LAS VEGAS--April 16, 2007: Aspera, Inc., a developer of industry leading technology for bulk data transfer, today announced that its high-speed file transfer software is being utilized to provide fast, reliable and secure transfer of large assets for the Microsoft Interactive Media Manager solution, which was introduced today at NAB2007. Aspera is also participating in the industry’s first demonstration of Interactive Media Manager in Microsoft’s booth at NAB.

Microsoft Interactive Media Manager is a next-generation digital content management solution that combines digital workflows and media application integration with a collaborative front-end environment. The solution, an extension of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, is designed specifically for the media and entertainment industry, including film, post-production studios, broadcasters, game developers, publishers and advertising and marketing agencies.

Interactive Media Manager was created to help media and entertainment companies create an end-to-end content production system capable of dealing with the new challenges of taking digital content to the Internet. The integration of Aspera software solves one of the most pressing challenges in this process – moving large media assets between disparate and distributed systems. Aspera’s patent-pending fasp™ transport technology eliminates the throughput bottleneck of conventional file transfer and enables maximum speed transfers of large data sets over public and private IP networks, regardless of network conditions or distance. The fasp™ transfer rate control provides users extraordinary control of transfer speeds for guaranteed delivery times, plus automatic adaptation to use the full available bandwidth while still protecting other network traffic. The software offers complete security and end-to-end transfer tracking and management, and supports all major browsers and operating systems.

“Aspera’s file transfer software has demonstrated superior performance across a wide range of network types and conditions, and is widely deployed in the industry,” said Gabriele Di Piazza, managing director of Media and Entertainment for the Communications Sector at Microsoft Corp. “In addition, Aspera’s open and flexible SDK is an important tool for us to offer customized solutions that have a rich, interactive interface, that effectively integrate disparate systems, and that work on all major browsers. We’re pleased to be working with Aspera to extend the capabilities of Interactive Media Manager.”

Interactive Media Manager can easily integrate with the Aspera Enterprise Server software and Connect browser plug-in software for uploads of media files through the Interactive Media Manager web portal. Similarly, the Interactive Media Manager backend can be extended with Aspera software for high-speed transfers between production units and with distribution partners. Interactive Media Manager offers interactive tracking and control of file transfers throughout a workflow, and a customizable web interface for Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox users. Customers gain the combined benefits of Windows workflow tools with the high-performance of Aspera’s file transfer technology immediately, with minimal additional integration effort.

One of the first customers using Interactive Media Manager with Aspera is SyncCast, a leading provider of digital media management solutions and content delivery. SyncCast Executive Vice President Ezra Davidson commented, “SyncCast uses Aspera to connect with many of the content providers that provide content for the Xbox Live Video Market Place.  As a result, we've integrated Aspera into our workflow and content management systems.  Aspera has become a verb among content providers.  Over 75% of our content is "Aspera'd" to us.  If the content provider has Aspera they almost always choose to "Aspera" the content to us versus FTP or other methods. It is great to work with a technology that is so widely accepted in the industry.”

“Aspera strives to provide a platform for third-party applications to easily build upon the capabilities of our transport technology. The integration our software with Microsoft Interactive Media Manager demonstrates the effective marriage of the popular Microsoft workflow and collaboration capabilities and Aspera transfers,” says Michelle Munson, President and Co-Founder of Aspera.

About Aspera

Aspera is a privately held and rapidly growing technology development company in Berkeley, California. Aspera software solves the fundamental problems of transferring bulk data (files, directories of files, and large data sets) over the Internet and private IP networks. As cross-platform software, Aspera’s products enable the Windows workflow solution for inter-transfer with IE, Firefox, and Safari browsers on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows operating systems. Aspera products are available worldwide from authorized distributors, resellers or directly from Aspera. Additional information about Aspera’s technology, products, and solutions can be found at http://www.asperasoft.com.

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