Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Amir Rozwadowski - Barclays Capital.
Amir Rozwadowski - Barclays Capital
Bob, if we look at sort of discussions that you're having with carriers these days versus, say, in the beginning of the year, certainly your guidance seems to imply sequential uptick in sales. How shall we consider the tenor of those conversations right now? Are they giving you a little bit more color in terms of how they plan on allocating their capital through the course of the year or are they still sort of holding those plans closely in?
Robert E. Switz
I think it's always difficult to generalize - we have lots of customers - but I would say in general the discussions are relatively favorable regarding spending. I think the differences are that customers, particularly larger customers, are managing their inventories much more closely and managing their procurement much more closely with signaling that we ought not to expect the classic spikes that we've had in the second quarter spend; as things progress through the year we ought to be thinking more linearly about procurement.
And clearly there's discussions, like discussions that are obviously being had in any business, about how much capital to spend, but at this point most of the discussions I would put in the category of relatively favorable in terms of what I would say full-year 2009 operations and the potential for increased spend over subsequent quarters.
So I would characterize in general the tone as relatively good, but also caveat that by saying we are in the midst of some of the worst global economic conditions most of us have probably seen. There's many months in the remainder of the year. But I would say discussions up to this point have been relatively good given the fact that we expect most carriers to cut back by some degree.
But I think the pattern - for me, I think it's the pattern I'm most focused on. So if I were to assume and accept the conversations as reflective of future results, it would suggest that my first quarter's my low water mark, I think. So if that's the case, which I think it probably is, then that's good news.
Amir Rozwadowski - Barclays Capital
And then you'd mentioned additional field trials in EMEA and Asia-Pacific on the FTTX side. Can you give us a little bit of color, you know, if those trials progress the way you hope they would when those could start to contribute to your sales?
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