IBM has acquired Aspera, Inc., a privately held company headquartered in Emeryville, CA.

Aspera is a leading provider of software solutions for high speed data transfer which removes the barriers of transfer distance, file size or network conditions. Aspera’s patented fasp™ technology eliminates the bottlenecks of conventional file transfer technologies and allows secure transfers to take full advantage of whatever network is available.This allows companies to take time out of the process of collecting, moving and distributing large data sets across global digital supply chains to more quickly react to customer changes and exceed their expectations. For example the time to transfer a 2GB video file across country was reduced from 3.5 hours to less than 5 minutes once Aspera was installed.

Aspera’s capabilities will extend IBM’s market leading Managed File Transfer suite by adding;

• eXtreme File Transfer (XFT) capabilities that revolutionizes the speed in moving large files (structured and unstructured) and data sets

• Cloud optimized transfer and delivery for Big Data and Media

• File sync and share optimized for large files, Desktop and mobile

These capabilities also will enhance our larger initiatives:For Smarter Commerce – Aspera helps organizations align their digital supply chains with changing expectations. It has already transformed the Media and Entertainment space and was awarded an Emmy for it.

For Big Data and Analytics – Aspera helps address the Volume, Variety and Velocity challenges of data movement

For Cloud Computing – Aspera provides companies with the ability to transfer large files and data sets in, out, and across cloud infrastructure so that it can be analyzed, processed, and transformed anywhere around the globe, on premise or in the Cloud.

Together, IBM and Aspera will allow customers to move Big Data, at global distances, with the speed required by today’s business to better compete, differentiate and win.