Big data, digital movies and more require big pipes for fast movement – but Aspera, a privately held firm, provides more than broadband: Technology to speed up file transfers.

It’s so good that the company received an Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development.

And on Thursday, IBM (NYSE: IBM) said it was acquiring the company (terms undisclosed) to bolster its own growing big data analytics and cloud services efforts. It’s the third major deal IBM has made in the “cloud” space this year.

Big Blue said it had struck a deal for Aspera’s “fasp” solution speeds up the process tremendously – and, very importantly, with very little data loss. (See chart with this post.)

“Fasp” can speed up transfers by nearly 100 pecent, the company says, and very few “packets” of information are lost.

Also on Thursday, IBM announced what it says is the “first cloud-based digital platform for online international commercial trading” that utilizes its Digital Experience software.

The user is Eurobank,which operates around the world and has more than 1,000 branches in seven countries. “Exportgate” is the name of the service.

Moving Data

“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 of B2B and Commerce Solutions for 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.”

Aspera is a well-known business in the broadcast and media business, with its technology being used by many of the big players such as TV networks and animation studios.

IBM says potential uses include:

  • “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.”

IBM will incorporate Aspera technology into its IBM Smarter Commerce initiative.

The company earlier beefed up its infrastructure offerings with the deals earlier this year for SoftLayer and FiberLink, which focus on cloud computing and security respectively.

IBM employs some 10,000 people across North Carolina. 

[IBM ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of IBM stories as reported in WRALTechWire.]