IPO Update: Inrange Technologies takes off

Inrange Technologies soared up $30.25 to $46.25 Friday in its initial public offering.

Inrange (Nasdaq: INRG) provides storage and data networking products, has a track record that spans over 20 years and a customer list that includes AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint (NYSE: FON), Ford and IBM (NYSE: IBM). It plans to increase its market penetration by adding storage original equipment manufacturers to the list.

The company has strong financials; for the year ended December 31, net income was $22.3 million on revenue of $200.6 million, compared to net income of $7.4 million on revenue of $225.7 million in 1998.

The company depends on Sanmina (Nasdaq: SANM) and Ancor Communications (Nasdaq: ANCR) for manufacturing and parts for its We FC/9000 product, which it began shipping in April. Future sales growth and financial results are highly dependent on the growth of sales of the FC/9000, the firm said.

Competitors in the highly profitable storage networking market include established players such as Brocade (Nasdaq: BRCD) and EMC (NYSE: EMC) spin-off McData (Nasdaq: MCDT), which both sell more fibre channel switches that Inrange.

The IPO is being underwritten by Salomon Smith Barney, Bear Stearns and Chase H&Q.
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