IBM to Acquire Aspera to Help Companies Speed Global Movement of Big Data

ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Emeryville, CA-based Aspera, Inc. Aspera's technology helps companies securely speed the movement of massive data files around the world. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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Licensed to clients and partners either in the cloud or on premise, Aspera's high-speed transfer technology reduces transmission times for large files or data sets by up to 99.9 percent – potentially cutting a 26 hour transfer of a 24 gigabyte file, sent halfway around the world, down to just 30 seconds.  Aspera's patented fasp™ technology overcomes inherent bottlenecks in broadband wide area networks that slow the transfer of extremely large files, such as high-definition video or scientific research files, over distance.

Companies today are struggling to manage increasing volumes of structured and unstructured data created by everything from sensors to social media. They must accelerate the velocity of sending and receiving this data to improve competitiveness in a variety of ways - including the ability to more quickly uncover valuable business insights, bring products to market faster and improve employee productivity. This becomes even more critical with the growing adoption of cloud computing, where companies need a more effective way to transport extremely large files to and from cloud platforms. Aspera moves Big Data to, from and within the cloud faster than traditional methods while providing security, bandwidth control and predictability. 

Aspera solutions solve data transfer problems across numerous industries and scenarios such as:

• Life sciences organizations sharing genomic data in the quest to find the next medical breakthrough;
• Media companies shortening production cycles or uploading hit television shows and blockbuster movies to popular consumer streaming services;
• Gaming companies receiving the latest software build from third party developers to enable rapid game development;
• Any individual within an enterprise trying to share and synchronize large files over distance between multiple devices such as a laptop, mobile phone or tablet.

"Our experience working with thousands of clients on Big Data projects tells us that companies can better compete and win when they can quickly extract value from massive volumes of data," said John Mesberg, Vice President, B2B and Commerce Solutions, IBM. "With this acquisition, IBM addresses a key challenge for globally integrated enterprises by allowing them to move large data files much faster to the individuals who need them, wherever in the world they may be."  

"Our team has redefined how the world's biggest data can be moved quickly, securely and reliably around the world," said Michelle Munson, president and co-founder, Aspera. "By tapping into IBM's innovative capabilities and global resources, we will solve ever expanding data movement challenges for our customers now and in the future."

Aspera advances the transfer of large files where traditional network protocols limit speed and reliability. Typical data transfers over TCP/IP are hampered by network delays or packet loss, even over the fastest broadband networks. Aspera's fasp protocol delivers the industry's fastest transmission speeds over any network link regardless of file size, transfer distance or network conditions. Aspera ensures secure encryption of the files in transit or at rest.

By combining Aspera with the power of cloud computing, customers have a practical way to transport big data files to and from the cloud. Aspera makes cloud computing even faster, more predictable and more cost effective for big data transfers such as enterprise storage backup, sharing virtual images or bursting to the cloud for increased computing capacity. Its fasp technology is licensed to many leading cloud computing services and will be integrated with IBM's recently acquired SoftLayer cloud infrastructure later next year. 

This acquisition builds on IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative by allowing businesses to accelerate their digital supply chains between partners and suppliers. This also extends IBM's market-leading capabilities in Managed File Transfer with a complementary set of capabilities to help enterprises further gain control and oversight of their data transfers.

Aspera recently received an Emmy® award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development in recognition of its fasp protocol. The academy commented that fasp is an "an industry game changer" used by "virtually all the major broadcast television networks, Hollywood studios and CG/animation houses." 

The acquisition of Aspera is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter 2014.

Contact information:

Sean Audet
IBM Media Relations
[email protected] 
781.665.5213

SOURCE IBM