Ayla Networks Selected by Universal Electronics to Help Develop New Platform to Transform the Smart Home Experience

Business Wire 3-Jan-2019 9:00 AM

UEI's Smart Home Digital Assistant Platform, Nevo^® Butler, to be launched at CES 2019, will feature Ayla's cloud software platform

Ayla Networks, whose Internet of Things (IoT) platform-as-a-service (PaaS) for smart home device manufacturers and service providers, and Universal Electronics (UEI), (NASDAQ:UEIC), the worldwide leader in universal control and sensing technologies today announced a new platform for the smart home in which UEI will pre-integrate Ayla Networks platform with UEI's world-leading QuickSet^® Cloud platform and offer it through a resell service, as part of a new line of smart home managed hardware solutions.

The relationship, which will officially launch at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, will allow UEI to further solidify its footprint in the rapidly growing IoT space by expanding its portfolio of home sensing, monitoring, and control solutions to include industry-leading device management and application enablement capabilities from Ayla Networks. Together the two companies will accelerate the transformation of the smart home market, bringing core technology and end-to-end applications to enable quick time-to-value and an elevated customer experience.

Nevo Butler is an end-to-end voice-enabled smart home hub with built-in white label digital assistant that unifies entertainment control and home automation experiences, enabling interoperability across fragmented ecosystems. Powered by QuickSet Cloud, Nevo Butler delivers a versatile monitoring and control assistant solution for the home, capable of addressing a wide range of devices and use cases, ranging from voice control of an existing installed base of devices to innovative new Cloud services. With a customizable digital assistant front-end, enterprise-level integration services and an expanding ecosystem of add-on services this platform allows service providers and consumer electronics brands to bring voice-enabled services to their customers while remaining in control of the consumer relationship.

Available as kits that address specific channel needs, Nevo Butler can be bundled with a range of certified devices including Ecolink^® sensors, offering safety and security, energy management and hospitality applications, in addition to voice-enabled universal entertainment control.

"This landmark partnership is the latest example of how the Ayla platform can seamlessly combine with leading smart home solution providers to create winning products," said Jonathan Cobb, CEO of Ayla Networks. "Ayla Networks has always stood for accelerating IoT-led transformation, and the new solutions from UEI will drive new services, innovative business models and rapid time to value from data analytics."

Arsham Hatambeiki, UEI's SVP Product & Technology said, "The Ayla partnership represents an important step toward our goal to be the leader in control and sensing technologies for the smart home. This collaboration strengthens our position in the existing smart home business by allowing us to simplify the IoT device management and onboarding process allowing us to expand our offerings to equipment manufacturers in HVAC."

The smart home market is projected to have accelerated growth over the next five years, driven by several factors, including advancements in communication technologies; consumer interest in home automation and monitoring; a push for energy conservation; and the growth of utility and government-sponsored programs. According to data from Navigant Research, the global market is expected to double in size, from $1.1 billion in 2016 to $2.2 billion in 2020, with the largest growth forecasted in North America.

Ayla Networks and UEI will participate at CES 2019 in Las Vegas from January 8-11 and will jointly showcase the combined solution with presentations and demos. To schedule a consultative meeting, contact Prashanth Shetty, prashanth@aylanetworks.com at Ayla Networks.

About Ayla Networks

Ayla Networks, a leading provider of edge connectivity, device management and application enablement for the Internet of Things (IoT), enables the world's largest companies to connect any device, on any cloud, to any application. By leveraging the Ayla Agile IoT™ platform, customers are able to quickly productize future-proofed, connected products, while making device data usable for ongoing analytic insights and support for advanced business applications. For more information, visit www.aylanetworks.com.

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

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 product and associated service offerings and technologies identified in this release; the continued penetration and growth of the digital assistant 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.

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