GlassHouse… When Cloud & Virtualization Can’t Take You Public

GlassHouse Technologies was supposed to be an initial public offering that the public was looking forward to.  After all, it has cloud, virtualization, security and data center services in its description.  The company has withdrawn its plans to come public “based on current market conditions” and has noted that it will pull its pending S-1 filing with the SEC.

The company has raised capital from venture and private investment firms and the backers are said to be Sigma Partners, Kodiak Venture Partners, Globespan Capital Partners and others.

While the company is using the market volatility as the excuse, perhaps this should serve as a lesson for investors in public and private companies chasing the hot trends of the day.  Virtualization, data center, and security and cloud are all hot for investors.  The problem is that companies still have to execute and still have to stand apart either in price or in services.

This actually appears to be GlassHouse’s second IPO withdrawal. The company’s announcement is here.