Aspera Introduces Major Enhancements to fasp Suite

Aspera (Booth SL9716) is showcasing the new Aspera Drive and faspex 4.0, the next generation of big-data exchange, bringing Aspera technology directly to the desktop, browser, and mobile platforms with fully integrated sync, transfer, and share paradigms.

Built on Aspera fasp technology, the software provides maximum transfer speed, security, and distance-independent collaboration with any size data set and enables easy access and exchange big data from the user’s environment and platform of choice (on-premise or in-cloud).

fasp 3.3
The latest versions of Enterprise and Connect Server, Point-to-Point, and Client software support new features for on-premise and in-cloud deployment:

• Native configuration and connection support for direct transfer to OpenStack Swift and Akamai Net Storage (available this summer) in addition to AWS S3 and Windows Azure BLOB
• New multi-tenant usage metering service for billing in IaaS/SaaS and cloud deployments and automatic provisioning capability to boot, configure, and brand Aspera server images on AWS and private VMWare environments
• File md5sum reported through console, manifest and postprocessing environment with on-the-fly computation
• Ability to split an incoming transfer streams into multiple downstream transfers, transferring the incoming content to multiple Aspera Server endpoints simultaneously as part of a single high-speed transfer stream (CDN ingest and replication)
• Localized versions available in Chinese, Japanese, French, and Spanish in addition to English

fasp Proxy 1.0

The new fasp Proxy is a high-speed proxy software engine allowing secure and transparent pass-through of fasp transfer sessions across secure DMZs without impeding transfer speeds or compromising the security of the network.

faspex 3.5 and Shares 1.5

faspex 3.5 and Shares1.5, Aspera’s person-to-person and file-sharing collaboration and sharing Web applications are designed to run on-premise or in the cloud while enabling secure sharing of content and metadata from any location with fine-grained access control. The latest releases are the culmination of the separate deployments of these two product platforms and offer new features along with full integration between sharing and package sending and receiving:

• Secure browsing and publishing from remote sources and targets (cloud or on premise storage)
• Aspera Shares fully integrated with faspex as secure, access-controlled receiving and publishing points.
• Single sign-on (SAML) and support for multiple large directories for authentication (multiple Active Directories and LDAPs).
• Automatic provisioning on AWS and VMWare with custom configuration and branding for multi-tenant deployments of Web application for IaaS/SaaS offerings.
• Expanded support for secure ad hoc file exchange for media and metadata: site-to-site, person-to-person, ingest, sharing, distribution, exchange, and collaboration across cloud or on-premise, with seamless and secure access and publishing regardless of location
• Virtually all device types supported: server, desktop, mobile, e-mail, and browser with easy to use, lightweight client applications including Aspera Connect, Cargo and Microsoft Outlook Clients with the Aspera Add-in

The updated faspex mobile app for iOS fully supports metadata, and a new faspex app for Google Android devices is now available.

Aspera On Demand
Adding to support for high-speed transfer to Amazon Web Services S3, Aspera On Demand for Microsoft Windows Azure is now available with full support for Windows Azure BLOB storage and Windows Azure Media Services; it’s available through the new Windows Azure Store. Features include:

• Integrated usage metering for billing and new auto-provisioning and configuration tools to simplify multi-instance deployments
• Additional storage endpoints supported, including direct transfer to OpenStack Swift and enablement for upcoming support by Akamai NetStorage (summer 2013)

Aspera Console 2.0
A new user interface for centralized transfer-activity management offers such usability improvements as multicolumn sorting, searchable pages, and improved navigation. Other enhancements:

• New transfer queuing and management service allowing automatic concurrency management and preemptive reordering on transfers
• Real-time reporting enhanced with full support for Aspera Sync sessions, and a new md5sum reporting option
• Improved user administration with support for Active Directory and LDAP for single sign-on, and new event-based audit logging tracks user login and activity
• Console reporting and management fully supported by the latest Apple iTunes Transporter

Aspera Sync 2.0
Files with the same content at the destination are de-duplicated, saving bandwidth, synchronization time, and disk storage on the target device. New features include:

• Monitoring and bandwidth control available in Aspera Console (per session and cumulative synchronization stats and progress)
• Expanded platform support: Sync now available on OS X, Solaris, and BSD in addition to Windows and Linux
• Clusterable and scalable distributed file system watcher for fastest possible capture of file-system changes on NAS (NFS, CIFS) deployments, clusters of ingest servers, and very large numbers of files

Aspera Orchestrator 2.0
Additional deployment options for workflow automation include distributed runtime engines for cooperative processing, full active-active high-availability configuration, multi-tenant deployments, and support for Active Directory and LDAP. Other new features:

• Expanded array of plug-ins: Amberfin, Elemental, iTunes, Microsoft Excel document parsing, Rhozet WFS, SFTP-based hot folder, XMP tag read/write, XSD validation and XSLT Transformation for XML, in addition to Aurora, Baton, clamAV, Digital Rapids, Envivio, FlipFactory, MediaInfo, Metaglue, PGP, Image Magik, and YouTube
• Validation of file-format standards such as MXF, AS-11, and DPP file formats, and support for FIMS, an emerging specification for interoperable media components and services
• Web portlets allowing dynamic creation of workflow forms

Aspera SDK
A major new release of Aspera SDK fasp transport customization and integration is available on the Aspera Developer Network, with many new features, enhancements, and sample code across the SDK product line.

Aspera is also introducing new APIs for Shares, Console, and multi-tenant transfer platforms expected to ship in 2013.

Also being highlighted are solutions integrated using the Aspera SDK by media-technology partners Avid, Brightcove (Zencoder ), Central Desktop, Dimetis, EMC/Isilon, EVS, Harmonic, HP, MediaBecon, Sony Media Cloud Services, Telestream, Vidispine.