Getting the word out in an emergency is critical. For large facilities like schools or hospitals, having alerts heard can be the difference between life and death.
Historically, these systems have been complex and expensive, but one company aims to change that. Instead of multiple zones, proprietary networking, and multiple devices meaning expensive systems., Barix has released a platform that they claim takes minutes to setup, uses existing LAN, and can even use smartphones as paging stations.
In this note, we break down the features, pricing, differences and competitive positioning of the offering.
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It looks useful, but I am a little confused. Is there really no one else doing this? It seems pretty straightforward. A mobiles app that integrates with an IP based speaker system, right?
I am not criticizing. I am just curious where the state of innovation or development is in mass notification.
This has been on my radar for awhile now. Just waiting for the product to mature. Useful? You bet. Every school system in the country could use this. For security I would utilize the listen-in capabilities for monitoring after hours, Audio verification of intrusion alarms. And even during lock down situations.
And Barix is the top of the food chain. Good stuff.
We tested a Barix Extstreamer once. We loaded a special firmware they provided and they were very helpful. The firmware let is attach the device to their Internet based PBX using SIP. We attached a speaker to the device and then was able to dial a number and extention the device was on to do voice ennunciation.
We haven't really had an application yet for the device standalone, but it would be really nice if more VMS systems could intetgrate these for one way, ideally two way, audio. I think Barix's intial approach was to leave the device open for 3rd party system development, providing API and support services. But they needed more out-of-the box usability to get more people to notice them and I think that's what they are doing now.
