New enhancements to radio broadcast, partyline intercom solutions enhance quality and streamline configuration

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, April 2, 2013 — Barix comes to the 2013 show with new enhancements to its professional two-way IP audio solutions for broadcast radio and intercom, improving quality in sound and communications. Barix also continues to simplify system setup for customers, eliminating traditional IP configuration processes to have customers streaming audio within minutes.

The company will show its Partyline Intercom solution at the 2013 NAB Show, highlighting open-channel communications across multiple parties without audio interference — especially ideal in fast-paced video production environments. New enhancements eliminate the need to configure IP addresses and servers, stripping away the complexity often associated with multipoint IP audio system setup.

Barix will demonstrate how camera operators and other production personnel can use the compact Annuncicom PS1 on the move, utilizing a push-to-talk button with selectable audio channels to facilitate communications amongst directors and production personnel.

Radio Broadcast Solutions
Barix enhances its Exstreamer 500 bi-directional audio device at the 2013 NAB Show to improve audio quality and streaming flexibility. The device now supports both constant and variable bitrate, with the former added to simplify streaming to Shoutcast and Icecast servers – pertinent for extending how broadcasters incorporate Barix IP audio solutions for live streaming and syndicated program distribution. A new chip improves quality of the analog-to-digital conversion path to enhance professional broadcast sound.

The Exstreamer 500 is a multiprotocol encoder and decoder with balanced audio and professional I/O options for signal relay and control. In broadcast, it is ideal for STL and remote contribution applications. Broadcasters can simplify configuration using the Exstreamer 500 with the Barix Reflector Service, creating a complete streaming audio solution that replicates a received stream to an unlimited number of destinations through the public internet. The Reflector Service is based on a simple server-client architecture that removes IP address, server and other configuration hassles.

The start of the year is always busy at Barix, with trade shows and 1001 new ideas to work on! This year we had the added work of rebranding the company – no small task as we have grown in the last years!

Keeping track of industry developments and getting feedback from customers can be difficult in such circumstances, and in the last year we have turned increasingly to social media as a source of information and a place to give and get feedback.

This blog is one example, and for years we’ve offered support to the Barix community through our forums. Just over a year ago we set up the “BarixAG”- youtube channel, which contains a mix of Solutions ideas and practical howtos. Specialist groups on LinkedIn are also a great way to keep abreast of issues, and to give and get advice from other industry professionals. Here are a few that we have found useful:

- Audio over IP for broadcast
- Broadcast Engineering and Technical Professionals
- Broadcast Professionals
- In-Store Music and Messaging Professionals
- On Hold Messaging Association – OHMA

… of course there are MANY more … but be careful! It is easy to let such things steal too much time as well!

Barix are audio over IP; it’s what we do.
Over the years, we have worked closely with our customers to develop products that excel. Now we move to extend that synergy, simplifying life for our customers by delivering easy to use, targeted solutions for specific applications.
Join us as we take the first steps in the journey at our new website www.barix.com

One little known feature of the Barix INSTREAMER is it’s built in support for live streaming in a Cisco environment – easy to overlook in such a feature packed device!
Nonetheless, word is getting back to us more and more frequently of customers using the functionality, primarily in one of two configurations:

- as a ‘Live Stream’ where users can dial an extension and hear the Instreamer audio; a dealer room is one example of where this can be useful, the Instreamer is streaming a live feed of market data.

- to stream live audio for music on hold; for example a local radio station (make sure that you have the rights / have paid the royalty fees before rebroadcasting any radio channel!). A great customer story here: http://www.netcraftsmen.net/resources/blogs/live-stream-music-on-hold-and-cisco-uc-on-ucs-barix.html

This second option is distinct from ‘traditional’ Music/Messaging on Hold supported by the Exstreamer MOH Client firmware, where a fixed file is played repeatedly to callers on hold. More here: http://www.moh-technology.com/news/161/

Powerful audio-over-IP solution based on the networked Barix Annuncicom 155 and Annuncicom VME enables programmed recordings, live announcements and intercom functionality

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 18 2012 – Barix AG, a leading supplier in the field of IP-based audio transmission technology, is using this year’s InnoTrans (September 18-21, Berlin Exhibition Centre, Stand 4.1/224) to highlight a prestigious project of its Swiss customer Ortics GmbH in Brazil, in which around 400 Barix components from the “Annuncicom” family are being deployed.

Ortics, together with a European partner, is supplying a key part of the new passenger information system for the Metro trains in São Paulo, Brazil. The modernisation project, being realised by a Brazilian consortium, has already started and is set for completion in 2014. 25 trains, each comprising six carriages, are being fitted out by Ortics with modern voice communication, system software and vehicle diagnostics systems. Opened in 1974, the São Paulo Metro operates five lines, with 64 stations, having an overall length of about 74 kilometres, some sections of which are underground.

The project sees 16 Annuncicom 155 units and 2 Annuncicom VME cards installed in every train. The Annuncicom 155 is a robust device for VOIP, intercom and IP-paging that Barix has developed specially for harsh everyday operation in trains, buses and ships. Its deployment in the São Paulo Metro enables the train driver to initiate manual as well as automated announcements, and to communicate with passengers via emergency intercom points. The Annuncicom VME is a variant in card format for 19″ VME racks, deployed by Ortics as an interface module with digital and analogue signals for the actuation of local amplifiers.

To Lorenz Trachsel, CEO of Ortics GmbH, Barix components are ideal in complimenting his own passenger information systems. “Following very positive experiences with the integration capabilities, the functionality and the reliability of Barix products, it stood to reason that we should once again opt for the members of the Annuncicom family for the current project in Brazil.” Amongst the benefits of the Barix solutions for Mr. Trachsel are custom programmability, enabling perfect alignment to customer requirements, potential prioritisation of safety-relevant announcements and integrated functions for line monitoring.

Demonstration to emphasize significance of audio integration into IP video systems for life safety and security

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 4, 2012 — Barix AG, a pioneer in IP-based audio, in-tercom, control, and monitoring, will exhibit at ASIS International (September 10-13, Philadelphia Con-vention Center) for the first time – bringing its range of IP audio and control solutions to the profes-sional security end user.

Barix will exhibit within the Milestone Systems booth (#3126), underlining the increasing significance of audio in surveillance operations, and the importance of improving audio quality and flexibility of distribution for live paging and public address.

“Security professionals have realized that video is no longer enough,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and founder of Barix AG. “Human beings have ears and a mouth to go with the eyes, and there is a clear advantage when all three of these senses are used in surveillance and other security-related appli-cations. The ability to cleanly integrate high-quality audio and video over a common IP network delivers cost savings and greatly simplifies installation for the user.”

Many video-centric security industry vendors have already integrated Barix audio over IP into their solutions, including industry leaders such as Milestone Systems. Milestone integrates Barix Exstreamer one-way and Annuncicom two-way IP audio devices into Milestone XProtect IP video management software to support paging and public address (one-way); and audio surveillance and intercom (two-way). Milestone also supports Barix Barionet IP control devices within its XProtect software to bridge physical device and software layers, effectively triggering camera movements and activating video recording based on motion, lights, doorbells and other events.

Barix will show its latest IP audio and control devices on the Milestone booth, including the Annuncicom 60 introduced this June and being shown to security audiences for the first time. The Annuncicom 60 is a low-cost IP audio device that serves as a gateway between VoIP, IP paging and intercom systems, and traditional components including call boxes, loudspeakers and microphones. The device offers plenty of flexibility, with operators able to issue verbal warnings or instructions to people under surveillance; or to communicate with callers at an SOS help point, for example.

Barix will also demonstrate how its latest Exstreamer audio output devices with Power over Ethernet (PoE) and built-in amplification can help end users consolidate and minimize technology components at end points — simplifying infrastructure and reducing deployment costs while offering very high audio quality for voice clarity.

Marcel van der Meijs, vice president of sales and marketing for Barix, will offer a presentation on Barix integration to XProtect at 11am, Wednesday, September 12 at the Milestone booth. Attendees will learn how IP audio can help security personnel more effectively draw attention to criminals, monitor activity and communicate, reliably trigger video recordings and alarms, and even deliver background music over the same network — with priority interruptions for page messages, warnings and security announcements.

“There is no limit to the benefits that audio can bring to video-centric security systems,” said van der Meijs. “The ability to talk back to a location in a city surveillance project, for example, can easily prevent a crime from taking place. And the ability to trigger lights and video in dark areas based on audio events can offer security personnel a clear picture into what is happening. Meanwhile, gunshots, screams and other emergency situations captured by these devices can automatically trigger alarms for immediate attention from monitoring centers. These are all important benefits that can make a real difference.”

M.M.S. Srl (Milano Music Service) selects Barix as Audio over IP streaming solution for VII World Meeting of Families

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, July 24, 2012 – Audio over IP pioneer Barix AG provided a high-quality streaming solution at the VII World Meeting of Families at the Bresso Airport near Milan, Italy, wirelessly delivering religious services in real-time to more than 300 loudspeakers positioned throughout the grounds.

The Catholic Church organizes the World Meeting of Families every three years. This year’s five-day event was held May 30 through June 3, including two main services led by Pope Benedict XVI. An estimated one million people were on hand at Bresso Airport to witness the services, which were also broadcast on television worldwide.

M.M.S. Srl, a premier Italian audio/visual company, provided the audio distribution installation and selected Barix IP audio products for their reliability and cost-efficiency. Four Barix Exstreamer 500 devices encoded the audio for streaming over an Ubiquiti Nanostation 5 AirMax 5.4 Ghz network, feeding four transmission towers.

The Exstreamer 500 devices provided the very low latency required to deliver pristine-quality audio streams in real-time.

M.M.S. Srl also connected 22 Barix Exstreamer 100 to Ubiquiti Nanostation receivers for reliable audio decoding at the loudspeaker points. The loudspeakers were distributed amongst 24 towers to cover numerous audio paths, with the most distant end points located approximately three-quarters of a mile from the stage.

“It was imperative that the audio was carried wirelessly, and the other products we tested did not come close to the consistency of the Barix products,” said Domenico Carnuccio, sound engineer, M.M.S. Srl. “They allowed us to deploy a strong audio network in a short amount of time and at a reasonable price.”

About Barix AG (www.barix.com)
Barix AG, headquartered in Zurich Switzerland, specializes in research and development of state of the art IP based communication and control technology. The company is a long-term and reliable supplier of IP audio and control devices, with more than 150,000 devices shipped in its first decade of business. Barix products are stand-alone and able to remotely connect worldwide over standard networks / Internet offering new and improved solutions to the commercial audio distribution, communication and automation industry. Barix products provide solutions in Audio over IP (audio distribution and monitoring, communication, security) and automation (remote controlling, monitoring and maintenance).

# # #

Barix AG, Seefeldstrasse 303, 8008 Zurich, Switzerland
Phone: +41 43 43322 11, Fax: +41 44 2742849
Barix Technology Inc, St. Paul, MN – (866) 815-0866

http://www.barix.com

http://www.ip-audio.info

Audio over IP pioneer’s first new Instreamer encoding device since 2007 delivers big benefits to new and existing customers – at a much lower cost

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, June 11, 2012 — Barix comes to InfoComm 2012 (June 13-15, Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth C11722) with its first new Instreamer hardware device in five years — delivering big audio improvements at a lower cost in a greener, more energy-efficient package. The device retains its familiar compact, bulletproof design and feature set for long-time customers while bringing reliable, high-quality IP audio encoding to a new generation of users across many markets and verticals.

The previous-generation Barix Instreamer 100 is an industry standard for IP Audio deployments, used today in thousands of installations worldwide for radio broadcast links, confidence monitoring, audio surveillance and real-time audio encoding among other applications. The new Instreamer enhances audio performance through a new digital signage processor that delivers remarkable signal-to-noise ratio improvements.

This is also the first Instreamer release to support constant bit-rate monitoring, which improves MP3 streaming quality and buffering times on Windows Media and other server-based media players. The combined improvements diversify how the new Instreamer can be used, such as real-time IP encoding for video walls and digital signage systems.

Perhaps most notable for end users and systems integrators is the cost, which slashes the Instreamer 100 price by 15 percent. New energy-efficient advances that optimize power consumption and power supply — the new Instreamer uses a ‘mini-USB’ switch-mode power supply — also deliver ongoing value through reduced operational costs.

Barix CEO and Founder Johannes G. Rietschel notes that the low cost, ultimate reliability and ease of use separates the new Instreamer from anything else in the marketplace.

“The Instreamer remains a very versatile, network-enabled generic IP audio encoder that supports open standards and multiple formats, while minimizing latency and bandwidth usage,” said Rietschel. “No one does this as efficiently as Barix; the Instreamer is easy to use with minimal boot times, delivering reliable startup within seconds. The new Instreamer now supports MP3 encoding at constant bit-rate, which works more effectively with web-based media servers. With its much improved audio performance, the device stands apart from solutions that are ten times more expensive, fan-cooled and take forever to start up.”

The new Instreamer is ideal for a wide variety of applications, including:
Low-latency video wall encoding (digital signage, control room monitoring)
Classroom and lecture recording in universities and corporate applications
Scientific and technical audio
Audio injection into IP phone and paging systems for on-hold and background music
Live encoding for internet radio and broadcast signal confidence monitoring

The Instreamer also offers network alarms via SNMP traps to generate notifications for audio loss, ensuring that quality issues are immediately pinpointed and easily addressed.

New low-cost, reliable VoIP and IP Audio devices optimize features and functionality set for universal applications

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, June 7, 2012 — Barix has successfully marketed its two-way Annuncicom IP audio and SIP/VoIP devices around the world, bringing bidirectional audio streaming and control solutions to various markets within the commercial, entertainment, private sector and residential worlds.

Barix now builds on that success with the introduction of two new Annuncicom devices at InfoComm 2012 (June 13-15, Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth C11722) that are priced to compete in large-volume projects and applications.

The new Annuncicom 50 is built specifically for OEM applications. Barix is now shipping to OEM partners, including a key player in the education and classroom automation market. The device delivers Barix’s trademark rock-solid reliability, open standards design and multi-format audio capability at a very low cost for OEM customers.

Furthermore, Barix breaks new ground with the Annuncicom 60, a universal, programmable and ultra-compact device that offers the industry’s lowest cost today for reliable IP encoding and decoding. The small form factor is roughly 40 percent the size of existing Annuncicom devices, which are already renowned for offering a compact footprint to systems integrators and end users.

In simple terms, the Annuncicom 60 is an ideal single-zone paging interface device that can decode VoIP codecs as well as MP3, AACplus and PCM audio. Its inclusion of a built-in speaker amplifier, balanced line output and microphone interfaces, serial and contact closure control interfaces, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) support is unique to the market — delivering universal functionality at a competitive price.

“The Annuncicom 60 brings full-fledged functionality for low-cost paging and intercom while providing the high audio quality and format flexibility required for background music systems,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and founder of Barix AG. “With advanced capabilities like built-in, efficient amplification and PoE support to simplify installation, the Annuncicom 60 is ideally positioned to support the continuously growing number of IP Audio applications.”
The Annuncicom 60 enables striking cost and technical advantages for applications suited for many markets:
Reduces cost of entry for Barix IP intercom applications by at least 25 percent
Reduces high quality microphone encoder costs by at least 25 percent, whether for technical or security-related audio surveillance; or classroom lecture audio capture
VoIP and MP3/AACplus audio decoding capabilities enable merging of paging and background music applications
Lowest cost balanced output audio decoder solution for “mono” output applications (paging gateways, AM radio stations, etc.)

The Annuncicom 60 is also the lowest priced IP audio product from Barix to feature a symmetric output, making it suitable for in-store audio and general audio distribution applications requiring a 600-ohm balanced output. The 5W amplifier, when combined with an efficient 8-Ohm speaker, provides enough power for a typical room, hallway, lobby or classroom — making it ideal for single room paging zones and audio “help points” in retail stores and visitor attractions, for example.

.. we think that this is a key feature of Barix. The best IP Audio codec, STL device or automation controller won’t help you much if there is an issue “somewhere” in the system. Although an IP connection, once set up, is typically stable, things may go bad after some time .. being it a temporary issue at the ISP, the local router or an aging ethernet cable, the reasons are numerous.
Barix solutions can report various live statistics to help diagnose and are typically quite resilient to problems. However, at some stage, you, our customer, will probably have the need to talk to someone in person who is quick, competent  and able to help !
We are able to support in at least 5 world languages, and our staff does not ask about forms to be filled out and expensive hotlines to call. They just help.

We deem this an important part of Barix’ culture and it is one of the reasons why Barix is so highly regarded in the market.
Below is a recent customer feedback which speaks for itself.
We always appreciate to hear back from you, in such cases as well as in others where we could have done better !
Johannes

Good Morning!

Shawn Newman
Radio Asia – NJ/PA/DC