Packet-optical transport and software-defined networking (SDN) system specialist Cyan Inc. recovered from a shaky start on its New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) debut Thursday to record a first day gain. Cyan joined the market at $11 per share but slid to almost $10 in early trading. However, the price recovered and by mid-afternoon was trading up nearly 1.4 percent at $11.15. "We're very pleased with our first day, especially as technology companies have had a hard time during the past few days," said chief marketing officer Joe Cumello, who is gearing up for a major staff party in Petaluma, Calif., Friday to celebrate the listing (we're hoping for pictures).The company's IPO follows a stellar 2012, during which the company more than doubled its revenues to record annual sales of $95.9 million. During the first quarter of this year, it achieved revenues of $26.3 million, almost double the sales from a year earlier.It still has a way to go before becoming profitable, though -- it reported an operating loss of $11.2 million for 2012 -- and the company isn't currently giving projections for when it might report quarterly profits.But it has momentum. And it has a track record in SDN development, which counts for a lot of positive goodwill these days. (See Cyan Spins 'Blue Planet' for SDN.)And it also has the proceeds from the IPO, which amount to around $78 million. Cumello says that money will be used to scale the business further. Maybe, though, just a small part might go toward Friday's party …— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading