Sennheiser Streaming Technologies combines the German family-run company’s 70 years of experience in the field of audio technology with future-oriented development in the area of streaming. The subsidiary is based in Hamburg and is initially focusing on low-latency streaming to cellular devices. Jörn Erkau has been appointed managing director of the new company. The 47-year-old has considerable experience in the production of visitor information and audio guide systems. He has collaborated with Sennheiser in the past. He will be supported by Peter Claussen, President of the Integrated Systems Division at Sennheiser, who will also be an SST managing director.
“We will create hardware and software solutions that make life more pleasurable,” explains Jörn Erkau. “We are currently working on CinemaConnect, a streaming system that offers live, low-latency audio descriptions and assistive listening to be accessed directly using a smartphone.” The system is based on the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) principle and allows users to use their own smartphone and headphones without any additional hardware. Jörn Erkau is confident about the venture: “We are betting on a trend that will see significant future growth and success.”
Jörn Erkau, CEO Sennheiser Streaming Technologies GmbH
As well as developing high-quality products for 70 years that offer outstanding sound, Sennheiser also produces innovative solutions for audiology, wireless microphones, and the company invented the open-ear headphone. “We see the founding of Sennheiser Streaming Technologies as an investment in the future,” says Daniel Sennheiser. “We think streaming will become an important medium for the transmission of audio content. The new company and its managing director, Jörn Erkau, will help us build up knowledge in this area and deliver high-quality, customized products.”
SST will start its operation in Europe. The company’s first product will be the CinemaConnect system, which is currently in the final stages of development and will be available beginning in fall 2014 in selected European countries only. It will be available in other regions within the next year.
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The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. In 2012 the family company, which was founded in 1945, achieved a turnover of around 584 million euros. Sennheiser employs more than 2,300 people worldwide, and has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. The company is represented worldwide by subsidiaries in France, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Germany, Denmark (Nordic), Russia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and the USA, as well as by long-term trading partners in many other countries. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres).
www.sennheiser-connect.com
