Xylan priced its IPO at $26 a share in March 1996, and its stock never closed below $51 in the weeks that followed. Eleven weeks later, holders sold more stock at $59.50, and that second sale is the filing in this book. The Calabasas startup made switches that sped up crowded office networks, just as the World Wide Web, desktop video and faster PCs were choking the old hubs.

OmniSwitch and PizzaSwitch

Xylan was incorporated in California in July 1993. Steve Kim served as chairman, president and chief executive. Its OmniSwitch could link every popular kind of office network and translate between them. Its smaller PizzaSwitch, launched in March 1996, brought in about 10 percent of revenue in its first quarter. Alcatel, Digital Equipment and Hitachi resold Xylan's gear. Revenue in the first quarter of 1996 reached $23.4 million, up 51 percent in three months.

Wall Street's Favorite Switch

Xylan listed on Nasdaq as XYLN on March 12, 1996, and more than doubled from its offering price right away. The May follow-on sold 4 million shares at $59.50, raising $238 million, most of it for selling shareholders. Xylan kept selling through partners as office networks moved to switching. Alcatel, its longtime partner, bought the company in 1999, and Xylan's switches became part of Alcatel's enterprise line.

Cover: The Woodcutter, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a woodcutter in the forest (xylan, from wood).