The introduction of a SIP gateway is the most effective way to merge audio over IP distribution with an already established SIP-based phone system. This is most useful when you are directing background music, paging and public address to loud-speaker systems as opposed to simply routing phone calls.

IT Telephony Article

So, do not limit your imagination about where to use the Reflector Service to Broadcast, Studio Transmitter Links ! The service can universally be used where Audio needs to be reliably transported from “a” to “b” over the Internet, being it for contribution, commentary or STL in the Broadcast area, being it for remote surveillance, or being it to deliver Audio to a remote bus or train station … wherever you want to distribute Audio over the Internet, the Barix Reflector solves the mystery of IP and lets you focus on the important things of your business !

Johannes

All,

Barix is proud to announce the launch of the BarixAG YouTube channel.

We are currently producing a series of instructional and marketing videos for our IP Audio devices and also the Barionet product family. The first video, a basic introduction to the Exstreamer, has been released and posted !

Here is the link to our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BarixAG

.. and here is the direct link to the Video: Barix Audio over IP Video

More videos will follow soon and we will inform you via this blog.

If you have any suggestions, comments etc, please let us know via our contact form on the website or send us an email to “info” at barix.com – we are happy to learn from you what we do good and what we can do even better !

Johannes

Barix IP solution supports multi-language communications for security, entertainment and public address

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 14, 2011 — Barix Audio over IP solutions are now live at the Holiday Inn Kandooma Resort in the Maldives Islands, distributing high-quality, multi-lingual voice and music to its guests in nine zones. The system, installed by local systems integration firm EIT Private Limited, delivers audio to multiple points, creating a unified, resort-wide notification and entertainment system.

The Kandooma Resort is a full-service, 160-room resort located on Kandooma Island on the South Male Atoll in the Maldives Islands, renowned for its world-class diving and surfing. Besides its beautiful, oceanside setting, the Kandooma Resort is noted for its advanced technology, providing free Wi-Fi, iPod docking stations, and flat-screen TVs with satellite programming to guests.

Barix met resort requirements for high performance, reliable presence and security applications over the IP network at a reasonable cost. Mohammed Afzal, director of EIT Private Limited, stressed the importance of the system’s scalable topology.

“Barix provides a multi-purpose PA system that is easily expandable to accommodate future growth at the resort, which was very important,” said Mohammed Afzal, director of EIT Private Limited. “The system streams in-house music, live paging and recorded messages. It also supports multi-language playback, which is helpful in emergency situations. No other company serving our market could provide a solution that met the resort’s requirements.”

Afzal added that Barix devices are open and easy to customize. “Barix gives us the flexibility to customize intercom and other applications with the existing hardware,” said Afzal. “The programming language is easy to understand and helpful to companies that want to build custom solutions for their customers.”

The complete solution includes a Barix Annuncicom PS16 Paging Station at the core. The PS16 is a multifunction, standalone IP intercom, paging and PA master station that connects to multiple end devices without the need for PCs or server software.

Resort staff can deliver live pages and announcements from the PS16 to Barix Exstreamer 100 IP audio decoders in nine zones with a single press of the button, targeting messages to specific zones or buildings; or initiating “all-call” announcements.

EIT Private Limited also installed one Barix Annuncicom 100 two-way audio device to override the network-wide audio stream in emergency situations. The Annuncicom is responsible for streaming pre-recorded security announcements to the Exstreamers in all zones. Nine amplifiers and 200 loudspeakers support playout across the grounds.

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.

Built-in amplifier, local input adds value for businesses broadcasting “retail radio” and multi-room distribution applications

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, August 29, 2011 — Barix AG comes to IBC 2011 (September 9-13, RAI Exhibition Centre, Amsterdam, Booth #3A48) with its next-generation Exstreamer IP Audio device for multipoint networks.

The Exstreamer 205 IP makes retail and hospitality applications dramatically simple. Each room or location requires a single Exstreamer 205, a network connection and power outlet, two common high-quality audio speakers and minimal wiring.

The device delivers a wealth of features to simplify infrastructure and reduce deployment costs for in-store media systems. Its built-in 2×25 watt, power-efficient class-D amplifier minimizes equipment needs at the end point, lowering costs while retaining superior audio quality. Businesses can distribute branded retail radio broadcasts, customized “store and play” programs, or simple background music streams to as many locations as the network can support, without the need for separate amplifiers.

The Exstreamer 205 is also the first Barix IP audio device to add a local, line-level stereo input. This allows direct connection of an in-zone audio source to the device for local playout. This is ideal where local, non-streaming content is available, whether from a guest’s iPod or a digital signage system.

“Exstreamer customers have requested an audio input to feed local content into the device, using its powerful, integrated high-quality amplifier,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix. “This gives our customers more options for where to use Exstreamer products. Hotel and spa treatment rooms in larger hospitality systems are perfect examples.”

Businesses operating digital signage systems can also benefit from adding the Exstreamer 205 to out-of-home networks. Operators can establish a general background stream for the entire network, with the flexibility to interrupt the stream and play out local content at any location. Offline content protection is enhanced via a MicroSD slot, which enables local playout of (encrypted) content directly from the device while minimizing opportunities for theft or modification.

The Exstreamer 205 also offers priority ports for connection into a master paging system, such as the Barix Annuncicom PS16. This allows a facility manager, security guard or other operator to break into the network stream to make a page or announcement — also overruling any local audio sources.

Like previous models, the Exstreamer 205 decodes and plays multi-protocol and multi-format audio streams, including MP3, AACplusV2, WMA, PCM, G.711 and EtherSound. Volume and channel selection is controllable via an API through IP or serial port, a built-in IR receiver or the Barix Volume Source Control (VSC) device.

Dear customers,

Barix has identified a rare issue with the Exstreamer 100 devices shipped over the course of the last couple of months. Under specific conditions, a device may show marginal ESD rejection, get affected by an ESD discharge, and, as a consequence, use more power than normal. In extreme cases, this could trigger the power supply’s internal fuse to be blown. Due to overload.
Fortunately, the problem can be easily solved by ensuring a good grounding of the case, or making a good connection between case and logic board of the device. This can be ensured, without opening the device, by adding a small piece of metal (Copper or brass) to the DB9 connector cut-out. Specific instructions are available on request from Barix.

Domenico Gambino
Head of technical Sales & Support

Barix IP Audio products produced high interest at the Mediatech trade fair in South Africa !
Our Distributor, Technology Innovated Distribution (TID) showcased a live Audio over IP link and the full range of products covering IP Audio, VoIP, SIP and IO device servers – all Barix products were on display.
Here is an impression of the show:

Mediatech Booth in South Africa 2011

Barix Display

Folks, i just wanted to share the picture of the recent installation of a Barionet with the C-MOR video solution.

The photo nicely shows how the Barionet works as a central component of the video surveillance solution.
The IP based IO device does not only integrate sensors to trigger alarms, but also actors to activate visual and audible notifications.

Barionet in Cmor demo

Johannes

ITvilla implements Barix Barionet devices at the heart of a major automated access control system for efficient traffic management

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, August 2, 2011 — Barix announced today that ITvilla, an automation consulting company in Estonia, has standardized on Barix Barionet IP devices for automated access control at four busy shipping ports in Estonia. The Barionet devices play a key role in solving access, traffic, and network management challenges, integrated within an automated ticket and traffic management system that more efficiently manages traffic flows and entry ticket validation for passengers and vehicles.

The Estonian ports serve as a base for vehicle ships taking passengers to destinations in Estonia on the Baltic Sea and to surrounding countries such as Finland. Traffic volume is significant all year, and is especially high during the summer months. This translated to traffic congestion and long delays for ticket and passenger validation when using the manual entry system at the port and onto the ships.

ITvilla, an Estonian automation consulting and system integration company, was contracted to support the E-Port Project for four passenger ports, with an objective to reduce load times and allow faster access to greater volumes of vehicle traffic.

“The manual validation process for vehicles and passengers prior to driving onto the vessels proved very time-consuming,” said Neeme Takis, CEO of ITvilla. “It was decided that automated entry ticket validation and traffic management of waiting lines would allow for more efficient access. The E-Port Project required an IP controller that could manage configuration data for all types of peripheral hardware, understand all communication protocols, and manage the entry and exit sensor behavior for multiple types of vehicles passing through the port.”

ITvilla chose the Barix Barionet as the automation controller between the periphery devices and the server of the access system. The Barix Barionet provides both the physical and logical interface between the server and the peripheral devices, storing the periphery device configuration and driver software. It also translates the signals and commands between the peripheral devices and the server, offloading the server from device-dependent processing. The Barionet controllers additionally offload the server from simpler tasks such as barrier closure decision-making, which happens after the expected number of vehicles has passed.

“The Barix Barionet controllers are the heart of the project, efficiently meeting all of the E-Port Project’s access and traffic management requirements,” said Neeme Takis, CEO of ITvilla. “The middleware based on Barix controllers features strong network management support, quickly finding and resolving problems with network peripherals, and remotely controls and monitors vehicles and their passengers. This results in vastly improved traffic management and vehicle flow even during peak volume seasons.”

The Barix Barionet controllers are also responsible for logging signals and actions onto an external network server, managing the manual control option for peripheral devices, and sending regular status and immediate action data to an external monitoring system. These controllers provide remote support, and track the status and health of all E-Port Project peripheral devices.

One Barionet controller located in the outdoor ticket terminal device controls the bar code readers, keypad, VFD, buzzer, barrier and numeric displays; and reads vehicle presence and height sensors for one entry lane to the port.

There are a total of 16 Barionet controllers and Barix IO12 extension modules in each port. The controllers are connected via a LAN, including an optical ring for the longest connections. The server is connected to the same LAN. The WLAN extension of the LAN enables control of the loading process from the board of the vessel, using PDA devices.

“The E-port Project is a nice example of the flexible and cost-effective use of the Barix Barionet in infrastructure projects,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix AG. “The open Barix approach provides Barix partners with easy integration and utilization of Barix product offerings. Integrators and project managers can quickly and easily build unique solutions for challenging installations. The ease of use, coupled with strong product functionality in remote monitoring and automated access control, enabled ITvilla to easily write a custom application on the Barionet controllers that operates reliably on our standard, cost-effective devices.”

The Barix Barionet is a network-enabled, programmable automation controller for industrial automation and facility management systems. It is pre-loaded with a web configuration and user interface application for monitoring and control of all on-board I/O functions. Custom applications can be developed using the built-in BCL interpreter (Barix Control Language).

The Barionet supports standard interfaces such as SNMP, CGI, HTTP, and Modbus/TCP to access local I/O and program functions. It supports a broad variety of standard protocols such as TCP/IP, SNMP, HTTP, and CGI. It communicates over a standard built-in 10/100 Ethernet port, making the devices ideal for automation and monitoring applications in buildings, industry and IT systems.