The storage biz has once again birthed a surprisingly successful IPO — but how will adolescence treat it?

SAN specialist Compellent made the public leap earlier this week, offering shares at $13.50 under the symbol CML. From there, shares leaped to $24 at closing, almost double the initial price. Honeymoon trading didn't last, however, with share prices today hovering at $18.60. It's a rough world out there.

Compellent says it stakes a claim by offering SMBs a lower cost solution to big name storage companies and vending SAN boxes that combine both FIbre Channel and iSCSI.

Revenues more than doubled from $9.5m in the first half of 2006 compared to $20.8m in the first half of 2007, but the company has yet to turn a profit.

According to SEC filings, Compellent intends to use about $10m of the proceeds for sales and marketing. About $5m will head for the R&D department and the rest goes to working capital and general corporate use.

Compellent joins other smaller storage companies such as Data Domain and Netezza, which have already jumped on a recent IPO bandwagon. ®

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