ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 6, 2011 — Barix announces a major in-store media win that encompasses the rollout of an IP audio system to 300 retail stores in Italy to enhance the shopper experience.

Penny Market Italy, a leading discount chain in Italy, is delivering music, advertisements and unique national-scale promotions to all 300 stores through “Penny FM,” a live audio program stream that acts as a branded retail radio station. Barix Audio over IP solutions support reliable distribution of the stream to the individual stores, which is broadcast in real time.

“Penny FM adds a touch of personality to the shopping experience through dedicated programs tailored to the customer,” said Mirko De Dominicis, Network and Security Manager, Penny Market Italy. “The Barix IP audio solution improves the image of our stores and makes a positive impact on staff and customers. Penny FM provides the right balance of entertainment and information, while increasing point-of-purchase sales and generating new revenue streams through advertising.”

Founded in 1994, Penny Market Italy is a joint venture between the REWE Group in Germany and the Italian retail chain Esselung. Today, Penny Market has 300 stores in 10 regions, 2,400 employees and nearly one billion euros in annual sales. In 2006, REWE Group Austria deployed a Barix in-store media system to nearly 2,000 supermarkets (MERKUR and BILLA) and perfume stores (BIPA).

The Barix solution reliably delivers superior audio quality to all stores without monopolizing network bandwidth. Penny Market Italy uses three Barix Instreamer encoders and leased lines to send audio streams to a server farm. Barix Barionet IP control devices build unicast streams for each store at the server farm and deliver the streams over an MPLS network. The Barix Replicator application, running on the Barionets, delivers main and backup streams to Barix Exstreamer IP decoders at the stores. The Exstreamers decode the streams for playout over their corresponding loudspeakers.

“This Barix IP Audio solution offers significant savings for Penny Market Italy as it offers reliable, direct connectivity through its existing IP network infrastructure,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix AG. “Network bandwidth costs are minimized, and the lack of media server and PC infrastructure requirements nearly eliminates maintenance.”

Penny Market Italy also uses the Barix Barimon monitoring tool to monitor all Barix devices through a dedicated server. Operators can update device configurations on the fly over the same server.

“The Barix experience has been very positive, providing Penny Market Italy with a new winning technology model to support the retail environment, which is in constant evolution,” added De Dominicis.