Item 1. BUSINESS

Note: A glossary of terms used in this Form 10-K appears at the end of this Item 1.

GENERAL

We are a global leader in design software and services, offering customers productive business solutions through powerful technology products and services. We serve customers in the architecture, engineering and construction; product design and manufacturing; and digital media and entertainment industries. Customers are able to design and create better things and processes by visualizing, simulating and analyzing real-world performance early in the design process. These capabilities allow our customers to foster innovation, optimize and improve their designs, save time and money, improve quality, communicate plans, and collaborate with others. Our professional software products are sold globally, both directly to customers and through a network of resellers and distributors.

Segments

We report segment information based on the “management” approach. The management approach designates the internal reporting used by management for making decisions, allocating resources and assessing performance as the source of our reportable segments. Prior to the third quarter of fiscal 2017, we had four operating segments: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (“AEC”), Manufacturing (“MFG”), Platform Solutions and Emerging Business (“PSEB”), and Media and Entertainment (“M&E”).

As a result of our business model transition, there have been a number of changes in the business including the shift from selling perpetual licenses to subscription-based offerings and organizational changes in how the business is managed including a restructuring announced in the first quarter of fiscal 2017. In the third quarter of fiscal 2017, these organizational changes resulted in a change in the internal reporting provided to our chief operating decision maker (“CODM”). These internal reports are used by the CODM to assess the performance of the business on a consolidated basis. Accordingly, our CODM now allocates resources and assesses the operating performance of Autodesk as a whole. As such, beginning in the third quarter of

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fiscal 2017, we concluded that we had one segment manager (the CODM), one operating segment, and one reporting unit for goodwill impairment purposes.

A summary of our revenue by geographic area and product family is found in Note 13, “Segments,” in the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements.

Corporate Information

We were incorporated in California in April 1982 and were reincorporated in Delaware in May 1994. Our principal executive office is located at 111 McInnis Parkway, San Rafael, California 94903, and the telephone number at that address is (415) 507-5000. Our internet address is www.autodesk.com. The information posted on our website is not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and amendments to reports filed or furnished pursuant to Sections 13(a) and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge on the Investor Relations portion of our web site at www.autodesk.com as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. The public may also read and copy any material we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1 (800) SEC-0330.

PRODUCTS

Our architecture, engineering and construction products improve the way building, civil infrastructure, process plant and construction projects are designed, built, and used. Our product development and manufacturing software provides manufacturers in automotive, transportation, industrial machinery, consumer products and building products with comprehensive digital engineering solutions that bring together data from all phases of the product development and production life cycle, creating a single digital model. Our digital media and entertainment products provide tools for digital sculpting, modeling, animation, effects, rendering, and compositing for design visualization, visual effects and games production. Our portfolio of products and services enables our customers to foster innovation, optimize and improve their designs, save time and money, improve quality, communicate plans, and collaborate with others.

Autodesk’s product offerings include:

•	AutoCAD

AutoCAD software, which is our largest single revenue-generating product, is a customizable and extensible CAD application for professional design, drafting, detailing, and visualization. AutoCAD software provides digital tools that can be used independently and in conjunction with other specific applications in fields ranging from construction and civil engineering to manufacturing and plant design.

•	AutoCAD LT

AutoCAD LT software is purpose built for professional drafting and detailing. AutoCAD LT includes document sharing capability without the need for software customization or certain advanced functionality found in AutoCAD. Users can share all design data with team members who use AutoCAD or other Autodesk products built on AutoCAD. AutoCAD LT software is our second largest revenue-generating product.

•	Industry Collections

Launched in August 2016, Autodesk's Industry Collections, our newest subscription offerings, provide our customers with increased access to a broader selection of Autodesk products, greater value, more flexibility, and a simpler way to subscribe and manage Autodesk subscriptions. To make way for industry collections, we ended the sale of the Design and Creation Suites on July 31, 2016, including Building Design Suites, Infrastructure Design Suites, and Product Design Suites. The collections are tailored to provide the essential software needed by professionals within each industry: AEC, Product Design, and M&E.

The AEC Collection aims to help our customers design, engineer, and construct higher quality, more predictable building and civil infrastructure projects, commonly used by AEC industry experts, such as AutoCAD, AutoCAD Civil3D, and Revit.

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The Product Design Collection offers connected, professional-grade tools that help our customers make great products today and compete in the changing manufacturing landscape of the future. The collection offers access to a wide range of our products, including AutoCAD and Inventor.

The M&E Collection provides end-to-end creative tools for entertainment creation. This collection enables animators, modelers and visual effect artists to access the tool they need, including Maya and 3ds Max, to create compelling effects, 3D characters and digital worlds.

•	3ds Max

3ds Max software provides 3D modeling, animation, and rendering solutions that enable game developers, design visualization professionals and visual effects artists to digitally create realistic images, animations, and complex scenes and to digitally communicate abstract or complex mechanical, architectural, engineering, and construction concepts.

•	Maya

Maya software provides 3D modeling, animation, effects, rendering and compositing solutions that enable film and video artists, game developers, and design visualization professionals to digitally create engaging, lifelike images, realistic animations and simulations, extraordinary visual effects, and full length animated feature films.

•	Revit

Revit software is built for Building Information Modeling ("BIM") to help professionals design, build, and maintain higher-quality, more energy-efficient buildings. Using the information-rich models created with Revit, architects, engineers, and construction firms can collaborate to make better-informed decisions earlier in the design process to deliver projects with greater efficiency. Revit includes features for architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing design as well as structural engineering and construction, providing a comprehensive solution for the entire building project team.

•	Inventor

Inventor enables manufacturers to go beyond 3D design to digital prototyping by giving engineers a comprehensive and flexible set of tools for 3D mechanical design, simulation, analysis, tooling, visualization, and documentation. Engineers can integrate AutoCAD drawings and model-based design data into a single digital model, creating a virtual representation of a final product that enables them to validate the form, fit, and function of the product before it is ever built.

•	AutoCAD Civil 3D

AutoCAD Civil 3D products provide a surveying, design, analysis, and documentation solution for civil engineering, including land development, transportation, and environmental projects. Using a model-centric approach that automatically updates documentation as design changes are made, AutoCAD Civil 3D products enable civil engineers, designers, drafters, and surveyors to significantly boost productivity and deliver higher-quality designs and construction documentation faster. With AutoCAD Civil 3D products, the entire project team works from the same consistent, up-to-date model so they stay coordinated throughout all project phases.

•	CAM Solutions

Our computer-aided manufacturing ("CAM") software, obtained via our Delcam acquisition, offers industry-leading solutions for Computer Numeric Control ("CNC") machining, inspection, and modelling for manufacturing. A comprehensive line-up of expert products, including PowerMill, FeatureCAM, PowerInspect, PowerShare, and others, help our customers manufacture complex, innovative products and components with maximum quality, control, and production efficiency.

•	Fusion 360

Fusion 360 is the first 3D CAD, CAM, and Computer-aided Engineering ("CAE") tool of its kind. It connects the entire product development process on a single cloud-based platform that works on both Apple and PC operating systems.

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•	BIM 360

BIM 360 construction management software enables almost anytime, anywhere access to project data throughout the building construction lifecycle. BIM 360 empowers those in the field to better anticipate and act, and those in the back office to optimize and manage all aspects of construction performance.

•	Shotgun

Shotgun is cloud-based software for review and production tracking in the M&E industry. Creative companies use the Shotgun platform to provide essential business tools for managers and visual collaboration tools for artists and supervisors, who often work globally with distributed teams.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND INTRODUCTION

The technology industry is characterized by rapid technological change in computer hardware, operating systems, and software. In addition, our customers’ requirements and preferences rapidly evolve, as do their expectations of the performance of our software and services. To keep pace with these changes, we maintain a vigorous program of new product development to address demands in the marketplace for our products.

The software industry is undergoing a transition from the personal computer to cloud, social, and mobile computing. In fiscal 2017, we continued to successfully implement a strategic transition of our business model announced in fiscal 2014. To support our transition, effective February 1, 2016, we discontinued the sale of new commercial seats of most individual software products, which are now exclusively available by desktop subscription, and discontinued selling perpetual licenses of suites while introducing industry collections effective August 1, 2016. Industry collections allow access to a broad set of products and cloud services that exceeds those previously available in suites - simplifying the customers' ability to access a complete set of industry tools. We now offer term-based product subscriptions for individual products and industry collections, cloud service offerings, and flexible enterprise business agreements ("new model subscription offerings"). These offerings are designed to give our customers increased flexibility with how they use our products and service offerings and to attract a broader range of customers such as project-based users and small businesses. The transition to a subscription model reflects the significant and growing interaction of our desktop software and our cloud services, working together to bring an integrated workflow to our customers.

We dedicate considerable technical and financial resources to research and development to further enhance our existing products and to create new products and technologies to expand our market opportunity. For example, in fiscal 2017, we continued strategically investing in digital manufacturing by bringing together a number of products and technologies, focused on providing integrated solutions for additive, subtractive, hybrid manufacturing, robotics and simulation. Digital manufacturing solutions provide our customers with the tools necessary to advance their manufacturing and production software, processes and systems in order to achieve efficiency and cost reduction improvements. Digital manufacturing provides a unique opportunity for these customers to connect designing, making, and using. We anticipate ongoing investments in digital manufacturing and other product groups to both serve existing customers and expand market opportunity.

Research and development expenditures were $766.1 million or 38% of fiscal 2017 net revenue, $790.0 million or 32% of fiscal 2016 net revenue and $725.2 million or 29% of fiscal 2015 net revenue. The increase in research and development expenditures as a percentage of revenue compared to fiscal 2016 and 2015 was driven by the decrease in our total revenue as a result of our business model transition. Our software is primarily developed internally; however, we also use independent firms and contractors to perform some of our product development activities. Additionally, we acquire products or technology developed by others by purchasing or licensing products and technology from third parties. We continually review these investments in an effort to ensure that we are generating sufficient revenue or gaining a competitive advantage to justify their costs.

The majority of our research and product development is performed in the United States, China, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom. However, we employ experienced software developers in many of our other locations. Translation and localization of our products are performed in a number of local markets, principally Singapore and Switzerland. We generally localize and translate our products into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and simplified and traditional Chinese.

We plan to continue managing significant product development operations internationally over the next several years. We believe that our ability to conduct research and development at various locations throughout the world allows us to optimize

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product development, lower costs, and integrate local market knowledge into our development activities. We continually assess the significant costs and challenges, including intellectual property protection, against the benefits of our international development activities.

For further discussion regarding risks from our product development and introduction efforts, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors.”

MARKETING AND SALES

We license or sell our products and services globally, primarily through indirect channels consisting of distributors and resellers. To a lesser extent we also transact directly with our enterprise and named account customers and with customers through our digitally transacted online Autodesk branded store. Our indirect channel model includes both a two-tiered distribution structure, where distributors sell to resellers, and a one-tiered structure, where Autodesk sells directly to resellers. We have a network of approximately 1,700 resellers and distributors worldwide. For fiscal 2017, approximately 72% of our revenue was derived from indirect channel sales through distributors and resellers, and we expect that the majority of our revenue will continue to be derived from indirect channel sales in the future.

We anticipate that our channel mix will continue to change, particularly as we scale our digitally transacted online Autodesk branded store business and our largest accounts shift towards direct-only business models. Importantly, we expect our indirect channel will continue to transact and support the majority of our revenue as we move beyond the business model transition. We employ a variety of incentive programs and promotions to align our reseller channel with our business strategies.

Sales through our largest distributor, Tech Data Corporation and its global affiliates, accounted for 30%, 25%, and 25% of our net revenue for fiscal years 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively. We believe our business is not substantially dependent on Tech Data. Our customers through Tech Data are the resellers and end users who purchase our software licenses and services. Should any of the agreements between us and Tech Data be terminated for any reason, we believe the resellers and end users who currently purchase our products through Tech Data would be able to continue to do so under substantially the same terms from one of our many other distributors without substantial disruption to our revenue. No other distributor, reseller, or direct customer accounted for 10% or more of our revenue.

Our customer-related operations are divided into three geographic regions, the Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa (“EMEA”), and Asia Pacific (“APAC”). Each geographic region is supported by global marketing and sales organizations. These organizations develop and manage overall marketing and sales programs and work closely with a network of domestic and international sales offices. Fiscal 2017 net revenue in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC was $871.9 million (43%), $800.4 million (39%), and $358.7 million (18%), respectively. We intend to continue to make our products available in foreign languages. We believe that international sales will continue to comprise the majority of our total net revenue. Adverse economic conditions and currency exchange rates in the countries that contribute a significant portion of our net revenue, including emerging economies, may have an adverse effect on our business in those countries and our overall financial performance. A summary of our financial information by geographic location is found in Note 13, “Segments,” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. Our international operations and sales subject us to a variety of risks; see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion.

We also work directly with reseller and distributor sales organizations, computer manufacturers, other software developers, and peripherals manufacturers in cooperative advertising, promotions, and trade-show presentations. We employ mass-marketing techniques such as webcasts, seminars, telemarketing, direct mailings, sponsorships, advertising in business and trade journals, and social media. We have a worldwide user group organization and we have created online user communities dedicated to the exchange of information related to the use of our products and services.

We generate revenue primarily through various offerings that provide recurring revenue. The largest is our maintenance plan program, under which customers who own a perpetual use license for the most recent version of the underlying product are able to renew a previously purchased maintenance plan that provides them with unspecified upgrades when and if available, and receive online support during the term of their maintenance contract. We also offer subscriptions which provide our customers with flexible term-based licenses of our software and services. With the discontinuation of the sale of most perpetual licenses, we have accelerated our transition away from selling a mix of perpetual licenses and maintenance plans toward a single subscription model.

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Our ability to effectively distribute our products depends in part upon the financial and business condition of our distributor and reseller networks. The loss of, or a significant reduction in, business with any one of our major distributors or large resellers could harm our business; see Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion.

CUSTOMER AND RESELLER SUPPORT

We provide technical support and training to customers through a multi-tiered support model, augmented by direct programs designed to address certain specific customer needs. Most of our customers receive support and training from the resellers and distributors from which they purchased subscriptions or licenses for our products or services, with Autodesk in turn providing second tier support to the resellers and distributors. Other customers are supported directly via self-service using the Autodesk Knowledge Network which guides customers to answers in our online support assets, support forums, webinars or to support representatives using a number of different modalities such as social media, phone, email and webchat. We also support our resellers and distributors through technical product training, sales training classes, webinars and other knowledge sharing programs.

EDUCATION, SUSTAINABILITY, AND PHILANTHROPIC PROGRAMS

Education

Autodesk is committed to helping fuel a lifelong passion for design and making among students of all ages. We offer free educational subscriptions of Autodesk's professional software to students, educators, and educational institutions worldwide. Through Autodesk Design Academy, we provide secondary and postsecondary schools hundreds of standards-aligned class projects to support design-based disciplines in Science, Technology, Engineering, Digital Arts, and Math (STEAM) using Autodesk's professional-grade design, engineering and entertainment software. Autodesk Design Academy curricula is also syndicated on iTunes U and Udemy, where millions of students go to learn online. Classes are available on our Instructables website for anyone looking to expand their "making" skills. Our intention is to make Autodesk software ubiquitous and the design software of choice for those poised to become the next generation of professional users.

Sustainability Programs

To help our customers imagine, design, and create a better world, our Sustainability initiatives focus our efforts on the area where we can have the greatest impact enabling sustainable practices through our products delivering free sustainable-design learning and training resources, providing software grants to qualifying nonprofits and entrepreneurs, and leading by example with our sustainable business practices. Through our products and services, we are supporting our customers to better understand and improve the environmental performance of everything they make.

Climate Change

In addressing the global challenges posed by climate change, we make it possible for our customers to innovate and respond to associated changes in regulation, building code, physical climate parameters and other climate-related developments. This effort can directly and indirectly create more demand for existing and new Autodesk products and services in the short and long-term. Furthermore, our leadership is committed to taking climate action and that commitment goes hand-in-hand with our reputation in the marketplace.

Climate Change Management Actions

To drive continued progress and meet growing demand, we continue to expand the solutions, education, and support we offer, helping customers secure a competitive advantage for a low carbon future by designing high-performance buildings, resilient cities and infrastructure, and more efficient transportation and products. To continue to grow this market, we provide software and support to early stage entrepreneurs and start-up companies who are designing clean technologies. We plan to expand these offerings in the future based upon demand and opportunity in response to challenges posed by climate change.

Internally, we are investing in best practices to mitigate our greenhouse gas emissions and climate change risk through investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency, disaster management and recovery strategies, and materials innovation. We are on track to meet our science-based greenhouse gas reduction target of 43% absolute emissions by 2020.

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Climate Change Governance

Ultimately, our co-CEOs, have the highest level of direct responsibility for addressing our climate-change related risks and opportunities. Autodesk has established an Environmental Core Team which reports indirectly to our co-CEOs. The Environmental Core Team has direct responsibility for setting and implementing the corporate sustainability strategy, including the climate change strategy.

Emissions Performance & Other Key Performance Indicators

By end of fiscal 2016, Autodesk had reduced its greenhouse gas emissions for its operational boundary by 33% from our fiscal year 2009 baseline to 172,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This reduction was accomplished through increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in our global real estate portfolio, and continued transition from physical software delivery to cloud and electronic software delivery. In fiscal 2017, we added emissions from our supply chain to our measurement boundary. More information about our sustainability commitment can be found in our annual sustainability reports, which we have published on our website since 2008. Our fiscal 2017 sustainability report will be published in the second quarter of fiscal 2018.

Philanthropy

The Autodesk Foundation (the "Foundation"), a privately funded 501(c)(3) charity organization established and solely funded by us, leads our philanthropic efforts. The purpose of the Foundation is twofold: to support employees to create a better world at work, at home, and in the community by matching employee’s volunteer time and/or donations to nonprofit organizations; and to support organizations and individuals using design to drive positive social and environmental impact. In the latter case, we use grant funding, software donations, and training to accomplish this goal, selecting the most impactful and innovative organizations around the world, thus, leading to a better future for our planet. On our behalf, the Foundation also administers a discounted software donation program to nonprofit organizations, social and environmental entrepreneurs, and others who are developing design solutions that will shape a more sustainable future.

DEVELOPER PROGRAMS

Our business and our customers benefit from our relationships with an extensive developer network. These developers create and sell their own interoperable products that further enhance the range of integrated solutions available to our customers. One of our key strategies is to maintain an open-architecture design of our software products to facilitate third-party development of complementary products and industry-specific software solutions. This approach enables customers and third-parties to customize solutions for a wide variety of highly specific uses. We offer several programs that provide strategic investment funding, technological platforms, user communities, technical support, forums, and events to developers who develop add-on applications for our products. For example, we have created our web services platform, Autodesk Forge. The Forge Platform includes a number of web services that enable software developers to rapidly develop the next generation of applications, and experiences that will power the future of making things. Forge facilitates the development of a single connected ecosystem for integrating Autodesk applications with other enterprise, web and mobile solutions.

COMPETITION

The markets for our products are highly competitive, are subject to rapid change, and can have complex interdependencies between many of the larger businesses. We strive to increase our competitive separation by investing in research and development, allowing us to bring new products to market and create exciting new versions of existing products that offer compelling efficiencies for our customers. We also compete through investments in marketing and sales to more effectively reach new customers and better serve existing customers.

Our competitors include large, global, publicly traded companies; small, geographically focused firms; startup firms; and solutions produced in-house by their users. Our primary global competitors include Adobe Systems Incorporated, ANSYS, Inc., Apple Inc., AVEVA Group plc, Avid Technology, Inc., Bentley Systems, Inc., Dassault Systèmes S.A. and its subsidiary Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp., Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), Intergraph Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hexagon AB, MSC Software Corporation, Nemetschek AG, PTC, 3D Systems, Siemens PLM, SONY Corporation, Technicolor, and Trimble Navigation Limited, among others.

The software industry has limited barriers to entry, and the availability of computing power with continually expanding performance at progressively lower prices contributes to the ease of market entry. The industry is presently undergoing a

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platform shift from the personal computer to cloud and mobile computing. This shift further lowers barriers to entry and poses a disruptive challenge to established software companies. The design software market is characterized by vigorous competition in each of the vertical markets in which we compete, both from existing competitors and by entry of new competitors with innovative technologies. Competition is increasingly enhanced by consolidation of companies with complementary products and technologies and the possibility that competitors in one vertical segment may enter other vertical segments that we serve. In addition, some of our competitors in certain markets have greater financial, technical, sales and marketing, and other resources than we do. Because of these and other factors, competitive conditions in these industries are likely to continue to intensify in the future. Increased competition could result in price reductions, reduced net revenue and profit margins, and loss of market share, any of which could harm our business. See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion of risks regarding competition.

We believe that our future results depend largely upon our ability to better serve customers by offering new products, including cloud and mobile computing products, whether by internal development or acquisition, and to continue to provide existing product offerings that compete favorably with respect to ease of use, reliability, performance, range of useful features, continuing product enhancements, reputation, price, and training.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND LICENSES

We maintain an active program to legally protect our investment in technology through intellectual property rights. We protect our intellectual property through a combination of patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret protections, confidentiality procedures, and contractual provisions. The nature and extent of legal protection associated with each such intellectual property right depends on, among other things, the type of intellectual property right and the given jurisdiction in which such right arises. We believe that our intellectual property rights are valuable and important to our business.

Nonetheless, our intellectual property rights may not be successfully asserted in the future or may be invalidated, circumvented or challenged. In addition, the laws and enforcement of the laws of various foreign countries where our products are distributed do not protect our intellectual property rights to the same extent as U.S. laws. Enforcement of intellectual property rights against alleged infringers can sometimes lead to costly litigation and counterclaims. Our inability to protect our proprietary information could harm our business.

From time to time, we receive claims alleging infringement of a third party’s intellectual property rights, including patents. Disputes involving our intellectual property rights or those of another party have in the past and may in the future lead to, among other things, costly litigation or product shipment delays, which could harm our business.

We retain ownership of software we develop. Desktop software is licensed to users pursuant to ‘click through’ or signed license agreements containing restrictions on duplication, disclosure, and transfer. Cloud software and associated services are provided to users pursuant to on-line or signed terms of service agreements containing restrictions on access and use.

We believe that because of the limitations of laws protecting our intellectual property and the rapid, ongoing technological changes in both the computer hardware and software industries, we must rely principally upon software engineering and marketing skills to continually maintain and enhance our competitive market position.

While we have recovered some revenue resulting from the unauthorized use of our software products, we are unable to measure the full extent to which piracy of our software products exists. We believe, however, that software piracy is and can be expected to be a persistent problem that negatively impacts our revenue and financial results. We believe that our transition from perpetual use software licenses to a subscription-based business model combined with the change from desktop to cloud-based computing will shift the incentives and means by which software is pirated.

In addition, through various licensing arrangements, we receive certain rights to intellectual property of others. We expect to maintain current licensing arrangements and to secure licensing arrangements in the future, as needed and to the extent available on reasonable terms and conditions, to support continued development and sales of our products and services. Some of these licensing arrangements require or may require royalty payments and other licensing fees. The amount of these payments and fees may depend on various factors, including but not limited to: the structure of royalty payments, offsetting considerations, if any, and the degree of use of the licensed technology.

See Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” for further discussion of risks related to protecting our intellectual property.

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PRODUCTION AND SUPPLIERS

The production of our software products and services involves duplication or hosting of software media. As we progress through our business model transition, the way that we deliver software has evolved. For certain cloud-based products, we use a combination of infrastructure-as-a-service providers like Amazon Web Services as well as co-located hosting facilities. For other products, we offer customers an electronic software download option for both initial product fulfillment as well as product updates for maintenance subscribers. Customers who choose electronic fulfillment receive the latest version of the software from our vendor’s secure servers. Customers may also obtain our software through media such as DVDs and USB flash drives available from multiple sources. The purchase of media and the transfer of the software programs onto media for distribution to customers are performed by us and by licensed subcontractors. Packaging materials are produced to our specifications by outside sources. Production is performed in leased facilities operated by independent third-party contractors. To date, we have not experienced any material difficulties or delays in the production of our software and documentation.

EMPLOYEES

As of January 31, 2017, we employed approximately 9,000 people. None of our employees in the United States are represented by a labor union. In certain foreign countries, our employees are represented by work councils. We have never experienced any work stoppages and believe our employee relations are good. Reliance upon employees in other countries entails various risks and changes in these foreign countries, such as government instability or regulation unfavorable to foreign-owned businesses, which could negatively impact our business in the future.

ACQUISITIONS

Over the past three years, we acquired new technology or supplemented our technology by purchasing businesses or technology related assets focused in specific markets or industries. For the fiscal years ended January 31, 2017, 2016, and 2015, we acquired a number of companies and technology related assets, some of which were accounted for as business combinations. The following were significant acquisitions for fiscal years 2017, 2016, and 2015:

Date of closing		Company		Details
November 2015		netfabb GmbH ("netfabb")		The acquisition of netfabb GmbH (“netfabb”) provided Autodesk with software solutions that reduced production costs and increased efficiency in 3D printing and additive manufacturing.
June 2014		Shotgun Software Inc. ("Shotgun")		The acquisition of Shotgun provided a cloud-based production management solution that enabled digital studios to track, schedule, review, and collaborate on projects and images.
May 2014		Within Technologies Limited ("Within”)		The acquisition of Within accelerated Autodesk’s development of tools and technologies for advanced manufacturing, including 3D printing.
February 2014		Delcam plc (“Delcam”)		The acquisition of Delcam provided Autodesk a range of design, manufacturing and inspection software that enabled automated CADCAM solutions for a variety of industries, ranging from aerospace to toys and sports equipment.

BACKLOG

Backlog is defined as current software license product orders which have not yet shipped. As a result of the business model transition, there was no backlog at January 31, 2017 compared to $31.4 million at January 31, 2016, and we do not expect material backlog in future periods.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR)—Represents the annualized value of our average monthly recurring revenue for the preceding three months. "Maintenance ARR” captures ARR relating to traditional maintenance attached to perpetual licenses. "New Model ARR" captures ARR relating to new model subscription offerings. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.

ARR is currently on of our key performance metrics to assess the health and trajectory of our business. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue and deferred revenue as ARR is a performance metric and is not intended to be combined with any of these items.

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Annualized Revenue Per Subscription (ARPS)—Is calculated by dividing our annualized recurring revenue by the total number of subscriptions.

Building Information Modeling (BIM)—BIM describes a model-based technology linked with a database of project information, and is the process of generating and managing information throughout the life cycle of a building. BIM is used as a digital representation of the building process to facilitate exchange and interoperability of information in digital formats.

Cloud Service Offerings—Represents individual term-based offerings deployed through web browser technologies or in a hybrid software and cloud configuration. Cloud service offerings that are bundled with other product offerings are not captured as a separate cloud service offering.

Constant Currency (CC) Growth Rates—We attempt to represent the changes in the underlying business operations by eliminating fluctuations caused by changes in foreign currency exchange rates as well as eliminating hedge gains or losses recorded within the current and comparative periods. We calculate constant currency growth rates by (i) applying the applicable prior period exchange rates to current period results and (ii) excluding any gains or losses from foreign currency hedge contracts that are reported in the current and comparative periods.

Flexible Enterprise Business Agreements—Represents programs providing enterprise customers with token-based access or a fixed maximum number of seats to a broad pool of Autodesk products over a defined contract term.

Industry Collections—Autodesk industry collections are a combination of products and services that target a specific user objective and support a set of workflows for that objective. Our Industry Collections consist of: Autodesk Architecture, Engineering and Construction Collection, Autodesk Product Design Collection, and Autodesk Media and Entertainment Collection. Autodesk introduced industry collections effective August 1, 2016 to replace its suites.

License and Other Revenue—License and other revenue consists of two components: (1) all forms of product license revenue and (2) other revenue. Product license revenue includes software license revenue from the sale of perpetual licenses, term-based licenses from our product subscriptions and flexible enterprise business agreements, and product revenue for Creative Finishing. Other revenue includes revenue from consulting, training, Autodesk Developers Network and Creative Finishing customer support, and is recognized over time, as the services are performed.

Maintenance Plan—Our maintenance plan provides our customers with a cost effective and predictable budgetary option to obtain the productivity benefits of our new releases and enhancements when and if released during the term of their contracts. Under our maintenance plan, customers are eligible to receive unspecified upgrades when and if available, and online support. We recognize maintenance plan revenue over the term of the agreements, generally between one and three years.

New Model Subscription Offerings (New Model)—Comprises our term-based product subscriptions (formerly titled Desktop subscription), cloud service offerings, and flexible enterprise business agreements.

Recurring Revenue—Represents the revenue for the period from our maintenance plans and revenue from our new model subscription offerings, including portions of revenue allocated to license and other revenue for those offerings. It excludes subscription revenue related to education offerings, consumer product offerings, select Creative Finishing product offerings, Autodesk Buzzsaw, Autodesk Constructware, and third party products. Recurring revenue acquired with the acquisition of a business is reported when total subscriptions are captured in our systems and may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.

Suites—Autodesk suites are a combination of products that target a specific user objective (product design, building design, etc.) and support a set of workflows for that objective. Our primary suites include: Autodesk Building Design Suite, Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite, Autodesk Factory Design Suite, Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite, Autodesk Plant Design Suite, and Autodesk Product Design Suite. Autodesk discontinued selling new perpetual licenses of suites while introducing industry collections effective August 1, 2016.

Subscription Revenue—Autodesk subscription revenue consists of three components: (1) maintenance plan revenue from our perpetual software products; (2) maintenance revenue from our term-based product subscriptions and flexible enterprise business agreements; and (3) revenue from our cloud service offerings.

Total Subscriptions—Consists of subscriptions from our maintenance plans and new model subscription offerings that are active and paid as of the quarter end date. For certain cloud service offerings and flexible enterprise business agreements,

2017 Form 10-K 13

subscriptions represent the monthly average activity reported within the last three months of the quarter end date. Total subscriptions do not include education offerings, consumer product offerings, select Creative Finishing product offerings, Autodesk Buzzsaw, Autodesk Constructware, and third party products. Subscriptions acquired with the acquisition of a business are captured once the data conforms to our subscription count methodology and when added, may cause variability in the comparison of this calculation.