Audio-over-IP leader Barix will use the upcoming ISE 2019 show as the launch pad for new advances in its RetailPlayer multi-site background music streaming solution. Exhibiting in stand 8-G275 at the event (February 5-8 in Amsterdam), the company will demonstrate new features that simplify operation, streamline management across large numbers of endpoints, enhance the system’s resilience to network connectivity issues and enable ‘drop-in’ integration into workflows based on earlier Barix solutions.

The RetailPlayer system is aimed at large-scale retail, hospitality and corporate applications to stream background music and messages to any number of locations over the internet. Meanwhile, the cloud-based or customer-hosted Barix RetailPlayer Portal provides centralized configuration, management, status monitoring and stream switching for the hardware players across multiple sites through a web browser or mobile device. The new enhancements build on this rich foundation with a variety of enterprise-class functionality.

Two new capabilities deal with fault tolerance for connectivity issues. Stream failover automatically switches to another stream if the current one is interrupted, while a playlist with music files can now be pre-loaded into the hardware endpoints for local failover.

Multi-unit configuration now has a hierarchical management, allowing users to apply changes at any layer of the organizational tree. For example, if a customer changes stream providers, the administrator can simply drop a new list of channels at the right level of the hierarchy to update the stream URLs across all subordinate players — avoiding the need to reconfigure hundreds of player units individually. Branch operation of local players is also simplified, with customers able to scan a QR code on the device to control features such as switching between streaming channels through their smartphone.

New configuration and integration tools allow for secure, network-based, remote configuration and firmware updating of player units through a web-based portal in the cloud, the availability of the management interface for local installation supports customers with restrictive firewalls or security policies — for example, financial institutions that do not allow public web access. Additionally, a new ‘off-line’ configuration mode allows customers who do not want a central management platform to pre-configure the hardware devices before physical shipping. The units will then automatically play the pre-configured stream when connected at the remote location.

New metadata handling capabilities enable the development of advanced customer-specific solutions around RetailPlayer, such as applications that extract metadata and forward it over IP to other connected equipment as triggers.

RetailPlayer is here.