Cinema Cloud Launches Global Service Powered by Aspera On Demand

Aspera, Inc., creators of next-generation technologies that move the world’s data at maximum speed, today announced that Cinema Cloud has deployed Aspera Shares On Demand as the core infrastructure of its newly-launched service, a cloud-based digital content delivery solution for cinemas, video replicators and digital intermediates.
Based in Melbourne, Australia, Cinema Cloud delivers a wide range of video editing, authoring and encoding, as well as digital cinema distribution services through its parent Promo Scape. Cinema Cloud receives numerous video files daily from a network of global partners and distributes them to its cinema customers across the Asia Pacific region. Using traditional mail services to distribute cinema content on hard drives created a costly logistical challenge due to shipping delays, wear and tear on the drives, and the potential for lost shipments and expensive expedited replacements.
To help better serve its customers, the Cinema Cloud service was developed as a cloud-based web application that enables high-speed, secure media file distribution over the wide area network (WAN). When contemplating the design of the system, Cinema Cloud quickly ruled out traditional transfer technologies such as the native HTTP transport of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud environment due to its inherent performance bottlenecks and inability to fully utilize available bandwidth. With those limitations, transfer speeds and reliability standards would not have been acceptable to Cinema Cloud customers.
Having experienced the benefits of fasp™ transport technology by using Aspera client software to receive content from partners in the US and the UK, Cinema Cloud successfully tested and then deployed Aspera Shares On Demand to power the service. The combined use of AWS’ cloud infrastructure and Aspera technology allows Cinema Cloud to achieve scale out of transfer capacity on demand, while maintaining complete security of content end-to-end. And with Aspera Shares, user and file sharing management is very easy.
“We have always been impressed with Aspera’s speed and reliability for intercontinental file transfers,” said Tony Laughton, CEO of Cinema Cloud. “Choosing Aspera as the transport foundation for our service makes cloud-based video hosting and distribution technologically feasible and cost effective.”
Using Aspera Shares, Cinema Cloud provides a unified system with which they can collect video content from geographically dispersed partners and distribute to cinemas in Australia and Asia. Its customers also benefit as content that used to take days to ship now takes minutes to download from Cinema Cloud. Powered by Aspera’s patented fasp transport technology, transfer of a 30GB Blu-ray to Taiwan or Germany takes only a few hours, eliminating the risk of shipping damages and customs clearance delays.
“With Aspera On Demand, we no longer have the uncertainty of shipping delays and losses,” commented Laughton. “Aspera’s transport platform is tightly integrated into our Cinema Cloud service providing high-speed distribution with complete visibility into transfer activity, which is a huge benefit for reporting, billing and auditing.”
“With content providers and customers dispersed throughout the world, distributors like Cinema Cloud need a fast and scalable solution that allows them to consolidate their operations and transfer large video files reliably, securely and at high speeds over challenging intercontinental WANs,” said John Wastcoat, vice president at Aspera. “By using Aspera Shares On Demand, Cinema Cloud is able to provide its customers with a next-generation paradigm for cinema content delivery.”
www.asperasoft.com