to improve quality of service. For example, our solutions allow cable service providers to take advantage of new technologies and standards such as distributed access remote-PHY, or R-PHY, to address network densification.

Common Platform Capabilities to Address the Needs of Both Fixed and Wireless Networks

Our software-centric, multi-service platform enables a broad range of network services for fixed and wireless networks, allowing for the delivery of diverse consumer and enterprise applications. Both fixed and wireless networks share a common set of core and access network functions that enable network services, such as subscriber management, session management, transport security, access aggregation and RF management. Our Axyom software architecture allows the deconstruction of these core and access network functions into modular building blocks so that they can be applied to a particular end-user service, across fixed and wireless networks, which enables us to be a leader in network transformation.

Our Competitive Strengths

The following competitive strengths have helped us become a market leader:

Highly Flexible, Software-Centric Architecture

We have designed our product portfolio from the ground up to be software-centric and modular in nature. Our proprietary software is at the heart of our products. Our software allows us to leverage the programmability of FPGAs and general purpose p