Aspera

What Aspera does

Aspera, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Emeryville, California, develops software for high-speed data movement across distance, latency, packet loss, and hybrid infrastructure. Its core technology is the patented FASP (Fast, Adaptive, and Secure Protocol), which the company claims delivers transfers 100x faster than traditional FTP/SFTP and is the foundation of every product in its portfolio. The company was acquired by IBM Corporation in 2014 and now operates as the IBM Aspera product line within IBM (NYSE: IBM).

The IBM Aspera portfolio consists of four subscription-licensed products: Aspera Enterprise (the flagship high-availability solution for integration, collaboration, data delivery, synchronization, automation, and workflows); Aspera Lite (a scaled-down tier for smaller organizations and business units); Aspera Endpoint (additional on-premises nodes and API-driven P2P integrations for existing deployments); and Aspera faspio Gateway (bidirectional streaming for database replication and migrations that bypasses TCP limitations). Go-to-market combines IBM's global enterprise field sales, IBM.com self-serve with free trial, AWS Marketplace listing, and a partner network. Pricing is quote-based with annual subscription billing; a 30% first-year discount was active on Essential and Standard Plus tiers as of the latest inputs.

Aspera serves customers primarily in Media and Entertainment (FILMFEST MÜNCHEN, FOX Sports, base on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, DMC), Healthcare (HIPAA-compliant transfer of patient data), and Manufacturing (machine performance and quality data), with the primary segment being large enterprises requiring high-volume, time-sensitive data movement. The company holds HIPAA compliance certification, has registered/granted patent status on the FASP protocol, and integrates natively with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. No standalone revenue or headcount figures are disclosed; Aspera revenue is reported within IBM's consolidated financials.

Name

Aspera

Legal name

IBM Aspera (product line of IBM Corporation)

Website

https://asperasoft.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Aspera (IBM Aspera) provides high-speed file transfer software built on patented FASP protocol, serving enterprise customers in media, healthcare, and manufacturing with subscription-based multi-cloud data movement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Enterprise File Transfer Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (51821)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Migration & Replication Tools (HDABAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

File Storage, Sync & Sharing (BPAMAMAE), Connector/Adapter Frameworks & Integration Runtimes (HDAEACAJ)

Keywords

• High-speed file transfer
• Data transfer software
• Enterprise data movement
• FASP protocol
• Cloud data migration

Headquarters

HQ city

Emeryville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription Licensing: IBM Aspera operates on a subscription-based model with tiered plans (Enterprise, Lite, Endpoint, faspio Gateway) that scale with team size, environments, and workloads. Flexible pricing adapts across organizations with transparent, predictable cost control.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Aspera develops high-speed file transfer software powered by its patented FASP (Fast, Adaptive, and Secure Protocol) technology. The platform moves large datasets across distance, latency, packet loss, scale and hybrid infrastructure, delivering transfers up to 100x faster than traditional FTP/SFTP. It is offered as a tiered product suite (Enterprise, Lite, Endpoint, faspio Gateway) for on-premises and multi-cloud data movement, synchronization, automation, and streaming workloads.

Product overview

IBM Aspera is a high-speed file transfer platform built on patented FASP technology. The portfolio consists of four products: IBM Aspera Enterprise (the flagship enterprise-tier solution for full integration, collaboration, data delivery, synchronization, automation and workflows); IBM Aspera Lite (a smaller-scale solution for SMBs and business units); IBM Aspera Endpoint (for extending existing deployments with additional on-premises nodes via API-driven integrations); and IBM Aspera faspio Gateway (a streaming module for database replication and migrations). Aspera targets high-volume, high-speed data transfer needs with its patented FASP technology, differentiating from traditional FTP/SFTP solutions by delivering transfers 100x faster across any distance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IBM Aspera Enterprise: The most complete high-speed transfer solution for integration, collaboration, data delivery, synchronization, automation and workflows. Deploy on premises or on Cloud Object Storage and scale to HA solutions.
• IBM Aspera Lite
• IBM Aspera Endpoint
• IBM Aspera faspio Gateway

Quantifiable outcome

• 150 films transferred digitally with 0 cancellations for FILMFEST MUNICH
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AWScoreTechnology or IntegrationIBM Aspera integrates with AWS and is available for purchase through AWS Marketplace. Customers can move files directly to and from AWS cloud storage using Aspera's high-speed FASP protocol.
• Microsoft AzurecoreTechnology or IntegrationIBM Aspera integrates with Microsoft Azure cloud platforms, enabling customers to move files directly to and from Azure storage through the FASP protocol.
• Google CloudcoreTechnology or IntegrationIBM Aspera integrates with Google Cloud, enabling direct file movement to and from Google Cloud storage using Aspera's high-speed transfer technology.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Signiant: Signiant (Media Shuttle, Jet) provides intelligent file transfer focused on media & entertainment workflows. Direct peer to Aspera with overlapping enterprise M&E use cases and SaaS delivery model.
• FileCatalyst (Unlimi-Tech): FileCatalyst offers accelerated file transfer solutions leveraging a UDP-based protocol similar in concept to FASP. Direct peer competing on speed and reliability for large file movement.
• Azure Data Factory: Microsoft's hybrid data integration and ETL service for moving and transforming data across on-premises and Azure. Comparable to Aspera's Enterprise and faspio Gateway offerings for Azure-centric workloads.
• AWS DataSync: AWS-native online data transfer and replication service. Competes with Aspera Enterprise and faspio Gateway inside AWS accounts where native procurement and per-GB pricing create strong defaults.
• Google Transfer Appliance: Google's bulk data ingestion device and cloud-transfer services for moving large datasets into GCP. Competes with Aspera for massive dataset movement, particularly from on-prem to cloud.
• AWS Snowball / Snowmobile: AWS physical data transport devices for petabyte-scale transfers where network-based transfer is too slow. Competes with Aspera in bulk data migration where offline transport is preferred.

Emerging players

• Datadobi: Vendor focused on unstructured data mobility and migration across storage platforms. Comparable to faspio Gateway for enterprise data migration and replication scenarios.

Regional players

• Cirion Technologies (formerly Lumen LATAM): Regional data center and managed transfer services provider focused on Latin America. Comparable in offering managed bulk data movement services where Aspera competes for the underlying transfer technology.

Broad incumbents

• IBM Spectrum (parent portfolio): Sister product line under IBM offering storage and data management software. Aspera sits within IBM's broader storage and data movement portfolio, potentially overlapping in data mobility use cases.

Others

• Rsync / open-source tooling: Open-source file synchronization tool widely used for lower-bandwidth, lower-stakes transfers. Indirect competitor Aspera positions against on speed and reliability grounds.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aspera-inc-

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aspera