Barix, a company known for its audio over IP efforts, has named Reto Brader as its new CEO.
Brader rises from VP/Sales and Marketing, and the company says the change in leadership correlates with the availability of new products that Barix introduced in 2018, including its RetailPlayer platform for background music distribution.
The remaining Barix management team, which has worked together effectively for the past several years, will continue in their established roles “with full support from Brader.”
This includes company founder Johannes Rietschel, who now will serve as Chief Technology Officer; Joan Parrilla, as VP Engineering; and Mario Almeida, as VP/Production.
What about CEO Ivo Killer?
He will leave Barix after three years in the role.
Rietschel founded Barix in 2001 upon anticipating the need to move audio and control signals over IP networks. The company has since shipped more than 450,000 Barix and private-labeled OEM hardware devices worldwide, and has more recently evolved into SaaS and managed services for business music and advertising distribution for retail, hospitality and other location-based businesses.
With Rietschel behind product development and Brader driving marketing strategy, 2018 also saw the introduction of the IPAM 400, a quad-core Linux-based IP audio module for OEMs and developers; Instreamer ICE, Barix’s first AAC+ encoder with an integrated Icecast server; and AudioPoint 3.0, Barix’s low-latency audio-to-mobile streaming platform.
Before joining Barix, Brader held key business and technical roles at Hewlett Packard, Pixelmetrix, Utah Scientific and Alcatel.
“Reto knows the market and has demonstrated his strength in building and managing the distribution channel and key customer relationships,” said Rietschel. “His many years at the frontline in the worldwide AV and broadcast markets are key assets to Barix.”
Barix headquarters in Zurich remains the hub for further product development, marketing and support for its product line.
While Barix will continue to focus on its core markets, Rietschel and Brader’s leadership positions will play a central role in moving Barix forward into new areas of opportunity for IP audio and control solutions.
