Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

The financial statements of Dot Hill Systems Corp. (referred to herein as Dot Hill, we, our or us) contained herein are unaudited and in the opinion of management contain all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation of financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. The interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, for interim financial information and with the instructions to Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, Form 10-Q and Article 10 of SEC Regulation S-X. They do not include all of the information and disclosures required by GAAP for complete financial statements. The unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. Operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2014 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for future quarters or the year ending December 31, 2014.

Use of Accounting Estimates

The preparation of our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net revenue and expenses in the reporting periods. The accounting estimates that require management’s most significant and subjective judgments include revenue recognition, inventory valuation, recurring and specific issue warranty obligations (see Note 6), the valuation and recognition of stock-based compensation expense, and the valuation of long-lived assets. In addition, we have other accounting policies that involve estimates such as the determination of useful lives of long-lived assets, accruals for restructuring, capitalization of future software development costs, contingent liabilities, and income taxes, including the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets. Actual results may differ from these estimates and such differences could be material.

Revenue Recognition

We derive our revenue from sales of our hardware products, software and services.

Hardware

Hardware product revenue consists of revenue from sales of our AssuredSAN storage systems that are integrated with our OEM customers' industry standard hardware and which become essential to the integrated system product. We recognize hardware product revenue when the following fundamental criteria are met: (i) persuasive evidence of an arrangement exists; (ii) delivery has occurred; (iii) the price is fixed or determinable; and (iv) collectability is reasonably assured. Revenue is recognized for hardware product sales upon transfer of title and risk of loss to the customer. We record reductions to revenue for estimated product returns and pricing adjustments in the same period that the related revenue is recorded. These estimates are based on historical sales returns, analysis of credit memo data and other factors known at the time. If actual future returns and pricing adjustments differ from past experience and our estimates, adjustments to the revenue reserves may be required.

We exclude from revenues taxes collected from customers on behalf of governmental authorities.

Software

In accordance with the specific guidance for recognizing software revenue, where applicable, we recognize revenue from perpetual software licenses at the inception of the license term assuming all revenue recognition criteria have been met. We use the relative fair value method to allocate revenue to software licenses at the inception of the license term when vendor-specific objective evidence, or VSOE, of fair value for all elements related to our products is available. We have established VSOE for the fair value of our software licenses and support services as measured by the prices paid by our customers when the licenses and services are sold separately on a standalone basis.

Specific long term software contracts may contain multiple deliverables including software licenses, services, training and post-contract support (PCS) for which we have not established VSOE of fair value of any of the elements. Under specific guidance for recognizing software revenue, we defer all revenue related to each deliverable until the only undelivered element is PCS. We then begin recognizing revenue ratably over the PCS period.

We defer all the direct and incremental costs related to the deliverables in these contracts until delivery of all the elements except PCS. The deferred costs are then recognized ratably over the contractual PCS support periods as a component of Costs of Goods Sold.

Service

Our service revenue primarily relates to out-of-warranty repairs and product maintenance contracts. Out-of warranty repairs primarily consist of product repair services performed by our contract manufacturers for those customers that allowed their original product warranty to expire without purchasing one of our higher level support service plans. Revenue from these out-of-warranty repairs, and the associated cost of sales, is recognized in the period these services are provided. Service revenue also consists of product maintenance contracts purchased by our customers as an extension of our standard warranty. Revenue from our product maintenance contracts is deferred and recognized ratably over the contract term, generally 12 to 36 months. Net revenue derived from services was less than 10% of total revenue for all periods presented.

Revenue Recognition for Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables

For multi-element arrangements that include hardware products containing software essential to the hardware product’s functionality, undelivered elements that relate to the hardware product’s essential software, and undelivered non-software services (all non-software related elements), we allocate the transaction price to all deliverables based on their relative selling prices. In such circumstances, we use a hierarchy to determine the selling price to be used for allocating the transaction price to deliverables: (i) VSOE of fair value, (ii) third-party evidence of selling price, or TPE, and (iii) best estimate of the selling price, or ESP. VSOE of fair value generally exists only when we sell the deliverable separately and represents the actual price charged by us for that deliverable. ESPs reflect our best estimates of what the selling prices of each of the deliverables would be if they were sold regularly on a standalone basis.

Revenue Recognition for Sales to Channel Partners

On sales to channel partners, we evaluate whether fees are considered fixed or determinable by considering a number of factors, including our ability to estimate returns, payment terms and our relationship and past history with the particular channel partner. If fees are not considered fixed or determinable at the time of sale to a channel partner, revenue recognition is deferred until there is persuasive evidence indicating the product has sold through to an end-user. Persuasive evidence of sell-through may include reports from channel partners documenting sell-through activity or data indicating an order has shipped to an end-user.

Deferred Revenue

We defer revenue on upfront nonrefundable payments from our customers and recognize it ratably over the term of the agreement, unless the payment is in exchange for products delivered that represent the culmination of a separate earnings process. When we provide consideration to a customer, we recognize the value of that consideration as a reduction in net revenue. We may be required to maintain inventory with certain of our largest OEM customers, which we refer to as "hubbing" arrangements. Pursuant to these arrangements we deliver products to a customer or a designated third-party warehouse based upon the customer’s projected needs, but do not recognize product revenue unless and until the customer has removed our product from the warehouse to incorporate into its end products.

Contingent Liabilities

We are involved in certain claims from time to time arising in the ordinary course of business involving our products, suppliers, and/or customers. We may incur settlements, fines, penalties or judgments in connection with some of these matters. While we may be unable to estimate the ultimate dollar amount of exposure or loss in connection with these matters, we make accruals as warranted. The amounts we accrue could vary substantially from amounts we pay due to several factors including the following: possible third-party contributions, the inherent uncertainties of the estimation process, and the uncertainties involved in litigation. We believe that we have adequately provided in our consolidated financial statements for the impact of these contingencies. We also believe that the outcomes will not materially affect our results of operations, our financial position or our cash flows.

Concentration of Customers and Suppliers

A majority of our net revenue is derived from a limited number of customers. Historically, we have had two customers that account for approximately 10% or more of our total net revenue: Hewlett-Packard Company, or HP, and Tektronix, Inc., or Tektronix. Our agreements with our customers do not contain any minimum purchase commitments, do not obligate them to purchase their storage solutions exclusively from us and may be terminated at any time upon notice.

Net revenue consists of all product and services revenue. Net revenue by major customer is as follows (as a percentage of total net revenue):



	Three Months Ended				Nine Months Ended
	September 30,				September 30,
	2013		2014		2013		2014
HP	58	%	55	%	56	%	52	%
Tektronix	13	%	5	%	15	%	8	%
Other customers less than 10%	29	%	40	%	29	%	40	%
Total	100	%	100	%	100	%	100	%

If our relationship with HP or Tektronix were disrupted or declined significantly, we would lose a substantial portion of our anticipated net revenue and our business could be materially harmed. We cannot guarantee that our relationship with HP, Tektronix or our other customers will expand or not otherwise be disrupted.

We expect that the sale of our products and services to a limited number of customers will continue to account for a high percentage of net revenue for the foreseeable future. Our Product Purchase Agreement with HP, as amended, terminates on October 30, 2016.

We currently rely on a limited number of contract manufacturing partners to produce substantially all of our products. As a result, should any of our current manufacturing partners, such as Foxconn Technology Group, or parts suppliers not produce and deliver inventory for us to sell on a timely basis, operating results may be adversely impacted.

Cash and Cash Equivalents

We classify investments as cash equivalents if they are readily convertible to cash and have original maturities of three months or less at the time of acquisition. Cash and cash equivalents consist primarily of money market mutual funds issued or managed in the United States. As of December 31, 2013 and September 30, 2014, the carrying value of cash and cash equivalents approximates fair value due to the short period of time to maturity.

As of September 30, 2014, $2.9 million of the $42.4 million of cash and cash equivalents was held by our foreign subsidiaries. We currently intend to repatriate approximately $2.0 million of our cash and cash equivalents when we close down our Netherlands subsidiary during 2014 or early 2015. We obtained a favorable ruling from the Netherlands and will not be charged foreign taxes on the repatriation and we expect that our net operating loss carryforwards and foreign tax credits will be available to offset any tax liability should one arise. We anticipate that future foreign earnings will be deemed to be permanently reinvested, although we could elect to repatriate funds held in one or more foreign jurisdictions. If applicable, withholding taxes could reduce the net amount repatriated, and we could be required to accrue and remit applicable U.S. income taxes to the extent a tax liability results after the utilization of net operating loss carryforwards and available tax credits.

Allowance for Doubtful Accounts

We establish an allowance for doubtful accounts for accounts receivable amounts that may not be collectible. We determine the allowance for doubtful accounts based on the aging of our accounts receivable balances and an analysis of our historical experience of bad debt write-offs.

Balance sheet details are as follows, (in thousands):



	September 30, 2013			September 30, 2014
Balance, beginning of the year	$	240		$	23
Additions to allowance	4			67
Write-offs	(212		)	—
Recoveries	(1		)	(2		)
Balance, quarter ended	$	31		$	88

Research and Development and Capitalized Software Development Costs

Research and development costs are expensed as incurred. In conjunction with the development of our products, we incur certain software development costs. For the majority of our software development projects, no costs have been capitalized because the period between achieving technological feasibility and completion of such software is relatively short and software development costs qualifying for capitalization have been insignificant. On a specific software development project being developed externally, it was determined that the period between achieving technological feasibility and completion of the software is not relatively short and software development costs qualifying for capitalization will be significant. For this project, since technological feasibility has been established, all software costs are capitalized until the product is available for general release to customers. Judgment is required in determining when technological feasibility of a product is established. We have determined that technological feasibility for our software products is reached after all high-risk development issues have been resolved through coding and testing. The amortization of these costs will be included in cost of revenue over the estimated life of the products. Refer to Note 5, Intangible Assets, of the Notes to Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.

Long-lived Asset Impairment

We periodically review the recoverability of the carrying value of long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. An impairment in the carrying value of an asset group is recognized whenever anticipated future undiscounted cash flows from an asset group are estimated to be less than its carrying value. The amount of impairment recognized is the difference between the carrying value of the asset group and its fair value. Fair value estimates are based on assumptions concerning the amount and timing of estimated future cash flows and assumed discount rates, reflecting varying degrees of perceived risk. There were no impairment charges for the periods ended September 30, 2013 or 2014.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

From time to time, new accounting pronouncements are issued that we adopt as of the specified effective date. We believe that the impact of recently issued standards that are not yet effective will not have a material impact on our results of operations and financial position.

In May 2014, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update 2014-09, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606) ("ASU 2014-09"). This update creates modifications to various revenue accounting standards for specialized transactions and industries. ASU 2014-09 is intended to conform revenue accounting principles with a concurrently issued International Financial Reporting Standards with previously differing treatment between United States practice and those of much of the rest of the world, as well as, to enhance disclosures related to disaggregated revenue information. The updated guidance may be applied retrospectively to each prior period presented or retrospectively with the cumulative effect recognized as of the date of initial application. The updated guidance is effective for public entities for annual reporting periods beginning on or after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. Early adoption is not permitted and entities have the choice to apply ASU 2014-09 either retrospectively to each reporting period presented or by recognizing the cumulative effect of applying ASU 2014-09 at the date of initial application and not adjusting comparative information. The Company is currently evaluating the requirements of ASU 2014-09 and has not yet determined its impact on the Company's unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.