SVG Sit-Down: Aspera’s Sachin Agarwal on the Intro of New Enterprise, Endpoint Offerings

Combination of high-speed and high-capacity streaming provides flexibility

IBM Aspera recently introduced IBM Aspera Enterprise 1.0 and IBM Aspera Endpoint 1.0, which deliver more flexibility and offer a combination of high-speed, high-capacity streaming capabilities for single and multiple users. The evolution from Aspera Enterprise Server to Aspera High-Speed Transfer Server to a new, consolidated Aspera Enterprise brings Aspera back to its roots in media and entertainment (M&E) but also brings all the capabilities of data streaming, video streaming, unlimited Aspera sync, unlimited clients, Faspex, Orchestrator, and the rest of Aspera into a single, easy-to-use offering.

Aspera Enterprise 1.0 provides the full benefits of the company’s technology and features IBM Aspera’s patented Fast Adaptive and Secure Protocol (FASP) for transferring large amounts of data, files, and streams across wide areas, congested networks, or the public internet. Aspera Endpoint 1.0 provides powerful streaming capabilities for transferring information to Aspera Enterprise but in a minimized installation suited for one user. Aspera Endpoint provides a single user with Aspera FASPStream capabilities for delivering large streams of data, high-bitrate video streams, and Aspera sync capabilities.

SVG sat down with Sachin Agarwal, worldwide product management lead, IBM Aspera, to discuss the release of Aspera Enterprise and Aspera Endpoint, what it means for the M&E and sports-media industries, and how it will better serve users working remotely.

Aspera’s Sachin Agarwal: “For our M&E clients, it will be easier than ever to deploy Aspera everywhere and for everyone.”

Can you provide some details on what Aspera Enterprise is and what it means for the M&E industry?
Aspera Enterprise is our new flagship offering for customer-installed and -managed software. Aspera Enterprise provides a single, consolidated offering that brings all of Aspera — built with the power of FASP — to our M&E clients, unlocking value and opportunities to transform business and workflows with high-speed transfer across the widest possible set of use cases.

Why did Aspera opt to make this transition to the Aspera Enterprise model?
Over the years, Aspera has gently brought together standalone products. Many M&E clients may remember when Aspera combined the legacy Enterprise Server and Connect Server into the unified High-Speed Transfer Server. Aspera Enterprise continues that path of simplification with the addition of Faspex, Orchestrator, Aspera Sync, Aspera Proxy, HTTP Gateway, all Aspera clients, and FASPStream to the High-Speed Transfer Server. For our M&E clients, it will be easier than ever to deploy Aspera everywhere and for everyone, letting the entire organization take advantage of the full capabilities of Aspera in a way never possible before.

 How does this all-in-one model change the way existing users leverage Aspera tools, and how will it impact their operations? What new workflows does it enable, and/or how does it streamline existing workflows?
We believe that existing users will be thrilled by the removal of any limitations on the number of files that can leverage Aspera sync, the number of clients, and Aspera proxies. With these restrictions lifted, our clients can use Aspera everywhere without worrying about license files or IBM audits. With Orchestrator also now included in Aspera Enterprise, we anticipate an explosion in the use of Aspera Orchestrator to create and run the most complex M&E workflows, leveraging automation, human approval, and custom plug-ins.

Do you expect the Aspera Enterprise model to attract new users that weren’t using Aspera solutions previously? Why?
We strongly believe that the new Aspera Enterprise model will both attract new users and expand the use of Aspera in organizations that already have Aspera. Now that Aspera Enterprise has all enabling software included with our core, more powerful High-Speed Transfer Server, we know that many customers will flock to standardize their most mission-critical workflows on Aspera technology.

How do you foresee Aspera Enterprise being used specifically by your sports-media clients?
As many know, Aspera technology has been used by many clients in the sports-media industry, such as BT Sport and Fox Sports. Now that a single Aspera Enterprise server can handle both file transfer and video streaming, we anticipate rapid adoption of FASPStream now that Aspera’s flagship streaming technology is included in Aspera Enterprise and does not require dedicated, standalone installations.

As work-from-home environments become more widely used, how have Aspera’s tools become even more integral to media-production ecosystems?
It is no surprise that we have seen an explosion in the use of Aspera, including both our customer-installed and -managed software as well as our Aspera on Cloud SaaS as a result of this rapid and sustained move to work-from-home environments. For example, Taylor Made Media transitioned to a completely work-from-home environment over the course of a single weekend by deploying Aspera.

Anything else to add on the announcement of Aspera Enterprise and its impact on the M&E/sports-media industry?
All Aspera clients should contact their Aspera sales representative or business partner to inquire about leveraging their existing Aspera investments to gain access to this new, more powerful, simplified Aspera Enterprise offering. For those who have not yet made the investment to join the “big leagues” with Aspera, now is the perfect time. With Aspera Enterprise, the power of the entire Aspera portfolio is in your grasp.