Force10 Networks to go public

Networking vendor to bank $143.8m through stock market listing

Force10 is set to raise $143.8m through stock market listing

Force10 Networks has become the latest networking vendor to file its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus - a move that is expected to raise $143.8m.

In the prospectus, the 10Gb Ethernet specialist states that the company has never achieved profitability and cannot guarantee it will be profitable in the future.

The document also revealed that the company posted revenues of $138.4m in 2009 and made a loss of $76m in the same year.

Market watcher the Dell'Oro Group has forecasted that the 10Gb networking industry will be worth $8.5bn by 2014.

The vendor will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FTEN, with the proceeds used for “general corporate purposes”, as well as the possible acquisition of other “complementary businesses, products, services or technologies".

Force10’s decision to float on the stock market comes two months after Wireless LAN vendor Meru logged its own IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission.