Update: Radware gains in market debut

Radware Ltd. (Nasdaq: RWDR) soared 53 percent in its debut Thursday.

The newly public maker of Internet traffic management products traded as high as 49 before cooling off in the afternoon. Shares ended the day up 9 1/2 to 27 1/2.

The underwriting team led by Salomon Smith Barney knew it was going to be a popular IPO; Radware priced at $18 each, above an estimated range of $13-15 per share. Radware offered 3.5 million common shares.

The company, based in Tel Aviv, Israel, will use the proceeds to finance growth and for general corporate purposes, according to a prospectus filed late last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company currently has three product lines, each designed to provide Internet traffic management for different areas of computer networks. They include Web Server Director, which distributes Internet protocol traffic among multiple servers, and applications to enable continuous access to the servers.

Radware sells its products mainly to distributors who resell them to final customers, including Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE: BEL), financial news provider Bloomberg L.P. and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC).

Reuters contributed to this report.