ESAC Selects Aspera Corporation for National Cancer Institute-Funded Proteomic Consortium

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EMERYVILLE, Ca., Oct. 8, 2013—Aspera, Inc., creators of next-generation software technologies that move the world’s large data at maximum speed, today announced that ESAC, Inc. (Enterprise Science And Computing) has selected Aspera technology as the high-speed transfer backbone for a new proteomics data repository and web portal solution built in support of a new initiative by the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Office of Cancer Clinical Proteomics Research.

ESAC, Inc., a provider of research data management, bioinformatics, and healthcare information technology solutions, was awarded a five-year contract with NCI to manage the launch of a new Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) Data Coordinating Center (DCC). ESAC was tasked with creating one data center and two data portals: one a secure and private repository for members of the consortium to upload and download shared data; and the other a separate public portal that would provide any member of the scientific community with access to data.

Using the Aspera Connect Server, researchers are able to move large proteomic data to and from the data repositories with the efficiency, security and reliability that they can depend on.

ESAC, Inc. was able to reduce data delivery times from days with physical shipping methods to hours or even minutes with Aspera. Plus, Aspera reduces program costs by allowing unlimited free browser-based clients with the Aspera Connect Server, in addition to eliminating costly global shipping and handling of hard drives.

Researchers simply login to the secure web portal and use the Aspera Connect Web-browser Plugin to upload data into the DCC private repository, where other individuals within the consortium can then download and view the data. Once a workgroup determines the data is ready for the public, it is indexed with metadata by the DCC and placed on the public data portal.

With Aspera seamlessly integrated within the data portals, ESAC was able to configure the portal used by the general public to only allow downloads, while designating greater flexibility and two-way transfer capabilities for the private portal available to consortium team members.

With built-in security features that include encryption in transit and at rest as well as data integrity verification for each transmitted block, Aspera provides secure transfers to and from the DCC, with no loss of content, so members of CPTAC can easily and efficiently exchange proteomics research with the entire consortium or privately among their own research groups.

“Having a system where there is a high integrity of file transfer and verification of each packet was a really big deal with this community,” said Karen A. Ketchum, PhD, director at ESAC, Inc.

“To provide fast access to data for the researchers who depend on it, ESAC was faced with the challenge of moving vast quantities of big proteomics data in and out of the data repository as quickly as possible,” said Richard Heitmann, vice president of marketing at Aspera, “With Aspera, scientific research is no longer hindered by large data sets, empowering the scientific community to discover the next big breakthrough.”

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN261201100106C

About ESAC, Inc.

ESAC, Inc. provides research data management, bioinformatics, and healthcare information technology solutions for government, commercial and academic clients. Headquartered in Rockville, MD, our mission is to play a vital role in helping clinicians, scientists and researchers across the globe improve all aspects of human health. ESAC was recently included in the Washington Technology 2013 Fast 50 which recognizes the fastest growing small-business contractors in the government market. For more information please visit http://www.esacinc.com/.

About Aspera

Aspera is the creator of next-generation transport technologies that move the world’s data at maximum speed regardless of file size, transfer distance and network conditions. Based on its patented fasp™ protocol, Aspera software fully utilizes existing infrastructures to deliver the fastest, most predictable file-transfer experience. Aspera’s core technology delivers unprecedented control over bandwidth, complete security and uncompromising reliability. Over 2000 organizations across a variety of industries on six continents rely on Aspera software for the business-critical transport of their digital assets. Please visit www.asperasoft.com and follow us on Twitter @asperasoft for more information.

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