Salient Stills Sold to Audio-Tech Firm DAC

Here’s some interesting consolidation in the market for law-enforcement and security software, involving an MIT spin-out.

Boston-based Salient Stills, which helps authorities capture and clean up still images from video feeds, has been purchased by Digital Audio Corp. of Durham, NC. The two private companies didn’t disclose terms of the deal.

As you might guess from the name, DAC’s software allows users to improve audio files, making them easier to listen to—particularly useful in criminal investigations, of course.

Salient Stills started out selling its technology to media companies, but its security business predictably picked up after 9/11. In fact, Salient’s technology was used in the FBI’s Boston field office investigation of the hijackings, capturing images of hijackers who took off from Boston Logan Airport.

Salient Stills’ software also was among the tools available to investigators during this year’s manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombers, when images pulled from surveillance camera feeds were instrumental in tracking down the suspects.

DAC says it will continue to sell Salient’s products, with CEO and president Laura Teodosio and CTO Jeff Hunter joining the new parent company.

“DAC is the ideal home for our technology and customers, and this acquisition ensures that our products will continue to evolve,” Teodosio says in the news release.

Author: Curt Woodward

Curt covered technology and innovation in the Boston area for Xconomy. He previously worked in Xconomy’s Seattle bureau and continued some coverage of Seattle-area tech companies, including Amazon and Microsoft. Curt joined Xconomy in February 2011 after nearly nine years with The Associated Press, the world's largest news organization. He worked in three states and covered a wide variety of beats for the AP, including business, law, politics, government, and general mayhem. A native Washingtonian, Curt earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. As a past president of the state's Capitol Correspondents Association, he led efforts to expand statehouse press credentialing to online news outlets for the first time.