Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Storage

    Solid-State Storage Maker Violin Memory Slips in IPO Debut

    By
    Chris Preimesberger
    -
    September 27, 2013
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Solid-state storage hardware maker Violin Memory became a publicly traded company Sept. 27, but its first day on the New York Stock Exchange didn’t quite turn out as well as it was hoping.

      The Mountain View, Calif.-based storage hardware and software maker priced its stock in the middle of the range it expected at filing time, activating 18 million shares for $9 apiece on Sept. 26, which would have valued the company at $898.4 million while transferring $162 million into its bank accounts.

      However, Violin Memory stumbled out of the box, opening 18 percent lower than the price for its initial public offering. When the stock came up for sale the morning of Sept. 27 under the ticker symbol VMEM, buyers balked; the stock opened at $7.41 and didn’t see traction the rest of the day.

      VMEM closed at $7.02, down $1.98, or 22 percent, on volume of 19.8 million shares, on the day. But it’s only Day 1, and storage—especially NAND flash-based storage—is one of the hottest sectors in IT and has been for years.

      Perhaps investors were looking critically at Violin Memory’s most recent balance sheet, in which the company showed a net loss that more than doubled the previous year’s, from $44.8 million to $109.1 million.

      The 8-year-old company had been seeking a valuation of about $2 billion when it originally filed confidentially for an IPO. However, on Sept. 26, it settled for a valuation of about $800 million, close to the one it earned from its previous financing round in April 2012.

      Violin’s NAND flash and dynamic RAM-based storage arrays are ideal in environments that need fast processing and analyzing of large data sets. In 2011, Violin was one of the first storage companies to offer NAND flash arrays as Tier 1 storage, which is mostly still in the domain of hard disk drives.

      One of Violin’s early customer wins was with Hewlett-Packard, which had no real solid-state storage story until it partnered with Violin several years ago. Violin used its large contract with HP to record substantial revenue gains in 2012, with its sales jumping from $11.4 million to $53.9 million.

      That all ended, however, when HP bought another new-gen storage maker, 3PAR, in 2010—following a bidding war with Dell—for $2.35 billion. Even though 3PAR wasn’t a big NAND flash player, the move nonetheless pushed Violin to the sideline without a central customer. But by then Violin’s products were established in the market, and the company survived and moved on.

      For some background on the state of the solid-state enterprise storage industry in mid-2013, go here.

      Violin CEO Don Basile noted in the company prospectus that HP’s purchases accounted for 65 percent of its revenues in 2012 and less than 10 percent in 2013.

      In its decade of business, Violin has banked a total of $186 million from investors that include Toshiba (which owns 14 percent of the company), Juniper Networks and SAP Ventures.

      Chris Preimesberger
      https://www.eweek.com/author/cpreimesberger/
      Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×