Many people use IP Phones at home. A very popular phone is the Siemens Gigaset product range, which provides analog line as well as VoIP/SIP connectivity. Models C470IP, C475IP, S675IP and S685IP are currently in the market.

But .. how do you connect a door intercom or door station to them ?

Fortunately, the latest SIP firmware for the Annuncicom makes a perfect companion for the Siemens Gigaset IP phones, it can talk with the Siemens phone via IP !

• A visitor, who presses the “ring” button on the phone, places a SIP call to the Siemens base. This can be done “peer-to-peer”, so it won’t consume an account entry, and it does not need a PBX or server to work.

• The DECT phones will ring, indicating a call from the IP address of the Annuncicom

• The user can answer the phone talk to the person in front of the door, and also open the door by typing a configurable number sequence on the keypad (for example, “11”).

• Even multiple Annuncicoms can be used in this fashion, for example, for front door and back door !

The solution works, of course, also with other SIP PBXes like Asterisk, but the beauty with the Siemens IP phones is that there is no servers, no PBX, only little configuration needed.

Contact us if you are interested in more details, or check out our wiki pages.

Johannes

Have you ever faced the situation that you want to use Multicast between subnets, but Routers don’t forward it OR the application/device generating the Multicast traffic is using a TTL of 1, so the blocks don’t get forwarded by the router?

Barix developed a “Multicast routing/tunneling” firmware for the Barionet which turns that device into a flexible, multi site multicast forwarder/router. Effectively, it bridges multiple multicast groups between multiple sites, and can also include single hosts. The functionality is independent on the actual protocols used with the Multicast, being it automation, IP Audio, Video, VoIP, SIP or RTP.

Here is the rough concept:

• A Barionet is installed in every subnet where multicast traffic needs to be pickeed up or delivered.
• The device(s) does “UDP” tunnelling to forward the Multicast packets to the other Barionet(s) in the other subnet(s). At the same time, they serve as a tunnel receiver/endpoint to receive encapsulated Multicasts from the other networks.
• Up to 8 independent multicasts (address/port) can be configured, and up to 8 destinations – either Barionets in other networks as tunnel endpoints, or hosts which then receive the packets unicast.
• The TTL field of the multicast blocks can be “ignored and set to configured value” or handled as usual (decrementing).
• Tunnelling can be configured to use “IP over IP” or plain UDP – both have advantages and disadvantages.
• Monitoring of the application is possible via SNMP.

The first customer uses the application to route VoIP/VHF radio traffic between multiple operations centers in a large company. However, applications can be found wherever multicast needs to be routed between subnets and routers, IT providers or policies prevent that.

Please contact Barix if you are interested in that solution!

Johannes

Hi, the Mass Transit Magazine published a nice article about the use of Barix IP Audio devices in a passenger information system, to be installed statewide in New Jersey. Read the article here:

http://www.masstransitmag.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=11301

Greetings

Johannes

After a good NAB in the US, where we announceed the Barix Reflector service, technology which “takes the IP out of Audio over IP”, our European people unfortunately got stuck in the US, waiting patiently to get a flight back.

If you want to read about the Reflector, what it does – how it works, please check it out here: www.barixreflector.com. In an essence, it allows you to use UNCONFIGURED – zero config – devices  on both ends of a “virtual audio cable over the internet”. You just log into the website, open a project, list the devices you want to use, do trivial feature selection, plug the devices on at two ends of the internet, anywhere (as long as the devices can get OUT to the internet) .. and audio magically streams !

Johannes

First day of ISE today – Barix is on site, showcasing the complete product portfolio of Audio over IP and IP control applications, including the new IO device server “Barionet 50”.

Visit us at the booth, mention this blog post to Marcel or myself and get invited for a Coffee !

Johannes

For the first time, Barix Audio over IP products are prominently shown on a trade show in South America!

CAPER 2009 opened the doors today, and Barix IP Audio devices are on display and demo at the booth of FS24, Barix’ south american distribution partner.

You can also meet me on the booth until friday afternoon, i made it here and yes, Argentina is really nice, good customers, wine, asado  and nice weather.

Argentina is not a new country for Barix, though – since some time, a rather large number of Barix devices have been installed in the Buenos Aires Subways stations – listen to the high quality of the announcements here to figure out what Barix Audio over IP devices can do for you in transportation installations …

.. and as usual, the first one to come up at the booth and ask me for a coffee will be cordially invited 🙂

Johannes

Barix offers an IP Audio and Barix Product presentation workshop alongside NAB, Infocomm and IBC in Las Vegas, Orlando and Amsterdam this year. This workshop runs one day and covers all Barix products and applications in various industries. Workshop at NAB and IBC is focusing more on Broadcast, whereas the workship at Infocomm is targeting more general applications.

Please check out the schedule on the website

Please register early as space is limited !

Johannes

Barix has cut a deal with DMD2, a swiss content provider, makers of hotelradio.fm.

We will launch Barix Radio within the next days ! Official press release to follow.

Barix Radio is hosted by our friends at streamguys.com and provides a genuine mix of really good music, no ads, and is fully licensed in Switzerland, so you can listen to Barix Radio internationally for pleasure at home, in your office or even play it in your factory (you may owe local licensing in your country, something we cannot do for your or control).

Barix Radio, also serves as a nice test channel for Audio over IP applications, and we will preprogram the URL in the Streaming Client firmware so that you can instantly listen to nice music as soon as you have an internet connection (of course you can change that).

The stream is provided as a 128kbps MP3 stream, and an AACplus stream will follow soon.

Please provide feedback, either by our web contact form, or – of course, on the blog.

Johannes

It took some time, but now – finally – the Ethersound implementation in the Barix devices is ready for prime time !

Barix was able to implement the ES100/Spkr variant (output only, no daisy chaining), which integrates perfectly within an Ethersound system, in Software.

The Functionality is useable in all Exstreamer and Annuncicom products, so you now have a wide choice of interfaces from Ethersound to amplifiers, direct to speakers, AES/EBU …. everything Barix can offer !

Very low delay (much less than 10ms with Exstreamer 1000), 2 independent channels per device which can be configured and dynamically controlled to output any of the 64 Ethersound Channels, and a very affordable solution are the key reasons for using Barix devices in an Ethersound installation.
And, of course, the same device can also be used for standard IP Audio distribution (but not at the same time, Ethersound needs exclusivity of the network).
If you want dynamic channel selection, you can combine the Exstreamer with an IR remote control or the VSC – volume source control.

The first customer project has been successfully installed and announced: Barix Ethersound installation

Typical applications include

– audience speaker interface in theaters, dance floors, stadiums
– listening stations in dressing rooms in theatres
– Ethersound based transportation audio systems – speakers
– Retrieve an Ethersound audio channel/signal and feed into an IP network (2 Barix devices back to back)

Please contact Barix for any questions !

Johannes

read more on the Barix wiki – here is the direct link to the Ethersound page: Barix Wiki

Barix has published a collection of test tones and test files, available for free download for everyone, on the website.

http://www.barix.com/downloads/Tools_and_Accessories/1791/

These are intended for testing purposes in the IP Audio and IP Intercom applications, and sampled/generated in high quality. A wide choice of sample rates and codecs is available.

Please share with whoever may be interested.

Johannes