HARMONIC INC

We are a leading global provider of (i) broadband access solutions that enable broadband operators to more efficiently and effectively deploy high-speed internet for data, voice and video services for their customers and (ii) versatile and high performance video delivery software, products, system solutions and services that enable our customers to efficiently create, prepare, store, playout and deliver a full range of high-quality broadcast and streaming video services to consumer devices, including televisions, personal computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones.

We operate in two segments, Broadband and Video. Our Broadband business provides broadband access solutions and related services, including our cOS software-based broadband access solution, to broadband operators globally. Our Video business provides video processing and production and playout solutions and services worldwide to broadband operators and satellite and telco Pay-TV service providers, which we refer to collectively as “service providers,” and to broadcast and media companies, including streaming media companies. Our Video business infrastructure solutions are delivered either through shipment of our products, software licenses or as software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) subscriptions.

Across our two business segments, we derived approximately 74% of our revenue from the Americas in 2023. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) regions accounted for 21% and 5% of our 2023 revenue, respectively.

Harmonic was initially incorporated in California in June 1988 and was reincorporated in Delaware in May 1995. Our principal executive offices are currently located at 2590 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, California 95131. Our telephone number is (408) 542-2500. Our Internet website is http://www.harmonicinc.com. Other than the information expressly set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the information contained or referred to on our website is not part of this report.

Industry Overview and Market Trends

Broadband Business

Industry Challenges

Broadband operators continue to face challenges from the rapid growth of demand for broadband bandwidth in their networks, driven primarily by:

•more users with more connected devices and applications;

•bundled digital video, voice and high-speed data services; and

•bandwidth-intensive VOD and streaming video services, and interactive cloud applications.

In addition, the operation of network infrastructure is space, power and personnel intensive. Hardware-centric networks can also be expensive to update or replace. To remain competitive, especially in the face of heightened competition from non-cable service providers, such as telcos, to deliver gigabit data rates, broadband operators need to significantly upgrade existing equipment and network technologies.

Technology Trends

•DOCSIS. We believe the cable industry will continue to deploy the DOCSIS 3.1 standard, which enables high bandwidth data transfer over existing broadband infrastructure, and we expect increasing adoption and deployment of the next-generation DOCSIS 4.0 standard, which has begun in certain markets.

•Virtualization. We believe broadband operators will continue to move toward more software-driven architectures, which is central to our Broadband business and product strategy. Virtualized software solutions that are decoupled from underlying hardware and run on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers and/or cloud-native architectures allow for significantly increased efficiencies, upgradability, configuration flexibility, service agility and scalability not feasible with hardware-centric approaches. We believe a software-based broadband access solution can significantly reduce broadband operator facility costs, especially costs related to physical space and power consumption, and increase operational efficiency, and that the deployment of these systems will be an important step in broadband operators’ transition to all-IP networks.

•Distributed Access Architecture. In addition to centralized broadband access solutions, we believe interest in distributed access solutions continues to accelerate, particularly in competitive gigabit service markets where broadband operators are competing with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) services and are extending fiber networks deeper into their access networks. A distributed access architecture (DAA) coupled with a software-based broadband access solution running on COTS servers at a headend, and the distribution of DAA nodes closer to end users, alleviates the power and space requirements of centralized systems at headend sites due to the fact that the radio frequency (RF) processing is distributed into the field outside of the headend. We believe this distributed architecture will enable service providers to efficiently scale to support data and IP video growth.

•Multiple Access. cOS is a software-based solution that runs on COTS servers connected to distributed access nodes. Traditionally, the distributed access nodes deliver service to the subscribers over RF signals with DOCSIS. With cOS, FTTH services over passive optical networks (PON) can be supported with software running on cOS servers and with remote optical line termination (OLT) modules plugged into the DAA nodes. The result is that the cOS solution can support delivering both DOCSIS and PON services to different subscribers, which we believe is another key differentiating competitive advantage for Harmonic. As fiber is pulled deeper into the network, broadband operators will have the infrastructure and technology to deliver both traditional cable services and FTTH.

Our Broadband business strategy is focused on providing our customers with software-based solutions, on a centralized, distributed access or hybrid architecture, to enable and support these technology and industry trends.

Video Business

We believe our customers must continue to employ innovative technologies and services to address key trends in the dynamic video industry.

•Demand for Streaming Services. In the highly competitive video industry, there is strong demand for video content to be captured, processed and streamed to millions of subscribers at scale, and with personalized service features and characteristics. We believe video streaming is, and will continue to be, the most significant trend affecting the video industry for the foreseeable future.

•Demand for Targeted Advertising. Streaming technology makes it possible for streaming platforms to insert personalized targeted advertisements into video streams to consumers. This capability is highly sought after by advertisers and results in significantly higher advertising revenue for video streaming service providers. With streaming viewership continuing to grow rapidly, we believe targeted ad insertion will become a foundational pillar of the video industry in the coming years.

•Streaming of Live Events. In contrast to the constraints of traditional linear broadcast channels, there is effectively no limit to the number of live events that can be streamed or the audience reach of streamed events. Consequently, we believe the number of live events globally that will be streamed to consumers, especially live sporting events, will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

•Demand for High Quality Video. High quality video for both traditional broadcast television and streaming continues to be an important factor for consumers. Compression technologies such as High Efficiency Video Compression (HEVC) or advances in H.264/AVC codecs, as well as increasing requirements for HDR encoding, will continue to remain a high priority for both broadcast and streaming providers.

•Decline in Broadcast Viewing. Broadcast television viewership will continue to decline as the growth in streaming accelerates. We believe this transition will cause traditional Pay-TV service providers and broadcasters to focus their investments on (i) providing streaming services and (ii) reducing the operational complexities and cost of broadcast television.

In response to these trends, our customers are:

•expanding their streaming offerings with video-on-demand (VOD) programming, live events and/or linear TV bundles to reach a larger and more global audience;

•utilizing streaming technologies to expand monetization opportunities with personalized and targeted ad insertion;

•continuing to enhance and differentiate their content offerings, consolidate to achieve greater economies of scale and subscriber concentration, and acquire other companies to expand their content libraries and capabilities to develop original content; and

•improving the efficiency and utilization of legacy infrastructure to minimize operational and staffing needs and costs by migrating services to public cloud SaaS or upgrading on-premise equipment with the latest generation of highly dense and functionally rich technologies.

Our Video business strategy is focused on providing our customers with software-based appliances and SaaS platforms to enable and support these trends.

Our Video Markets

Broadcast and Media Companies

•Network broadcasters, programmers and content owners continue to invest in new and enhanced direct-to-consumer streaming platforms, as well as upgrade and improve the efficiencies of their traditional broadcast television services. We believe these companies will utilize new technologies, including public cloud infrastructure and SaaS platforms, to expand their streaming offerings, reach wider audiences, and increase monetization opportunities through personalized advertising, and, in parallel, reduce the complexity and cost of running and operating their traditional broadcast services.

Streaming

•We believe media companies of all sizes will invest heavily in streaming services for the foreseeable future, whether for linear TV, live events or a range of VOD offerings, and that these offerings will be enhanced to include personal and targeted advertisements to increase monetization potential. We believe many of these streaming offerings will be launched by new entrants into the space, in addition to those launched by traditional media companies who have a history and brand in broadcast television.

Service Providers

•Wireline Operators. Cable and telco operators continue to focus on various initiatives to improve and differentiate their service offerings from competing service providers, including bundled digital video, voice and high-speed data services; expansion of streaming service offerings to include linear TV, live events and VOD; upgraded consumer-facing applications; and capacity enhancement of high-speed data services.

•Satellite Operators. Satellite operators around the world have established digital television services that serve tens of millions of subscribers, with the ability to provide tens of thousands of linear channels. We expect satellite operators to increase their investments in their streaming offerings to meet rapidly changing consumption habits and, in parallel, strive to optimize their traditional broadcast operations.

Video Infrastructure Technology Trends

•Acceleration of Streaming Services. We believe the industry will continue to adopt streaming technologies at an accelerating pace to deliver video content to consumers and, increasingly, utilize public clouds to do so.

•Transformation of Broadcast Infrastructure. We believe the industry will continue to seek to transform existing broadcast infrastructure workflows into more flexible and efficient operations, in order to reduce operational and investment costs. We believe that, in order to maximize cost savings, a material portion of these operations will migrate to public clouds in the coming years, while some customers will upgrade and replace their aging on-premise equipment with next-generation software-based appliances that significantly reduce operational complexity.

Our Products and Solutions

Broadband Products and Solutions

Software-Based Broadband Access Solution. As demand continues to rapidly grow for high-speed broadband services such as streaming, VOD, time-shift TV and cloud DVR, we believe we can help broadband operators take advantage of this opportunity with our cOS software-based broadband access solution, an end-to-end solution consisting of virtualized cloud-native software elements that orchestrate and connect with a variety of Harmonic and third-party indoor and outdoor hardware devices. We believe our cOS solution delivers unprecedented scalability, agility and cost savings, and enables our customers to migrate to multi-gigabit broadband capacity and the fast deployment of DOCSIS and FTTx data, video and voice services. We believe our solution resolves space and power constraints in broadband operator facilities, significantly reduces dependence on hardware upgrade cycles, and reduces total cost of ownership. Our cOS solution can be deployed based on a centralized, distributed access or hybrid architecture.

cOS Central Cloud Services. Our cOS Central Cloud Services is a value-add subscription service for cOS customers that bundles three elements: (i) 24x7 technical support, (ii) a dedicated customer success team focused on customer satisfaction and retention, and (iii) a cOS Central SaaS that enhances and simplifies the deployment, monitoring, operation and maintenance of the cOS solution with advanced analytics, management and engagement tools.

Video Processing and Delivery Solutions

We offer two categories of solutions - a broad range of software-based video appliances and SaaS platforms - to deliver broadcast and streaming services and capabilities in the media market.

Software-based Appliances. Our video processing appliances, which include network management and application software and hardware products, provide our customers with the ability to acquire a variety of signals from different sources and in different protocols in order to deliver a variety of real-time and stored content to their subscribers for viewing on a broad range of devices. Our appliance product families include:

•Encoders. Our high-performance encoders compress video, audio and data channels to low bit rates while maintaining high video quality. Our latest software-based XOS encoders can deliver video in multiple formats, including standard, HD and Ultra HD, and in any video compression standard, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC. This capability allows the encoders to converge workflows targeted for all forms of video delivery, whether broadcast or streaming.

•Video Servers. Our Spectrum family of video server systems are used by broadcast and media companies to create play-to-air television channels. Our customers typically use these video server products to record incoming content from either live feeds or from tapes, encoding that content in real-time into standard media files that are then stored in the server’s file system until the content is needed for playback as part of a scheduled playlist.

•High-density stream processing. We offer high-density, real-time stream processing systems capable of high-performance, high-throughput video processing for mission-critical IP video delivery applications, including multiplexing, scrambling, splicing and blackout source switching.

•Edge processors. Our family of Edge processing platforms allows service providers to acquire content delivered via satellite, IP or terrestrial networks for distribution to their subscribers. These products are used by broadcasters to decode signals backhauled from live news and sporting events in contribution applications, as well as by content owners looking to distribute their content in a controlled manner to a large base of affiliates.

SaaS platforms. Our VOS360 SaaS platforms provide both streaming and channel origination and distribution services in a public cloud environment that is fully managed and operated by our 24/7 DevOps teams. Our SaaS solutions enable the packaging and delivery of high-quality streaming services, including live streaming, VOD, catch-up TV, start-over TV, network-DVR and cloud-DVR services through HTTP streaming to any device, along with dynamic and personal ad insertion. In addition, our VOS360 SaaS platforms enable the transformation of traditional broadcast video workflows into cloud-based workflows, resulting in more efficient and leaner operations for our customers. We continue to see an increasing number of customers seeking to leverage the inherent commercial, operational and infrastructure flexibility offered by our VOS360 SaaS platforms. We also provide an on-premise SaaS offering with our VOS cloud-native software solution for customers seeking to deploy a cloud-like architecture in a private data center.

Technical Support and Professional Services

We provide maintenance and support services to most of our customers under service level agreements that are generally renewed on an annual basis. We also provide consulting, implementation and integration services to our customers worldwide. We draw upon our expertise in broadcast television, communications networking, compression technology and broadband access technologies to design, integrate and install complete solutions for our customers, including integration with third-party products and services. We offer a broad range of services, including SaaS-related support and deployment, program management, technical design and planning, building and site preparation, integration and equipment installation, end-to-end system testing and comprehensive training.

Customers

We sell our products to a variety of cable, satellite and telco, and broadcast and media companies. Set forth below is a representative list of our significant end user and integrator/reseller customers, listed alphabetically, based, in part, on revenue during 2023.

Sales to our 10 largest customers in 2023, 2022 and 2021 accounted for approximately 66%, 67% and 58% of our net revenue, respectively. Although we continue to seek to broaden our customer base by penetrating new markets and further expanding internationally, we expect to see continuing industry consolidation and customer concentration.

During 2023, 2022 and 2021, Comcast accounted for 44%, 39% and 26% of our net revenue, respectively. The loss of any significant customer, or any material reduction in orders from any significant customer, or our failure to qualify our new products with any significant customer could materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, we are involved in most quarters in one or more relatively large individual transactions. A decrease in the number of relatively larger individual transactions in which we are involved in any quarter could adversely affect our operating results for that quarter.

Sales and Marketing

In the United States and internationally, we sell our products through our own direct sales force, as well as through independent resellers and systems integrators. Our direct sales team is organized by business segment, and geographically and by major customers and markets to support customer requirements. Our principal sales offices outside of the United States are located in Europe and Asia, and we have support staff in Switzerland and France to support our international customers and operations. Our international resellers are generally responsible for importing our products and providing certain installation, technical support and other services to customers in their territory after receiving training from us.

Our direct sales force and resellers for each business segment are supported by highly trained technical staff, which includes application engineers who work closely with our customers to develop technical proposals and design systems to optimize system performance and economic benefits for our customers. Our technical support teams provide a customized set of services, as required, for ongoing maintenance, support-on-demand and training for our customers and resellers, both in our facilities and on-site.

Our product management organization for each business segment develops strategies for product lines and markets and, in conjunction with our sales force, identifies the evolving technical and application needs of customers so that our product development resources can be most effectively and efficiently deployed to meet anticipated product requirements. Each product management organization is also responsible for setting price levels, demand forecasting and general support of the sales force, particularly at major accounts.

Our corporate marketing organization is responsible for building awareness of the Harmonic brand in our markets and driving engagement with our strategies, solutions and products. The group develops all of our corporate messaging and manages all customer and industry communication channels, including public relations, web and social media, events and trade shows, as well as demand generation marketing campaigns in conjunction with our sales force.

Manufacturing and Suppliers

We rely on third-party contract manufacturers to assemble our products and the subassemblies and modules for our products. In 2003, we entered into an agreement with Plexus Services Corp. (“Plexus”) to act as our primary contract manufacturer. Plexus accounts for the majority of the products we purchase from our contract manufacturers. This agreement has automatic annual renewals, unless prior notice for nonrenewal is given, and has been automatically renewed for a term expiring in October 2024. We do not generally maintain long-term agreements with any of our contract manufacturers.

Many components, subassemblies and modules necessary for the manufacture or integration of our products are obtained from a sole supplier or a limited group of suppliers. While we expend considerable efforts to qualify additional component sources, consolidation of suppliers in the industry and the small number of viable alternatives have limited the results of these efforts. We do not generally maintain long-term agreements with any of our suppliers.

Intellectual Property

As of December 31, 2023, we held 133 issued U.S. patents and 47 issued foreign patents and had 39 patent applications pending. Our issued patents are scheduled to expire between 2024 and 2041. Although we attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing arrangements, maintaining certain technology as trade secrets and other measures, we cannot assure you that any patent, trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights owned by us will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged, that such intellectual property rights will provide competitive advantages to us, or that any of our pending or future patent applications will be issued with the claims, or the scope of the claims, sought by us, if at all. We cannot assure you that others will not develop technologies that are similar or superior to our technology, duplicate our technology or design around the patents that we own. In addition, effective patent, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in which we do business or may do business in the future.

We enter into confidentiality or license agreements with our employees, consultants, vendors and customers as needed, and generally limit access to, and distribution of, our proprietary information. However, no assurances can be given that these actions will prevent misappropriation of our technology. In addition, if necessary, we are prepared to take legal action, in the future, to enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Any such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of resources, including management time, and could negatively affect our business, operating results, financial position and cash flows.

In order to successfully develop and market our products, we may be required to enter into technology development or licensing agreements with third parties. Although many companies are often willing to enter into such technology development or licensing agreements, we cannot assure you that such agreements can be negotiated on reasonable terms or at all. The failure to enter into technology development or licensing agreements, when necessary, could limit our ability to develop and market new products and could harm our business.

Backlog

We schedule production of our products and solutions based upon our backlog, open contracts, informal commitments from customers and sales projections. Our backlog consists of unfilled firm purchase orders and contracts by our customers which have not been completed. Approximately 51% of our backlog and deferred revenue is projected to be converted to revenue within a rolling one-year period. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had backlog, including deferred revenue, of $653.2 million and $457.1 million, respectively. Delivery schedules on such orders may be deferred or canceled for a number of reasons, including reductions in spending by our customers or changes in specific customer requirements. In addition, due to annual budget cycles at many of our customers, the amount of our backlog at any given time is not necessarily indicative of actual revenues for any succeeding period.

Competition

The markets in which our Video and Broadband businesses operate are extremely competitive and have been characterized by rapid technological change and declining average selling prices in the past. The principal competitive factors in these markets include product performance, functionality and features, reliability, pricing, breadth of product offerings, brand recognition and awareness, sales and distribution capabilities, technical operations, support and services, and customer relationships with our customers. We believe that we compete favorably in each of these categories.

Our competitors in our Broadband business include a number of suppliers of networking and communications equipment and solutions to broadband service providers.

Our competitors in our Video appliance business are primarily comprised of providers of video delivery and video processing and compression products and solutions, broadcast equipment and solutions providers, and certain network infrastructure providers. Our competitors in our Video SaaS business include companies that offer video delivery and processing SaaS solutions, SaaS video streaming platform providers, and certain public cloud service providers.

Research and Development

We have historically devoted a significant amount of our resources to research and development. Research and development expenses in 2023, 2022 and 2021 were approximately $126.3 million, $120.3 million and $102.2 million, respectively. Research and development expenses as a percentage of revenue in 2023, 2022 and 2021 were approximately 21%, 19% and 20%, respectively. Our internal research and development activities are conducted primarily in the United States (California, Oregon and New Jersey), France, Israel and Hong Kong. In addition, a portion of our research and development is conducted through third-party partners with engineering resources in Ukraine and India.

Our research and development program is primarily focused on developing new products and solutions, and adding new features and other improvements to existing products and solutions. With respect to our Broadband business segment, our major research and development efforts are focused on broadband access solutions for both video and data, particularly the ongoing development of our centralized, distributed and hybrid cOS software-based broadband access solutions and converging fiber and DOCSIS capabilities on our cOS solution platform. For our Video business segment, our current research and development efforts are focused on enhancing our streaming capabilities, expanding our targeted advertising technologies, and improving the efficiency and flexibility of broadcast workflows for our traditional appliances and within our SaaS platform.

Our success in designing, developing, manufacturing and selling new or enhanced products and solutions will depend on a variety of factors, including the identification of market demand for new products and solutions, product selection, timely product design and development, product performance, effective manufacturing and assembly processes, and sales and marketing. Because of the complexity inherent in such research and development efforts, we cannot assure you that we will successfully develop new products and solutions, or that new products and solutions developed by us will achieve market acceptance. Our failure to successfully develop and introduce new products and solutions would materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2023, we employed a total of 1,359 full time employees, including 570 in research and development, 238 in sales, 267 in service and support, 81 in operations, 67 in marketing (corporate and product) and 136 in a general and administrative capacity. Of those employees, 450 were located in the United States and Canada, and 909 employees were located outside of North America in 22 countries in Central and South America, the Middle East and Africa, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. From time to time, we also employ a number of temporary employees and consultants on a contract basis. Our employees in each of France and Spain are represented by labor unions and an employee works council. None of our other employees are represented by a labor union with respect to their employment with us. We have not experienced any work stoppages, and we consider our relations with our employees to be good.

Competition for qualified personnel in the technology space is intense, and we believe that our future success largely depends upon our continued ability to attract, develop and retain highly skilled individuals across the globe. We believe we offer competitive compensation (including salary, incentive bonus and equity awards) and comprehensive benefits packages in each of our locations around the globe. We aim to create an environment in which our employees can develop and grow, and be recognized for their achievements. We offer training, development and on-demand learning programs to support continuous learning and cultivate talent throughout the company, and promote opportunities for internal mobility and recruitment across functions and geographies. We offer rewards and recognition programs, including spot awards to recognize employee contributions, patent incentive awards, and various functional recognition awards. We regularly conduct employee surveys to gauge employee engagement and satisfaction, and we use the views expressed in the surveys to influence our people strategy and policies.

As a global company, much of our success is rooted in the diversity of our teams and our commitment to inclusion, where all employees are respected regardless of gender, race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, religion, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, veteran status, or marital status. We are focused on understanding our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) opportunities and executing on a strategy to support further progress. We support regional employee-led groups that promote and drive various volunteering initiatives aimed at assisting underrepresented and disadvantaged populations in the communities where we operate, as well as internal awareness and educational campaigns on DEI-related topics. We continue to focus on building a pipeline for talent to create more opportunities for workplace gender and other diversity and to support greater representation within the company.

Available Information

Our website is located atwww.harmonicinc.com, and our investor relations website is located at investor.harmonicinc.com. Copies of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Actare available free of charge on our investor relations website as soon as reasonably practicable after we file such material electronically with or furnish it to the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). The SEC also maintains a website that contains our SEC filings at www.sec.gov.

We announce material information to the public about us, our products and services and other matters through a variety of means, including filings with the SEC, press releases, public conference calls, webcasts, and our investor relations web site (investor.harmonicinc.com)in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Except as expressly set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the contents of our web site are not incorporated by reference into, or otherwise to be regarded as part of, this report or in any other report or document we file with the SEC, and any references to our websites are intended to be inactive textual references only.