IBM said it will be buying Aspera, a company specialized in high speed data transfer technology, by the first quarter of 2014. While the deal brings to light IBM's interest in data transfer technology, the financial details of the deal were not released.
Aspera technology allows dramatic reductions to the time it takes to transfer data. In fact, the company has reported improvements of up to 99.9 percent, reducing the time it takes to transfer 24GB of information across the globe from 26 hours to 30 seconds. Aspera calls its patented transfer technology fasptm Technology.
fasptm technology is designed to work around "ineherent bottlenecks in broadband wide area networks" that causes delays when transferring very large files over large distances.
"Our team has redefined how the world's biggest data can be moved quickly, securely, and reliably around the world," says Aspera Co-Founder and President Michelle Munson. "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." Munson adds.
Aspera's breakthrough technology will have possible applications in a number of industries such as multimedia, gaming, scientific research and medicine. The new technology will allow for high speed streaming of high definition video files; scientific organizations will also be able to share very large data files with their peers from around the world. For gaming, developers will be able to share and distribute early development builds to third party software developers allowing for dramatically reduced development times. These are just a few examples of what can be done using fasptm Technology.
IBM has already expended a lot of resources on solving problems related to cloud data transfer speed and security for a while now. However, the company's acquisition of Aspera will allow IBM to make more headway in improving existing cloud data transfer infrastructure. In addition to the Aspera deals, IBM is also looking for other opportunities to improve its big data capabilities. The company has already acquired other relevant technology companies such as Redwood City, Vivisimo and The Now Factory.
