Case Study: Definiens achieves 14x faster, 100% reliable global image transfers with Aspera Faspex

Enabling Cancer and Tissue Image Analytics with High-Speed Data Transfers

Definiens, an AstraZeneca subsidiary specializing in Tissue Phenomics® tissue-image analytics for oncology and clinical research, faced growing demand for processing massive digital slide datasets—each slide ~1 GB, up to 20 slides per patient and tens of terabytes annually. Legacy FTP transfers were slow and unreliable (some transfers took weeks), forcing manual monitoring (about 0.5 FTE) and jeopardizing tight clinical timelines and customer expectations.

Definiens deployed Aspera Faspex (on-premises) and Faspex On-Demand (cloud) to enable high-speed, secure transfers via Aspera’s FASP protocol and simple browser uploads to Munich and AWS. Transfers became 14× faster (weeks to under a day), 100% reliable with encryption and authentication, eliminated manual intervention, freed staff time, improved customer turnaround and satisfaction, and enabled scalable cloud-based SaaS workflows.

Definiens

Kai Hartmann

Vice President of Product Development