NetIQ's revenue grew from $0.4 million in fiscal 1997 to $7.1 million in fiscal 1998, and it kept climbing. The Santa Clara company sold software that watched Windows NT servers and the applications running on them. It spotted problems, fixed many of them automatically, and showed everything on one console. Microsoft's server software was spreading through big companies. When NetIQ filed to go public in 1999, those companies needed tools to keep it running.

Managing the NT Server Room

Ching-Fa Hwang co-founded NetIQ in California in June 1995 and served as president and chief executive from the start. Its AppManager software managed the performance and availability of distributed Windows NT systems from one place. NetIQ sold through its own field sales force, with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New York and Washington, D.C. Revenue reached $15.1 million in the nine months ended March 31, 1999.

Thirteen Dollars, Then Attachmate

NetIQ priced its IPO at $13 a share in July 1999 and listed on Nasdaq as NTIQ. In 2000 it merged with Mission Critical Software, a maker of Windows management tools, and grew into a broader systems management company. In 2006 Attachmate, a privately held software company, bought NetIQ. NetIQ stopped reporting as a public company in July 2006. The NetIQ name stayed in use under its new owner.

Cover: Game of Chess, George Cruikshank. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a game of chess (intelligence, IQ).