It has been tough sledding thus far in 2008 for the US financial markets. The decline in the NASDAQ and S&P 500 -- each down 13% and 11% respectively since the beginning of the year -- has had a naturally chilling effect on the IPO market. It is not surprising that only one company (not in the IT space) has gone public to date. Furthermore, we have seen only two filings by technology companies in 2008 -- LogMeIn and Intelius. But, in our experience a slow IPO market can and often does encourage increased M&A activity as companies pursue alternate paths to liquidity and growth. With hindsight back to 2007, 41 companies in the Software, IT Services and Internet sectors followed by Updata went public, raising $8.6 billion in gross proceeds. Trading results for these firms were very mixed, with a median one-day increase of 17%. For a deeper analysis of the companies included in this table and their performance, please see Updata Advisors' 2007 Tech IPOs research bulletin. Some of the more anticipated IPOs in 2008 are those which address current hot-button issues, for example: - Glass House Technologies, an IT consulting, technology integration and managed services provider targeted at "Green Tech" datacenter storage and infrastructure needs
- RiskMetrics Group, a provider of risk management/measurement and corporate governance products and services to global financial markets
Looking back over the past 10 years, 2007 was a very strong year for technology sector IPOs. The table below presents analysis obtained from Factset's IPO Database highlighting that 2007 was the best IPO year, both in number of offerings and gross proceeds, since 2000. | 
