Crossroads Systems Inc. –

AUSTIN, Texas – Data router provider Crossroads Systems Inc. went public October 20, offering 3.75 million shares at $18 apiece, well above its $14 to $16 filing range.

SG Cowen Securities Corp., Dain Rauscher Wessels and Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc. underwrote the offering, which left 25.6 million shares outstanding.

Advanced Digital Information Corp., Austin Ventures, Intel Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were venture backers. There were no selling shareholders.

The company’s routers connect servers and storage devices into storage area networks, or SANs, which provide extended storage for local area networks (LANs) and world area networks (WANs). Crossroads’ routers accommodate multiple protocols (including SCSI and Internet protocol) and allow the integration of storage devices, such as tape backups and optical libraries.

The company expects the $61.8 million in proceeds from the offering to increase its equity capital.

Crossroads has never been profitable, losing $2.7 million in the year ended October 31, 1997 and $5.4 million in the year ended October 31, 1998.

William Wood, a partner at Austin Ventures, joined the company’s board of directors in December 1996.

Crossroads Systems – Selected Financial

(in thousands, except per share data)

Year Ended October 31 Nine Months Ended July 31

1996 1997 1998 1998 1999

Total revenue 492 1,009 3,209 1,997 11,793

Net loss -212 -2,693 -5,354 -3,812 -3,645

Net loss per share -0.04 -0.46 -0.9 -0.65 -0.56