In the opening bell Thursday, Technology shares were normally down, considered together with the broader stock market.

A new market is emerging for modern application platforms for custom software development, according to the findings of an omnibus survey of Information Technology (IT) Decision Makers* released recently by Appian. Fielding questions from 306 respondents, the survey examined the trends and market opportunities in custom software and cloud-based application development platforms.

Survey respondents expressed vast support for custom software, defined as software applications that must be built by either a company’s internal IT team or through outsourced development because the required functionality cannot be purchased through a packaged software offering. In fact, 97 percent expressed confidence in using custom software, with 94 percent likely to recommend its use. The focus on custom software solutions comes as many enterprises grapple with the need for new application development approaches that meet the demands of 21st-Century business, with the speed of delivery acting as a primary barrier in meeting today’s IT priorities.

“The industry for custom software development must change,” said Matt Calkins, CEO and President of Appian. “72 percent of IT professionals acknowledge that traditional solutions are too slow, and this prevents them from infusing their companies with digital business innovation.”

Insights about some real gainers from Technology Sector for the current trading session are depicted underneath:

CollabRx, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLRX)’s shares skyrocketed 104.39% and is now trading at $2.33, soon after a recognized leader in cloud-based expert systems to inform healthcare decision-making, declared that it had received notice from the NASDAQ OMX GROUP (“Nasdaq”) that the Company had regained compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price as required by Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). Since being notified on November 18, 2014 that the Company had until May 18, 2015 to regain compliance, the bid price of CollabRx’s ordinary stock has closed at $1.00 per share or more for the minimum of 10 successive trading days. Accordingly, the Company was notified on February 17, 2015 that it had regained compliance and that the matter of the bid price deficiency was closed.

The Company remained non-compliant with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5550(b)(1), which requires that it maintain a minimum of $2.5 million in stockholder’s equity. The Company will present its plan for regaining compliance in a hearing before the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel (the “Panel”) that will take place in Washington, D.C. on February 19, 2015. The Company’s ordinary stock will continue to trade on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “CLRX” pending completion of the hearing process and the expiration of any extension period granted by the Panel.

CollabRx, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLRX), is a recognized leader in cloud-based expert systems to inform healthcare decision-making. CollabRx uses information technology to aggregate and contextualize the world’s knowledge on genomics-based medicine with specific insights from the nation’s top cancer experts, starting with the area of greatest need: advanced cancers in patients who have effectively exhausted the standard of care.

Shares of Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), jumped nearly 30.40% and is now trading at $1.62, soon after a development stage company, designs and manufactures photovoltaic integrated consumer electronics, declared the Company’s preliminary fourth quarter and full year proceed results ended December 31, 2014.

The Company posted fourth quarter proceed of $2.4M, a 118% raise from the previous quarter of $1.1M and an about four-fold raise over Q4 2013 proceed of $0.6M. EnerPlex™ branded consumer product proceed was $2.3M in the fourth quarter, up from $1.0M in the preceding quarter, a 124% raise, and from $0.5M in Q4 2013.

Total proceed for the year was $5.3M, up 308% from $1.3M in 2013. Product proceed was $5.0M, up 355% from $1.1M in 2013.

Dr. Amit Kumar, Chairman of Ascent, stated, “The rapid year over year proceed growth demonstrates the acceptance by the market of Ascent’s superior products, the expansion of our distribution capacity, and the persistence of our employees in transitioning our Company. We expect 2015 to be another year of rapid growth with continued new product launches, raised distribution, the transition of some manufacturing to Asia, and an raise in awareness of our EnerPlex™ brand.”

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), is a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules with substrate materials that are more flexible, versatile and rugged than traditional solar panels. Ascent Solar modules can be directly integrated into consumer products and off-grid applications, in addition to aerospace and building integrated applications. Ascent Solar is headquartered in Thornton, Colorado.

United Online, (NASDAQ:UNTD), surged 8.76% is now trading at $15.14, soon after a leading provider of consumer services and products over the Internet, recently stated financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2014.

Fourth Quarter 2014 Merged Financial Highlights;

• Merged proceeds were $54.4 million, a decrease of 13% contrast to $62.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Merged proceeds exceeded the mid-point of the guidance range.
• Merged operating revenue was $2.0 million as contrast to an operating loss of $7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Merged operating revenue was below the mid-point of the guidance range.
• Merged adjusted OIBDA was $11.4 million, a decrease of 9% from the fourth quarter of 2013. Merged adjusted OIBDA exceeded the guidance range.
• The company remained debt free and had cash and cash equivalents of $78.8 million, or $5.58 per diluted share at December 31, 2014, contrast to $68.3 million, or $5.15 per diluted share at December 31, 2013.

United Online, (NASDAQ:UNTD), through its operating auxiliaries, provides consumer services and products over the Internet under a number of brands, counting Classmates, StayFriends, Trombi, MyPoints, NetZero, and Juno. The Company operates in two business segments: Content & Media, which provides social networking services and products under the Classmates, StayFriends, and Trombi brands, and Communications, which operates principal Communications pay service, a dial-up Internet access that offered under the NetZero and Juno brands.

Shares of the Nimble Storage, Inc. (NYSE:NMBL), soared 5.34% & is now trading at $24.85, soon after the news that the flash storage solutions company, declared that more than 5,000 customers worldwide have adopted the Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash platform. Achieving this noteworthy milestone underscores the company’s vision to deliver the industry’s most efficient flash storage platform, after shipping its first Adaptive Flash platform.

Since shipping the first CS-Series array in 2010, Nimble has established a strong track record for delivering innovation. In the first half of 2014 the company introduced its high-end CS700 platform and All Flash Shelf as part of the Adaptive Flash platform, effectively addressing all-flash workloads in addition to petabyte-scale deployments within a single platform. In the second half of the year the company refreshed its entire platform portfolio to raise price-performance by more than 50 percent. The most noteworthy advance in product innovation came with the early release of Fibre Channel functionality across the CS-Series arrays enabling Nimble to address enterprise-wide storage requirements and quadruple the addressable market the company is able to serve.

“Surpassing the 5,000th customer milestone so quickly represents the collective commitment to excellence of our dedicated and passionate employees. I want to thank our entire organization, in addition to our customers and partners,” said Suresh Vasudevan, CEO, Nimble Storage. “The Nimble Adaptive Flash platform underscores the comprehensive nature of our approach to leveraging the three major disruptive changes in the storage market: flash, cloud and converged infrastructure. We are uniquely positioned to leverage these architectural changes and emerge as the market leader. Our value proposition to enterprises and cloud service providers as a platform that can consolidate enterprise-wide workloads cost-effectively, with vastly better performance, superior data protection and radically lower complexity will enable us to continue to accelerate our high win rates against the leading incumbent platforms.”

Nimble Storage, Inc. (NYSE:NMBL), provides its customers with data storage platform. The Company focuses on research and development of its technology platform, developing new products and enhancing its cloud-based administration services. The Company has designed and sold a flash-optimized hybrid storage platform.