Aspera Inc. to Acquire DigiDelivery Product Line

Aspera Inc. to Acquire DigiDelivery Product Line

Avid and Digidesign to Continue Distributing DigiDelivery While Aspera Assumes Ongoing Development, Manufacturing, and Support Responsibilities

IBC 2007

Stand #1.583

Aspera Inc. today announced an agreement with Avid Technology (NASDAQ:AVID), under which Aspera will acquire DigiDelivery®, a secure digital file-exchange system developed by Avid’s Digidesign audio division. Aspera is recognized as a worldwide leader in the development of high-speed file transfer technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Aspera will assume the development, manufacturing, sales, and support responsibilities of the DigiDelivery product line, continuing to enhance the technology that is integrated within Avid’s flagship Pro Tools® system and Media Composer® applications. Avid and Digidesign will continue to distribute DigiDelivery worldwide, both directly and through existing reseller channels.

“DigiDelivery is a natural complement to Aspera’s product and technology portfolio,” says Avid vice president and Digidesign general manager Dave Lebolt. “Combining the simplicity and broad usability of DigiDelivery with the exceptional speed and bandwidth control of Aspera’s technology will allow us to offer an even more powerful transfer solution to meet the increasingly demanding needs of Media Composer and Pro Tools users. And with Aspera’s continued development of the product line, our customers will be able to collaborate more efficiently than ever before.”

Emeryville, CA-based Aspera is a privately held company that develops innovative, high-performance data transport technologies. Aspera’s Fasp™ 2.0 software transport platform provides maximum speed, complete security, and breakthrough bandwidth control at global distances. With several thousand endpoint and server licenses installed worldwide, its Fasp software products are becoming an industry standard for high-speed transfer of digital content. Fasp software is currently deployed in hundreds of major Hollywood studios and service companies, post-production houses, broadcast studios, satellite and on-demand media networks, as well computer game and software development companies.

Michelle Munson, president and co-founder of Aspera, states, “This is a major opportunity for the development of a high performance, completely integrated solution for the editing and movement of digital content, and a milestone for our company. Incorporating DigiDelivery into our product line not only brings the Aspera technology to a broader range of users, but also allows for integration of the Aspera technology directly into Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools applications, providing high-speed movement of digital media in and out of these industry-leading applications.”

Munson continues, “Aspera will immediately assume the responsibility for the DigiDelivery product line, which will still be distributed through Avid and Digidesign. In upcoming months, we will be working to combine our transport technology with the Avid products through the DigiDelivery interface to bring an enhanced, fully-integrated solution to the market. We are grateful to Avid for choosing us as a partner.”

Aspera will be participating as an exhibitor at IBC2007 in Amsterdam (stand #1.583).

About Aspera

Aspera, Inc. is a privately held and rapidly growing developer of industry-leading bulk data transport technologies. Aspera’s software products solve the fundamental problems of transferring files, directories of files, and large data sets over the Internet and private IP networks. Aspera’s patent-pending Fasp transport technology eliminates the bottlenecks of conventional file transfer technologies and dramatically speeds file transfers, even over inherently unreliable international, satellite, and wireless links. The speed adapts to use the available bandwidth and protect other traffic in automatic mode, while allowing the user to adjust individual transfer rates and finish times. Aspera’s software is deployed on six continents by major Hollywood studios, broadcasters, software and game publishers, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies, and is fully integrated in several third-party platforms from Microsoft, HP, and others. For more information, please visit www.asperasoft.com.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. is the world leader in digital nonlinear media creation, management, and distribution solutions, enabling film, video, audio, animation, games, and broadcast professionals to work more efficiently, productively, and creatively. For more information about the company’s Oscar®, Grammy®, and Emmy® award-winning products and services, please visit www.avid.com.
Contacts

For Aspera
Susan Hoffmann, 510-599-6628 (Press)
sjhoffmann@bba.com
or
Avid
Carter Holland, 978-640-3172 (Press)
carter_holland@avid.com
or
Digidesign
Kyle Ritland, 650-731-6688 (Press)
kritland@digidesign.com