Support.com's shares opened higher at $14 and rose to a high of $39, before ending its debut day at $32. The higher opening of the IPO at $14, above the expected $8-$9 range, reaffirmed investor confidence and showed an early sign of strength, said the company's Chennai-bred CEO, Radha Basu.

Analysts described the stock as the first dotcom in weeks to get off to a strong start on the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which lost more than three per cent of its composite index the day Support.com opened its IPO.California's Redwood City-based company boasts major clients like IBM, Sony, Cisco Systems, Compaq, General Electric, JC Penny, Bear Stearns and Samsung. Basu, a former veteran of Hewlett Packard (HP), said a high profile client base helped to rope in investors. An engineering graduate from the University of Madras and University of Southern California, Basu worked in senior positions at HP for more than 20 years, before joining Support.com in July 1997. A diligent woman executive, Basu, who has attended Stanford University's Executive Management Programme, is largely seen as the person gearing the company to specialised client needs, addressing concerns of both small and large customers with the same importance.

Based on the selling of 4.25 million shares at $14 and about 33.4 million outstanding common shares, Support.com had a market capitalisation of roughly $1.1 billion at the end of its debut day, according to lead underwriter Credit Suisse First Boston. The company plans to focus on automation of software support over the Internet for employees, partners, and customers of client firms. Support.com reported revenues of $1.9 million and a net loss of $9.2 million for the three months ended March 31.

India Abroad News Service