SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) (NASDAQ: UEIC), the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft to launch a new digital assistant platform for the home built on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform using AI and IoT services.
Artificial intelligence is now playing a key role in improving access to smart living products and services, and this is only expected to expand in size and scope. Digital assistants that connect consumers to important services such as safety and security, collaboration and scheduling or bring joy through better interaction with entertainment devices, will play a key role in delivering the experiences promised by a brand.
In order to empower brands to deliver these experiences quickly, efficiently, and directly to consumers, Universal Electronics and Microsoft have collaborated to offer a white-label smart home hub platform, Nevo® Butler, with an integrated digital assistant, as well as a range of turnkey kits addressing home safety and security, energy management, and entertainment control, in residential or hospitality domains.
Nevo Butler is an end-to-end voice-enabled smart home hub with nevo.ai integrated and built on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform leveraging Azure IoT and AI services, including Microsoft’s virtual assistant solution with Azure Bot Service and Azure Cognitive Services. Nevo.ai is a white-label digital assistant that promises to unify the entertainment control and home automation experiences, enabling interoperability across fragmented ecosystems. Built-in entertainment control capabilities and smart home hub features powered by QuickSet® Cloud make this device one of the most versatile assistants for the home, capable of addressing a wide range of devices and use cases from enabling voice on existing devices, to innovative new services in the smart home. With a customizable digital assistant experience, enterprise integration services, and an expanding ecosystem of add-on services, this platform allows service providers and consumer electronics brands to offer voice-enabled services to consumers while remaining in control of the consumer relationship.
QuickSet Cloud, running on the Azure IoT platform, is already powering millions of connected devices in the home through customers including Comcast, Sony, LGI, Samsung and others, and will benefit from the global-scale and security of Azure. The nevo.ai digital assistant development is accelerated by the Azure virtual assistant solution where complex and evolving features can be delivered through a simple natural language interface, making these experiences accessible to a wide range of audiences.
“With Nevo Butler, we are democratizing access to an essential technology where consumer’s brands and service providers can quickly and efficiently deliver new services across many categories. Our sensors and hubs are pre-integrated with a configurable digital assistant where these brands can remain in charge of the relationship with the end consumer,” says Arsham Hatambeiki, SVP Product and Technology for Universal Electronics Inc. “Microsoft has proven to be a reliable and innovative partner in delivering this flexibility to brands, and choice to consumers.”
“Today and in the future, we assume every home product experience will become frictionless, controlled naturally through conversation and voice, in a personalized and trusted experience,” said Lili Cheng, CVP, Conversational AI. “By partnering with UEI on Nevo Butler and Quickset Cloud, we will enable UEI customers to create custom Virtual Assistant solutions, for millions of home products, powered by Microsoft’s AI and Azure IoT services.”
Universal Electronics will host product demonstrations for their new platform, Nevo Butler, at booth #42325, in the Sands Expo at CES 2019 in Las Vegas from January 8-11.
About Universal Electronics
Universal Electronics Inc. (NASDAQ:UEIC) is the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies for the smart home. Its broad portfolio of patents includes QuickSet® Cloud service that utilizes the world’s most complete knowledge graph of devices to detect and interact with thousands of entertainment and smart home devices. The company designs, develops, and manufactures innovative products that are used by the world’s leading brands in the audio, video, subscription broadcasting, connected home, home energy management, and mobile device markets. UEI’s many first-to-market innovations have helped transform the home entertainment control, home security, and home energy management and sensing industries. More information is available at www.uei.com and quicksetcloud.com.
All trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.
Nevo and QuickSet are trademarks of Universal Electronics Inc.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the Safe-Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words and expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development, delivery and market acceptance of UEI’s Nevo Butler, associated service offerings, and other products and technologies identified in this release; the continued penetration and growth of the products and consumer technologies identified in this release; and other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligations to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
