Intermedia going public could catapult the cloud communications provider into the ranks of top competitors Cisco, RingCentral and 8×8.

That’s according to Raul Castanon, senior research analyst with 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence. Intermedia announced the terms of its initial public offering (IPO) Tuesday.

Intermedia plans to raise $300 million by offering 12.2 million shares for between $23 and $26 apiece. That could make Intermedia worth $1.5 billion.

Expect the shares to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol “INTM.”

Intermedia isn’t commenting on its IPO. The company provides a cloud-based communications and collaboration platform. Its network includes more than 7,000 channel partners. Moreover, a growing base of over 122,000 business customers use its platform.

Long Preparation for IPO

Intermedia has laid the groundwork for an IPO over the past five years, Castanon said. That began with a solid channel partner sales strategy and a product road map. And it has since evolved through internal development and strategic acquisitions.

451 Research’s Raul Castanon

“It recently announced a partnership with NEC that could significantly expand its market footprint globally,” he said. “This is a major step, but the company is in a good place to move forward with its plan.”

Last April, NEC entered a strategic partnership with Intermedia. NEC offers Intermedia’s UCaaS products and services for resale on a private-label basis, directly and through its own partner network, to its global customer base.

It’s also a good moment for Intermedia to launch its IPO given the growing adoption of cloud communications, which accelerated with the COVID-19 outbreak and “could enable Intermedia to join the ranks of other competitors such as Cisco, RingCentral and 8×8,” Castanon said.

According to Intermedia’s regulatory filing, it estimates the total addressable market for its UCaaS and business cloud applications (BCA) solutions to be $67 billion.

“The fast growth of our UCaaS solutions, with a total addressable market of $47 billion, is primarily driven by our partners using our solutions to upgrade their customers’ legacy communications systems, which are not designed to address the evolving work environment and need for connected, seamless and modern architectures,” the company said.