Jim Sauter, founder and owner of Madison-based NovaONE Networks, had a front row seat to the eruption of technology firms that sprouted in Silicon Valley as he grew up in the northern California region.

Madison has some of the same elements that drove the tech sector’s emergence in that part of the country, he said.

“I’m extremely optimistic about Madison’s business future,” said Sauter. “Growing up and spending the first half of my life in the Silicon Valley during its boom period, I see a lot of similarities in Madison of what happened in the Silicon Valley.” Read the full story here.