Santa Clara: Palo Alto Networks, the Santa Clara-based company that makes a next-generation firewall, has filed its S-1 for a public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission, aiming to raise above $175 million. The number of shares to be sold and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

Co-founded in 2005 by Rajiv Batra, and Nir Zuk, the company develops enterprise-grade firewalls for companies that give visibility and granular policy control of applications and content, through hardware and software technologies.

Rajiv Batra has extensive experience managing engineering teams through times of strong growth. Prior to Palo Alto Networks, he was the VP of Engineering at Peribit, which has acquired by Juniper Networks in 2005. He also co-founded VitalSigns Software and served as VP of Engineering at Bay Networks.

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Goldman, Sachs & Co and Citigroup Global Markets, will act as lead joint book-running managers for the offering, and Credit Suisse, Barclays, UBS Securities LLC, and Raymond James & Associates, will act as book-running managers for the offering.

A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offer to buy be accepted prior to the time that the registration statement becomes effective.

However, in the most-recently completed fiscal year, which ended July 31, the company posted a loss of $12.5 million or 88 cents a share, compared to a loss of $21.1 million, or $1.78 a share, a year earlier. The revenue in the fiscal 2011 more than doubled to $118.6 million from $48.8 million.