Seasoned executive makes worldwide company growth a priority

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, September 24, 2013 — IP audio and control specialist Barix ushers in a new era with the appointment of Ronni Guggenheim as CEO. Based in Zurich, Mr. Guggenheim takes the reins on October 1 — and he has big plans for the company.

“Barix has a stellar reputation as an IP technology pioneer and a very solid technology core, the majority of which is hardware-driven,” said Guggenheim. “We have an opportunity to increase market share by building a broader ecosystem with a stronger software focus.”

Guggenheim certainly understands technology, with recent leadership roles at Minicom Digital Signage and ComQi, a leading global digital signage technology supplier. The latter company formed through a merger between Minicom Digital Signage and EnQii, an effort which Guggenheim drove and executed. He brings additional leadership experience to Barix as former managing partner and CEO of neXius AG, where he drove strategy development and execution for hardware and software technology companies.

Guggenheim will leverage his proven leadership skills and business sense, along with a history of sales and marketing expertise, to take Barix to the next level — an exciting proposition for Barix founder Johannes G. Rietschel.

Rietschel has served as CEO of Barix since its inception in 2001, and will remain with the company as executive chairman and CTO. This will allow him to focus on his visionary and technology development skills as he relinquishes the daily operations and business strategy to Mr. Guggenheim.

“Barix has achieved excellent growth for 12 years, but we have reached a size where we need different entrepreneurial skillsets,” said Rietschel. “I will remain involved in the overall company vision but am getting back to focusing on technology, and ensuring we have the best to offer for our customers. Ronni brings the experience we need to build stronger sales channels and strategic focus worldwide. And I will work with him to guarantee greater acceleration of Barix’s success.”

Guggenheim’s digital signage experience is an ideal complement to Barix’s strategy in the retail and business space, where the company has a strong reputation and global customer base for in-store audio solutions. Guggenheim will bring an overall stronger vertical focus to the company, which also supplies technology solutions to the broadcast, security, entertainment and professional AV/installation markets. He will also further invest in relationships with existing OEM and channel partnerships, while paving the way for new alliances.

“At Barix, we have a well-developed, well-defined and established company that will break through to a new phase of revenue growth by building on the successes of our existing team — a team we will continue to rely on heavily,” he said. “We’ll quickly bring better clarity to our vertical and geographical focus, and we expect exponential development of the company as a result.”

Barix Radio was launched a few years ago as a fun tool to help customers easily prove that their new Exstreamer was happy in its new home – connect it up and get down to the groove!

We expected lots of short connections, as customers installed their devices and then set them up for business, but the statistics show a different story: Barix Radio is feeding hundreds of long term listeners. It seems our customers benefit not only from the Barix trademark rock-solid reliability, but also enjoy the great music mix that is Barix Radio as the soundtrack to their lives!

We hope that we continue to entertain you all for many years to come!

Solution enables peer-to-peer device communication between Rava-enabled touch screens and analog door stations while minimizing costs and infrastructure

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, July 1, 2013 — IP audio and control specialist Barix, which in January announced its intent to support Crestron Rava™ SIP intercom and phone technology, today announces the availability of the Annuncicom 200-Rava — a unique, bidirectional IP audio interface for door stations that allows PTT (push-to-talk) intercom with Crestron Rava-enabled touch screens. The Annuncicom joins an elite list of Crestron Connected™ devices embedded with Crestron control intelligence to enable native communication and seamless operation with Crestron control technologies.

Combine Crestron Rava-enabled touch screens with an analog door station and the Annuncicom 200-Rava for a complete residential, office and small business IP intercom solution. The Barix Annuncicom 200-Rava device is built specifically for these environments, and includes specialized SIP firmware to simplify integration of Rava-enabled touch screens with analog devices, such as intercom panels. The device also includes built-in amplification, reducing infrastructure at installation points and minimizing equipment costs.

Crestron Rava touch screens leverage SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to permit voice intercom, telephone and paging (point-to-point and group) among other applications. The Barix device uniquely establishes compatibility between Rava-enabled touch screens and door stations without a central server. This allows customers to continue to use existing devices when upgrading to Rava touch screens, providing seamless IP to analog integration.

Systems integrators, meanwhile, eliminate the time and labor associated with configuring servers to enable SIP compatibility between Rava touch screens and connected devices. Barix firmware allows these devices to discover each other on the network, making the Annuncicom 200-Rava the first Crestron-approved solution to offer such seamless peer-to-peer device connectivity. The result is a reliable, SIP-compatible solution that effectively bridges analog and digital components within Rava environments.

The bidirectional, push-to-talk functionality offers an additional benefit in residential and commercial neighborhoods where street noise adversely affects door station communication. This eliminates exterior noise when a homeowner or business employee is talking to an outside target, effectively enabling clearer communication between the two parties.

To learn more about the Annuncicom-200-Rava visit: http://www.gobarix.com/.

Unique solution enables customers to bypass ISP policies and preserve network bandwidth for non-critical communications

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, June 10, 2013 — IP audio and control specialist Barix introduces a unique solution helping media companies, businesses and other multi-site network users to route multicast traffic over remote network links, enabling bandwidth-efficient, multicast delivery over the public internet.

Multicast uses special destination addresses to target groups of subscribed devices, and deliver data and streams such as voice (general paging) and audio (background music). In contrast to standard connections where each device needs its own stream, multicast data distribution requires only a single stream to send the same content to any number of receivers on the same network segment, minimizing bandwidth and network usage. Multicast delivery is traditionally limited to private, in-house networks as Internet Service Providers block multicast traffic on normal Internet connections.

Barix has developed a unique multicast routing and tunneling firmware that turns its Barionet IP control devices into flexible, multisite multicast routers — effectively enabling delivery of multicast traffic over the public internet to remote locations. The solution forwards multicast IP blocks to remote receiving devices, re-packed as unicast streams. The receiving devices then re-issue the packets as multicast on the destination network.

“This solution addresses challenging situations for systems integrators and network operators that want to use multicast transport between subnets but have previously been blocked from doing so,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix AG. “We are effectively bridging multiple multicast groups between multiple sites for general data and our specialty, Audio over IP, preserving network bandwidth and increasing the efficiency of remote communication.”

Using Multicast, system integrators can configure Barix IP Audio systems with more flexibility and less labor as streams are concurrently distributed to many nodes using IP multicast delivery. This minimizes streaming bandwidth requirements and simplifies configuration; it is not necessary to know the IP address of each individual receiver on the network. Instead, subscription protocols are employed so that relevant receivers – such as a Barix Exstreamer IP audio decoder – receive relevant streams, even if they use dynamic, unknown IP addresses.

The Barix multicast routing and tunneling solution can be deployed across a large number of scenarios as functionality is independent of actual protocols. This enables the firmware to be used alongside automation, IP audio, video, VoIP, SIP or RTP streams, for example. Furthermore, the entire operation can be monitored over SNMP to enable a complete bird’s eye view of system efficiency.

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!

Solution connects fixed and mobile devices, strips away “complexity of IP”

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, March 18, 2013 — IP audio and control specialist Barix heads to ISC West with a new IP paging solution that allows end users and integrators to set up multi-point systems within minutes.

The plug-and-play solution combines fixed and mobile paging to extend reach and capability, while removing configuration hassles typically associated with IP. This ensures that schools, hospitals, office buildings and other commercial and public facilities can be up and running quickly instead of configuring IP addresses, servers and ports for receiving devices.

Importantly, the dedicated Barix Paging firmware enables the paging master to automatically identify all zones and Barix IP hardware on the network, including other paging stations and receivers. Furthermore, a Barix iOS paging app enables iPhones and iPads as paging devices — cleanly integrating the mobile capability into the overall solution.

“The Barix IP Paging solution retains the flexibility of IP without the complexity of IP, simplifying connections and removing headaches for businesses and security professionals,” said Johannes G. Rietschel, CEO and Founder of Barix AG. “We’re essentially delivering a solution where customers can plug in cables, connect loudspeakers and talk.”

The Barix IP Paging solution includes all pre-configured hardware, including paging masters and receiving devices equipped with the IP Paging firmware. Complete solutions can scale to the end customer’s needs, with no limits to the number of paging zones. The company’s two-way VoIP devices can be used at receiving points to enable intercom capability over the same network, and integrated amplifier options are available to further reduce costs and infrastructure.

Barix will showcase various hardware options and mobile capability for its IP Paging solution at ISC West (Booth 16138), taking place April 10-12 at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas.

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

Allen Temple Baptist delivers services to those unable to attend using Barix IP audio solutions

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, December 10, 2012 — Audio over IP pioneer Barix AG is helping Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California stream its Sunday services to radio station KDIA-1640-AM with exceptional audio quality and low latency — and at a very low cost.

Allen Temple Baptist transmitted its services via telephone line to the radio station for more than 30 years, but was looking to become more cost-efficient while moving into the digital age. The church purchased a Barix Instreamer 100 for on-site encoding of live services, and an Exstreamer 100 for KDIA to receive and decode the audio.

Director and Minister of Communications Charlotte Y. Williams said that Barix came highly recommended, and has simplified the way the church delivers the signal to KDIA. She notes that the migration to Barix IP audio will save the church several thousand dollars annually.

“Our broadcast has never sounded so good, and we have never experienced such substantial cost savings as we have by transferring our broadcast via Barix,” said Williams. “We are able to set it and forget it, and the audio has a much cleaner, pristine sound. We highly recommend the Barix solution as a simple, low-cost, high-return method.”

Williams added that the church was highly impressed by the “excellent customer service” provided from point of purchase through installation, which helped the church get their stream up and running quickly.

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.”