Upcoming IPOs Head Wall Street Calendar

That is the talk of the town as Wall Street prepares for Handspring Inc., a Mountain View, Calif., handheld PC vendor, to launch its initial public offering, scheduled to be priced Wednesday.

The $180 million offering of 10 million shares, led by Credit Suisse First Boston, is expected to price between $17 and $19 per share, down from its original expected range of $19 to $22 per share.

Handspring, founded in July 1998, markets the Visor handheld computer, a personal organizer enhanced by an open expansion slot for easy upgrades. More than 2,000 developers have signed on to create modules that can be snapped into the springboard expansion slot, the company said in its registration statement.

Handspring's chief competitor, Palm Inc., increased the price range of its IPO to between $30 and $32, up from $14 to $16, before pricing March 1 at $38.

Handspring Chairman and Chief Product Officer Jeff Hawkins invented the Palm Pilot, while Handspring Chief Executive Donna Dubinsky founded the company that sold the device and Handspring Senior Vice President Edward Colligan marketed it.

The next date circled on the IPO calendar is June 29, when Waltham, Mass.-based StorageNetworks Inc. plans to make its long-awaited debut. StorageNetworks targets dot-coms and enterprises that want to outsource their primary and secondary storage requirements. The 9-million-share offering, led by Goldman, Sachs & Co., is expected to price in the same range as Handspring's and raise $162 million. Company executives were mum on both offerings, citing U.S. Securities and Exchange regulations governing the quiet period.

Waiting in the wings is Avistar Communications Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif., which on June 9 filed a $57.5 million IPO led by Chase H&Q. Avistar focuses on videoconferencing for businesses. CRN

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