1. technology and computing

SPRING 2015
W H AT ’ S
NEW
What’s New | Spring 2015
Moving the World’s Digital Content
at Maximum Speed
Aspera is breaking new ground in enabling global, file-based workflows that will power tomorrow’s digital supply chains with
the introduction of new versions of its core high-speed transport platform, software applications, desktop and mobile clients,
and 3rd party solutions.
CORE HIGH-SPEED TRANSPORT PLATFORM
Aspera has expanded its unique software platform for moving
media and Big Data with new capabilities that allow enterprises
to transfer, synchronize and stream digital content across
distributed cloud and on premises systems, meeting variable
demands in real time with speed, control and ease. We are
excited to share major enhancements in the core FASP transport
platform, and the addition of several new services.
FASPStream
To support the broader set of use cases where developers wish
to bypass the file system and directly access the Aspera highspeed FASP “pipe” from their applications, we created the new
Aspera FASPStream API. Rather than starting a transfer by
reading a file from disk and ending the transfer by writing to
disk, the Aspera FASPStream API supports transfers to or from
a custom process running in memory with another custom
process running on a separate machine, or with a standard
Aspera transfer server. The Aspera FASPStream API enables
the highly efficient transfer of video streams or data feeds
(any byte stream) over commodity Internet WANs as they are
being created or captured, with minimal delay and predictable
speeds, and allows access to portions of a file in memory
during the transfer process.
New WatchFolder Service
The new Aspera WatchFolder service is designed to power
large scale, automated content distribution. Collections of
files and folders can now be grouped into a single “drop” and
transferred to remote nodes as a single logical unit. Operators
can specify the priority of files in the queue, the cool-off period
before initiating the transfer, and any local or remote posttransfer processing steps to be executed once the entire set
of files in the drop has been transferred. A new RESTful API
enables complete programmatic control for customized and
automated transfer processing. The new WatchFolder service
is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.
Aspera Transfer Cluster Manager with Autoscale
The Aspera Transfer Cluster Manager with Autoscale
functionality automatically manages the number of instances
needed to support client transfer demands based on userdefined policies. It allows for dynamic, real-time and fault
tolerant scale out of transfer capacity. Service levels are
maintained by automatically scaling the number of server
instances, balancing client requests between servers in the
pool, and provisioning spare servers as necessary to manage
burst transfer requests. The web-based console allows for the
setup of policies and management of multiple clusters across
different infrastructure platforms.
ascp4 Technology
The latest addition to the core transfer platform is a new ascp4
binary capable of sending the largest sets of small unique
individual files and directories at FASP speeds. The ascp4
technology removes the bottlenecks of transferring such
large numbers of small files by sending metadata via the data
transmission path (i.e. via FASP) instead of via the transmission
control path. As a result, ascp4 can achieve transfer rates of a
million files per minute, independent of the distance between
source and destination.
SHARING AND COLLABORATION
faspex™ 3.9 and Shares 1.9
The new faspex™ and Shares releases are fully interoperable with
one another and with remote Aspera server nodes, allowing
organizations to ingest, distribute and share large content with
security and fine grained access control across Aspera servers
regardless of storage location – on premises and in cloud – and
to interoperate with existing Aspera workflows.
Updated user management now supports single sign-on for
SAML groups. Several usability improvements include better
support for larger deployments (>100 nodes), more flexible
email notification templates, and expanded search options. New
notification options have been added to alert when a user has
been granted access to a share, and for inheriting notification
settings to new user accounts.
Faspex On Demand is now available for Microsoft Azure
in addition to AWS, SoftLayer, and Google. Several
enhancements include expanded dropbox capabilities for
ad-hoc ingest, faster package delivery with email notification
running as a background service, expanded reporting of user
profile fields in Console, and the option to host Connect Plugin downloads on the faspex server.
SPRING 2015
W H AT ’ S
NEW
Aspera for Microsoft® SharePoint®
Aspera for Microsoft SharePoint eliminates the limitations and
bottlenecks of managing large files and directories in SharePoint
by integrating FASP transfer capability directly within the
SharePoint content management interface. SharePoint users
enjoy high-speed, secure uploads and downloads of large files
and entire directories regardless of size or distance directly in
the SharePoint interface, overcoming the SharePoint 2GB file
size limits and 4TB repository size limits. The latest version is
compatible with SharePoint online, standalone or as part of an
Office 365 subscription in addition to SharePoint 2013.
CLOUD-ENABLED TRANSPORT
Aspera On Demand 3.6
All Aspera On Demand products have been updated to the
latest faspex and Shares software versions. In addition to its
industry-leading software solutions for high-speed transfers
on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, Aspera On
Demand is now also available for IBM SoftLayer and Google
Cloud. Aspera On Demand fully supports direct transfers of
large files and directories to object storage in AWS S3, Microsoft
Azure BLOB, Google Cloud Storage, OpenStack Swift, Limelight
Orchestrate Cloud Storage, and Akamai NetStorage with full
storage and network bandwidth control, HTTP fallback, and
encryption in flight and at rest.
Aspera On Demand for SoftLayer now offers pre-packaged
virtual machine images for fast and easy provisioning, with full
support for Direct-to-Swift object storage. Aspera On Demand
for Azure now includes faspex On Demand, in addition to the
already available Server On Demand.
Also available on demand is Aspera Sync for cloud, Aspera’s
high performance synchronization app for WAN, now
compatible with cloud storage.
MANAGEMENT AND WORKFLOW AUTOMATION
Orchestrator 3.0
The newest release of Orchestrator increases the speed that
workflows can be processed by 10x allowing more files to
be processed daily by a single instance. This performance is
achieved by the decoupling of the process engine from the
control layer. A brand new dashboard improves workflow and
work step management, while disk space management has
been improved by adding an automatic purging system for old
workorder logs. An expanded array of plug-ins offers support
for many of the leading encoding, transcoding, watermarking,
and verification products, in addition to full support of
verification of file format standards such as ADI, MXF, AS-11 and
DPP file formats.
Several usability improvements include native installers with
interactive setup and configuration, tagging and filtering
of workflows and work orders, and improved event-based
journaling with an enhanced REST API. A new modular
execution engine now allows automation to be split across
multiple machines for better scale-up in complex enviroments.
Console 3.0
The new release of Aspera’s centralized management and
reporting software has been redesigned to achieve the massive
scalability and redundancy needed to support large-scale
deployments. Transfer statistics are stored locally on each
node, and “pulled” by Console in batches via an API reducing
network round trips. Nodes can be pooled together in groups
with shared storage and Console Smart Transfers are invoked
on the source and destination nodes under the least load.
Many new settings and options have been added to customize
notifications, searching, monitoring and reporting.
ASPERA NEW PRODUCT PREVIEW
Aspera Files
See a preview of Aspera Files, a new SaaS Platform that allows any media organization - small to large - to
establish a branded on-demand web-based presence for the fast, easy and secure sharing and exchange of filebased media content between end users. The “game changing” capabilities of Aspera Files allow users to:
•Easily establish a web presence with multiple branded Organizations and Workspaces
•Quickly and conveniently ingest, share and exchange media regardless of size, scaling up to the largest (4K)
media formats
•Store, access and deliver content seamlessly across multiple cloud and on premise storage systems
•Assemble digital delivery packages from any source including local, remote, cloud and on premises locations
and other received packages transparently via simple drag and drop.
•Maintain complete security of the content within the media organization, in sharing with its 3rd party partners,
and with peered organizations
•Not worry about platform deployment (offered as a service on IBM SoftLayer)
SPRING 2015
W H AT ’ S
NEW
Aspera Drive 1.2
Sync 3.6
Aspera Drive is a powerful and easy to use high-performance
file sharing and synchronization solution for the Windows and
Mac desktop. Built on FASP technology, Drive breaks all the
enterprise barriers of conventional desktop drive and sync
products, combining secure remote browsing, high-speed
transfer, and synchronization of any size data from the user’s file
explorer to any content storage location, giving the enterprise
a breakthrough alternative to the commodity consumer cloud
file sharing services. The latest release lets administrators install
Drive for all users while each individual user has his or her
own settings, provides SSL certificate validation, and offers an
improved workflow for adding accounts that use cloud storage.
The latest version has new ultra-fast snapshot performance
for synchronization of giant file stores containing 1 million or
more files. Performance has been improved up to 10X faster
for systems with large numbers of files or virtualized storage,
allowing updates within very tight time windows, especially
when compared with rsync. The new file system watcher service
supports virtually unlimited watch directories and items in the
watched space (up to 100 million) to support even the largest
file systems. Direct to Cloud synchronization to object storage
(AWS S3, Swift) is now bi-directional supporting both push and
pull. Windows ACLs and OS X extended attributes are preserved
across syncs and bi-directional workflows on Windows will
tolerate files open by users during synchronization.
Connect Browser Plug-in 3.6
The install-on-demand Connect browser plug-in enables
secure, high-speed uploads and downloads from standard
browsers. The next generation Connect will introduce a
breakthrough plugin-less architecture which takes advantage
of new browser technologies that allow web applications to
invoke transfers, browse to select files and folders for transfer,
and monitor and display transfer progress directly from
JavaScript without the assistance of an in-browser plugin.
Mobile apps for iOS and Android
The new faspex Mobile version 2.2 for iOS, is now available
on the iTunes store, and the new faspex Mobile version 1.1 for
Android is now available on Google Play store. These apps allow
users to send and receive files, directories, images and video
from iOS and Android devices with complete integration with
the faspex backend. Packages can be encrypted on the wire and
at rest, with easy click-to-unlock capabilities.
New versions now supports dropbox metadata, automatically
prompting senders to complete the metadata fields, and
displaying any metadata included with a dropbox package in
the received package details.
Proxy 1.2
Aspera Proxy is a fast forward and reverse proxy allowing
transparent, secured pass-through of FASP transfer sessions
across secure DMZs without impeding transfer speeds or
compromising the security of your internal network. Proxy runs
on select Linux versions and in the latest version supports load
balancing and failover, as well as configurable security policies.
It consolidates FASP transfers in and out of a corporate
network and enables precise control over which users and
hosts can transfer.
Aspera Developer Network and APIs
The Aspera Developer Network has a completely redesigned
website (developer.asperasoft.com) with new releases of
Aspera’s SDKs including new mobile SDKs for Android and
iOS, a new byte stream API for FASP, Share-to-Share transfer
API, new ports of Aspera FASP to lightweight embedded ARM
systems, interactive utilities detail usage examples, and more.
A new GIT-over-FASP plugin now allows users and servers to
collaborate code up to 100x faster than before.
ASPERA NEW PRODUCT PREVIEW
Aspera Transfer Nodes - Gen 4.0
See a preview of the latest 4th generation Aspera transfer platform and APIs for file operations, transfers, access
control and sharing that offers:
•Entirely new redesigned framework with unified RESTful APIs across all platforms, applications, & solutions
•Improved support for elastic computing & hybrid cloud environments
•Seamless IAAS integration with automatic policy based server scaling of transfer nodes
•Distributed workspace environments for remote content browsing and collaboration between teams
•Multi-tenant design that allows secure collaboration across organizations and transfer node capacity sharing
amongst users
powered by
SPRING 2015
W H AT ’ S
NEW
NEW MEDIA SOLUTIONS
Aspera Upload Acceleration for Akamai NetStorage
The Aspera Upload Acceleration option leverages Aspera FASP directly integrated within the Akamai
CDN to speed file and directory transfers directly into NetStorage many times faster than traditional
methods. The Aspera GUI has built-in connection information for the Akamai NetStorage service, and
the FASP software is tightly integrated into NetStorage for a seamless high-speed transfer experience.
The resulting performance significantly reduces the time required to make large content libraries
available for delivery using the Akamai Intelligent Platform.
Pantone + Solid Coated 2623 Process Match
C 70 M 100 Y 28 K 16
Process Black
C 0 M 0 Y 0 K 100
Grass Valley® GV STRATUS® with Aspera FASP
Reliable, secure, and rapid ingest of data is essential for production workflows. Grass Valley has
worked with Aspera to add FASP high-speed and secure transfer capability to enable customers to
ingest production data in to their GV STRATUS platform. The integration of Aspera technology allows
customers to quickly get productions up and running.
5th Kind
5th Kind, a pioneer in their approach to digital workflows, has integrated Aspera into its CORE secure
collaboration, communication, and asset management platform to ensure that its users can quickly and
easily submit and transfer digital assets securely in and out of its content workflows.
Fortium MediaSeal integration with faspex
Fortium Technologies, a leading provider of content protection solutions for the film, entertainment
and broadcast industries, has integrated Aspera faspex so that customers can initiate high-speed
transfers that will call Fortium’s MediaSeal to encrypt and protect files before transit. The integrated
solution will then distribute packages of files via faspex at FASP speeds and limit file access to
receivers who have proper credentials.
Kaltura with Aspera High-Speed Upload
Kaltura has integrated Aspera FASP to enable high-speed ingest of large digital media files directly
to Kaltura’s video platform, dramatically shortening the time it takes to ingest, transform and publish
content to any website or mobile application.
MediaSilo
The integration of Aspera On Demand with Direct-to-Cloud FASP transport in MediaSilo’s cloud-based
asset management platform enables accelerated file transfers for large video files and complements the
company’s core feature set around content ingest, review, approval and distribution.
PrimeStream FORK
Primestream has incorporated Aspera into its industry-leading Media Asset Management and Automation
solutions to enable the high-speed ingest of raw or finished packages directly into the Xchange production
environment, transfers of content between dispersed facilities, and the download and import of content,
metadata and markers from Xchange into leading video editing software.
Silvertrak Digital Media Room
The integration of Aspera into Silvertrak’s Digital Media Room, a simple, platform agnostic digital asset
management tool, enables the upload and storage of high-resolution broadcast files so Digital Media
Room can support entire broadcast file-based workflows.
Telestream Vantage with Aspera FASP
Telestream has embedded Aspera FASP high-speed transport technology directly into Telestream
Vantage using the FASPStream API for a completely seamless user experience in workflow creation.
Vizrt media production and asset management
A new service combining Vizrt’s Media Asset Management (MAM), Viz One and Aspera FASP highspeed transfer, running on IBM SoftLayer helps studios, filmmakers, and broadcasters produce and
manage assets throughout their content lifecycle, entirely in the cloud.
About Aspera
Aspera, an IBM Company, is the creator of next-generation transport technologies that move the world’s data at maximum speed regardless of file size, transfer distance
and network conditions. Based on its patented, Emmy® award-winning FASP® protocol, Aspera software fully utilizes existing infrastructures to deliver the fastest,
most predictable file-transfer experience. Aspera’s core technology delivers unprecedented control over bandwidth, complete security and uncompromising reliability.
Organizations across a variety of industries on six continents rely on Aspera software for the business-critical transport of their digital assets.
Please visit www.asperasoft.com and follow us on Twitter @asperasoft for more information.