Bangalore: Palo Alto Networks, an online security products provider has filed plans for an initial public offering in order to expand the scope of the company worldwide.  Although there have been reports that the company will sell about $175 million worth of its stocks, the number of shares to be sold have not yet been determined, the company said in a statement it issued earlier this week.

The company, founded by Rajiv Batra and Nir Zuk  in 2005, provides enterprises with an appliance that can be used with the company’s existing network hardware, and its products tell between different users and applications so that customers can set various levels of security depending on the departments or individuals using devices on the network. According to a report on the Wall Street Journal, Palo Alto’s security products help, (for example) block Skype Web-calling services in all departments except from those in the sales department.

Since its founding, the company has been rapidly growing (it in fact, more than doubled its revenue over the last year) but has not returned noticeable profit, according to its IPO filing. It reported a loss of $12.5 million for the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2011, and incurred a $21.1 million loss the year before.  As of January 31, it had more than 6,500 end-users from more than 80 countries.

The company reportedly told the Wall Street Journal, that it has no specific plans for how it will use proceeds from the offering. However, the influx of capital should help it expand its sales and marketing activities, product development and other activities, noted the Wall Street Journal.

Morgan Stanley , Goldman, Sachs, and Citigroup Global Markets will act as lead joint book-running managers for the offering, while Credit Suisse, Barclays, UBS Securities, and Raymond James & Associates will be other book-running managers of the offering, according to the company’s statement.