Enterprise
The IPO market is back—for enterprise tech
May 20, 2013: 10:42 AM ETThe hottest trend in enterprise technology is fueling the market.
FORTUNE --- If you hadn't heard of Tableau Software before its glamorous debut on the public market last Friday, you're not alone. The Seattle-based company makes visual analytics tools for technical and non-technical employees alike, but is far from a household name. And yet, it raised around $254 million in its initial public offering and closed its first day of trading at just over $50 per share, up more than 60% from its IPO price of $31. Not bad for a data visualization tool.
Tableau (DATA) has tapped into one of the hottest trends in enterprise technology—the overused buzzword that is big data. The company allows users to query and present large data sets using a graphical interface (think bright and colorful interactive charts). "We just finished a two-week roadshow and found that there's tremendous interest in data and analytics and the power that data can bring to improving lives," says Christian Chabot, co-founder and CEO of Tableau.
Tableau was lucky enough to get the ticker symbol "DATA," but it's just one in a line of several recent and upcoming enterprise tech and big data IPOs. Another software company, Marketo (MKTO), also made its public market debut last Friday and saw its share price rise 78% on its first day of trading. (Marketo sells cloud-based software for, you guessed it, marketing departments.) Of course, the march of enterprise tech IPOs actually started last year. And while consumer-focused Facebook's (FB) stock may be down 30% from its IPO price one year ago, less sexy companies like Splunk (SPLK), Workday (WDAY) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) have fared better.
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So who's next? There's file storage site Box, mobile device management player Good Technology and security software maker FireEye, to name a few. Then again, despite the recent high-profile IPOs of a handful of enterprise software companies, probably the most anticipated public offering is that of microblogging site Twitter, currently valued (by some estimates) at a whopping $10 billion.
Unlike Twitter, Tableau needed to go public to help build "awareness and credibility." The company's current customer list includes heavyweights like Wal-Mart (WMT) and eBay (EBAY) plus regional hospitals and government agencies. "It's not so much about pivoting from one customer to another as it is about increasing all customers," says Chabot. "Our products can be used by anyone who needs to use a spreadsheet." Of course, Tableau has a long way to go before anyone who needs to use a spreadsheet actually considers using their product (and not a growing list of competitors' software). But a glamorous debut on the New York Stock Exchange stage could help.
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Google Android's enterprise problem
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FORTUNE -- This week's Google I/O conference in San Francisco was disappointingly light on Android news. And it was especially light on new, enterprise-friendly features for Android devices. Instead, it showed improvements aimed at consumers and education institutions. But while Google may not seem focused on making its mobile operating system more attractive to IT departments, MORE
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Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 9, 2013 1:12 PM ET -
SAP goes all in with the cloud
The German software giant is betting on cloud-based technology and services.
FORTUNE -- In case you haven't heard, SAP is serious about the cloud. On Tuesday the enterprise software giant announced it will offer HANA, its in-memory database, as a monthly subscription service, delivered via the cloud.
A limited cloud-based version of HANA was already available through Amazon (AMZN) Web Services. But SAP (SAP) says customers will now be able to access MORE
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An insider's view of AMD's war with Intel
Former CEO's book tells the story of one of the most aggressive lawsuits in corporate history -- to a point.
By Roger Parloff, senior editor
FORTUNE -- From 2004 to 2009, Advanced Micro Devices, the perpetual underdog semiconductor manufacturer, launched worldwide antitrust litigation against its much admired, much feared, near monopolist competitor, Intel. In submissions to competition authorities and courts, AMD charged that Intel was breaking the law to preserve its dominant MORE
May 2, 2013 11:25 AM ET -
Lenovo-IBM talks over server business break down
Valuation concerns have scuttled negotiations, according to a person familiar with the talks.
FORTUNE -- Negotiations between Lenovo and IBM over a multi-billion dollar deal under which Lenovo would acquire parts of IBM's server business have broken down, according to people familiar with the situation.
While the discussions could resume, they were halted over valuation concerns, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Spokespeople for Lenovo and IBM (IBM) declined to comment.
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Facebook co-founder's bid to replace email
Startup Asana has attracted a lot of buzz. Now it's shooting for the big leagues.
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Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 1, 2013 11:05 AM ET -
Why GE is betting on software
GE is putting $105 million into Pivotal, a software firm, to boost its services margins.
FORTUNE -- Earlier this week, General Electric (GE) announced it is investing $105 million in a new platform-as-a-service provider called Pivotal, a spinoff of EMC (EMC) and VMware (VMW). Why? GE's future at least partly relies on its ability to keep churning out software and services to support the increasingly smart machines it sells. With Pivotal, MORE
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Big tech is struggling with old age
Some of the world's most well-known and powerful tech titans -- IBM, Microsoft, Intel -- are marked by trying to manage declining aspects of their businesses.
By Kevin Kelleher, contributor
FORTUNE -- At its heart, the tech industry is about the new. Today, tech giants succeeded because of what was new yesterday. The flip side is that the new ages into the old more quickly in tech than in most other industries. MORE
Apr 23, 2013 6:51 AM ET
