Mike Ng

Mike Ng asked about Axon's bookings growth expectations for 2026, the overall demand environment, and potential product or customer vertical inflections over the next three years. He also inquired about the strategy to become a global sensor network, specifically regarding Axon 911 (Prepared and Carbyne), its differentiation from incumbents, and the go-to-market approach for new constituents like fire and EMS.

Answer

President Josh Isner stated that Axon would not provide specific bookings guidance for 2026 but expressed high confidence in demand across all four core markets, expecting banner years. CEO Rick Smith and Chief Product Officer Jeff Kunins detailed the Axon 911 strategy, highlighting Prepared's AI-powered overlay and Carbyne's full-stack modernization as complementary, non-competitive solutions. Josh Isner emphasized betting on the talented leadership of Prepared and Carbyne, and Rick Smith added that Axon's acquisition strategy focuses on disruptors with fresh tech stacks, avoiding tech debt.

Mike Ng asked about Axon's bookings growth expectations and demand environment for 2026, inquiring about potential product or customer vertical inflections over the next three years. He also questioned the differentiation and go-to-market strategy for Axon 911 (Prepared and Carbyne) in addressing wider constituents like fire and EMS.

Answer

President Josh Isner stated that bookings guidance would be provided later in the year but expressed strong confidence in demand across all four core markets. Chief Product Officer and CTO Jeff Kunins explained that Prepared offers an AI-powered overlay for PSAPs, while Carbyne modernizes call-handling infrastructure, both integrating seamlessly with Axon's ecosystem. CEO Rick Smith emphasized betting on the talented leadership of acquired companies like Michael Chime (Prepared) and Amir (Carbyne), highlighting their fresh technology stacks over legacy systems. Josh Isner added that the go-to-market for 911 involves well-ingrained teams and aims to bring more potential buyers into Axon's universe.

Mike Ng of Goldman Sachs asked for the key drivers behind the high 30% bookings growth guidance and for more details on international market traction, particularly in Africa.

Answer

President Josh Isner explained that the strong bookings outlook is based on a diversified strategy of selling new products to existing US customers and existing products to new markets like international, enterprise, and federal. COO & CFO Brittany Bagley added that while international saw large deals in Q2, its mix may fluctuate due to the rapid growth in the US market as well.

Mike Ng inquired about the G42 partnership, specifically if it indicates a preferred partnership with AMD and the importance of compute and networking integration in rack solutions. He also asked for feedback on the upcoming channel partner program changes, their drivers, and expected business results.

Answer

Chairman and CEO Chuck Robbins expressed satisfaction with the G42 partnership, noting the initial AMD collaboration but emphasizing Cisco's intent to participate as a connectivity layer across multiple GPU providers. He stated the partner program changes aim to align incentives with growth opportunities, simplify rewards, and focus on portfolio breadth, depth of expertise, and key priorities like campus refresh, AI, security, and premium services. CFO Mark Patterson highlighted simplification and rewarding partners for breadth and depth.

Mike Ng asked about the G42 partnership's use of AMD chips, inquiring if Cisco has a preferred partnership with AMD and the importance of compute and networking in rack solutions. He also sought feedback on upcoming channel partner program changes, their drivers, and expected business results.

Answer

Chuck Robbins, Chairman and CEO, expressed satisfaction with the G42 partnership with AMD, emphasizing Cisco's goal to be a connectivity layer across multiple GPU/XPU providers and the importance of ecosystem partnerships. Regarding the partner program, he explained it aims to align incentives with growth opportunities, noting generally positive partner feedback and a commitment to adapt the program. Mark Patterson, CFO, added that the new program focuses on simplification, rewards portfolio breadth and depth of expertise, and targets campus refresh, AI, security, and premium services.

Mike Ng asked about Celestica's R&D investments and capacity expansions, inquiring about the key products supporting this visibility, whether investments are for new or existing customers, and the opportunity size for a new hyperscale storage platform win in 2026.

Answer

Jason Phillips (President of Connectivity and Cloud Solutions) explained that R&D investments are focused on networking, AI/ML, storage, and rack-level solutions, with significant increases in engineering talent and design centers. Steve Dorwart (SVP and GM of Hyperscalers) confirmed the storage win is with an existing customer and noted storage is less prominent than networking or AI/ML compute.

Mike Ng asked about Celestica's R&D investments and capacity expansions, inquiring about the key products supporting visibility, whether investments are for new or existing customers, and the opportunity size for a new storage platform win with a hyperscaler in 2026.

Answer

Jason Phillips (President of Connectivity and Cloud Solutions) explained that R&D investments are focused on networking, AI/ML, storage, and rack-level solutions, including software, liquid cooling, and power, with significant increases in engineering talent and design centers. Steve Dorwart (SVP and GM of Hyperscalers) confirmed the storage platform win is with an existing customer, evolving the relationship to fully integrated rack solutions, and noted storage is less prominent than networking or AI/ML compute.

Mike Ng asked for an update on the hardware refresh cycle, specifically the size of the remaining legacy installed base. He also inquired about the potential for software revenue growth in fiscal 2026, considering the strong renewal cycle in the current year.

Answer

CEO François Locoh-Donou confirmed the hardware refresh cycle will remain strong through 2026 and beyond, but highlighted that durable, non-cyclical trends like hybrid cloud and AI readiness are also key drivers. CFO Cooper Werner projected that FY26 software growth would likely be in the mid-single digits due to a smaller renewal base from flatter FY23 sales, with an expected re-acceleration in FY27.

Mike Ng asked for visibility on when federal, state, and local education spending might improve and requested more detail on the "improved customer readiness" that drove higher-than-expected AI systems revenue.

Answer

CEO Antonio Neri stated that while there was a pause in some government areas, he expects the situation to resolve in the second half of the year, noting a solid federal pipeline. CFO Marie Myers clarified that the Q2 AI revenue outperformance was specifically due to the timing of customer readiness for deployments.