Aviat Networks, Inc.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Aviat Network Fiscal 2020 Second Quarter Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star zero. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Glenn Weiner, Investor Relations. Thank you, sir. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome to Aviat Networks Fiscal 2020 Second Quarter Results Conference Call. Our Form 10Q, press release, and our updated investor presentation can all be found on the Investor Relations section of our website, as can a replay of today's call approximately one hour after the call ends. will begin with opening remarks by Aviat's President and Chief Executive Officer, Pete Smith. He'll be followed by Stan Gallagher, Chief Operating Officer and Principal Financial Officer, and then Eric Chang, Senior Vice President and Principal Accounting Officer. After their prepared remarks, we'll open up the call for questions. Sean McFaul, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, is also with us and will be available during the Q&A portion of the call. During today's call and webcast, management may make forward-looking statements regarding Aviat's business, including but not limited to statements relating to projections of earnings and revenue, business drivers, the timing and capabilities of new products, network expansion by mobile and private network operators, and economic activity in different regions. These and other forward-looking statements involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. Please note these forward-looking statements reflect the company's opinions only as of the date of this call, and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision of these forward-looking statements Thank you, Glenn.

It's been about five weeks since I took the role of CEO. I've spent the majority of my time traveling to our sites, getting to know our people, some of our customers, and reviewing our strategy to drive growth, improve profitability, and create value for all stakeholders. I did a lot of research before taking this role, and my initial assessment of Aviat is very much aligned with what I've learned thus far. We have industry-leading technology, a diverse global customer base and strong relationships with both our customers and our partners. Our position in North America is solid and should continue to be a catalyst for us in the future, specifically with private networks, public safety, and several vertical markets such as utilities, oil and gas, among others. Additionally, demand for our solutions in North America should only intensify. Given the increased need for mission-critical networks, and the upcoming build out of networks in support of 5G. While we've done well over the past years building our foundation, expanding our customer footprint and developing new solutions for these customer segments, I believe there is significantly more we can do to drive growth and increase our share of demand. Internationally, we have strengths and weaknesses. On the positive side, our technology and customer footprint, however, while we have added accounts and grown in some regions, it's been inconsistent. And I believe we can do a better job of commercializing products for specific customers and regions while providing more value-added services that differentiate Aviat from the competition. With that said, we will look at each market we're in, others we can expand into and potentially align with other companies to lower our cost of entry while providing customers with a one-stop shop solution to make the buying cycle easier. Throughout my career, I've been fortunate to have worked with strong leaders and teams. And in every position, no matter what industry, I've always focused on two things, commercial excellence and operational excellence. Again, I believe that we have good products that can go head to head with any competitor in the industry. How we incorporate customer feedback, assess the market opportunity and specific customer and prospect needs and how we launch, market and sell, to me, could be significant organic growth drivers within the next few years and that has nothing to do with future innovation. It's about leveraging what we have to do to do better service to the customer and what's commercial excellence is all about. Operational excellence is underway and the team has done a great job of driving better efficiencies and collaboration on a global scale. We're continuing with the plans in place, looking to lower our fixed costs by improving yield, efficiency, and getting a better return on our investments in technology. Over the next couple quarters, more to share with respect to our strategy and vision. Better execution is critical, both on the commercial end and in operations. The strategy we have in North America has and should continue to drive results for Avia, and by working more closely with our customers to better understand their views and how we can support them, I see opportunities to grow organically and leverage our technology to expand beyond our installed base. International will be down this year. We knew that coming in and took into account the current spending environment in Africa and the anticipated downturn in the APAC region. With respect to Asia, however this is timing only and we had a very strong fiscal year 19 and our new agreement with Globe should yield an even stronger fiscal year 21. There are also opportunities to expand in Asia beyond the regions we are in now and that is also something I and the team will be looking at. Our top line will be down a bit this year to the international markets but we're growing in North America and I expect that to continue. Margins are trending upwards and more excited to deliver results for you. Thank you and I'll now turn the call over to Stan. Thank you, Pete, and good afternoon, everyone.