Digital audio software developer Triton Digital was sold last month by its private equity backers to a technology-focused investment firm in San Francisco. The acquisition of the Sherman Oaks company by Vector Capital means Triton will be able to continue its growth plans, said Chief Executive Neal Schore. “They are smart technology investors who have been successful in … growth companies like ours,” Schore said. Triton serves traditional, on-air broadcasters and emerging digital music providers with an array of services, incuding delivering streaming audio and coordinating advertising. Its software can also measure listeners in real time. Other services include email communications, games, contests and rewards programs intended to build brand loyalty with listeners. Clients include CBS Radio, iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel Communications Inc.), ESPN Radio, and streaming music services Pandora and Spotify. Triton got on board early with streaming audio, which was about 1 percent of listeners when the company started. Schore estimated that this year about 20 percent of listeners stream audio online. “Digital audio has moved into a mainstream position,” he added. “The listenership has grown dramatically and as demand grows our infrastructure becomes more important.” The company had been owned by Oaktree Capital Management and Black Canyon Capital LLC, both headquartered in Los Angeles. The two firms put more than $100 million into the company since its founding in 2006 for acquisitions and to expand the applicability of its technology offerings. New owner Vector was founded in 1997 and since then has invested more than $1.5 billion in more than 40 technology companies. Financial terms of its Triton acquisition, announced March 16, were not disclosed. With Vector backing, Triton management will put investment into its products, customers and partners. Acquisitions will also play a part in the company’s growth plans. The most recent acquisition was in March 2014 of Liquid Compass, a Denver audio streaming services company. Alex Beregovsky, managing director at Vector, said the firm was interested in Triton because of its end-to-end technology for audio publishers wanting to measure and monetize a digital audience. “We are very excited about … product development to support long-term opportunities in the digital audio marketplace,” Beregovsky said in a prepared statement. Triton was one of three acquisitions Vector did in March. It also bought ChyronHego, a Melville, N.Y. broadcast graphics company; and closed on a deal with Saba Software, a cloud-based technology services provider. Data Ring Key Information Systems Inc. is now the lord of a ring. The Agoura Hills information technology provider opened in March a dedicated high-speed fiber optic ring for its customers to use when transmitting data. The ring was built in partnership with Wilcon, a fiber optic provider based at the One Wilshire Building in downtown Los Angeles. “This allows us to provide a high-speed line to anywhere in the Southern California area for these clients that need that type of performance,” said Key Information Chief Executive Lief Morin. The fiber ring starts at Key’s data center in Agoura Hills, extends to Simi Valley and downtown to El Segundo and back to the Conejo Valley. It also ties in with Wilcon’s network which runs over 3,000 miles worth of optic cable from north of Los Angeles to San Diego. Morin would not disclose how much it cost for Key to build the fiber ring, only to say that it was a substantial. A benefit to Key customers using the fiber ring is high latency, or the time it takes for data to travel across the network connection. Even a 200 millisecond difference between sending and receiving data can be unacceptable, he said. Instead of companies obtaining dedicated lines of their own, it is more cost effective to use the ring. “We are using a small portion of that dedicated line for companies that want the benefit of high latency and that is what the ring offers,” Morin said. Wilcon operates a data center from the One Wilshire Building because it is a hub for fiber optic connectivity throughout the region. Staff Reporter Mark R. Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or [email protected]