News Details

UEI's Nevo to Contribute Advanced Wireless Control Technologies to Consortium

Of World's Leading Companies Delivering the Connected Home

CYPRESS, Calif., Aug 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) (Nasdaq: UEIC) has joined the Intelligent House Duisburg Innovation Center -- or inHaus(R) -- consortium, a select group of companies cooperating to realize the concept of a fully connected home. Together with companies such as Sony, Deutsche Telekom and Volkswagen, UEI will contribute its industry-leading expertise in control technologies toward the inHaus group's ongoing efforts to integrate a broad array of household appliances, devices and systems within an intelligent network ( http://www.inhaus-duisburg.de ).

inHaus Technology Unites the Home, Automobile, Telephone and More

Centered at a facility in Duisburg, Germany, the inHaus project comprises both an experimental networked house and a shared research lab under the roof of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the second-largest applied research society in the world ( http://www.fraunhofer.de ). As part of the five-year project that began in 2001, 18 companies are creating and testing a network technology platform that eventually will allow homeowners to remotely control everything from their lighting, heating and security systems to their consumer electronics, media-PC-server and automobile.

"Our collective vision is to enable household components to work together efficiently for the benefit of end consumers, which will require a unified remote control device that can communicate with diverse technology platforms from an array of manufacturers," said Klaus Scherer, project manager for inHaus. "UEI's impressive record of delivering innovative, smartly designed, universally compatible controls makes the company an ideal partner to help inHaus advance the connected home concept."

UEI to Deliver the Control Point for the inHaus Home of the Future

Among the UEI innovations that appealed to inHaus representatives is Nevo(TM), an embedded technology that transforms any electronic display -- such as a handheld personal digital assistant, webpad or Smart Displays console -- into a sophisticated yet easy-to-use controller for a range of home entertainment and home automation devices.

"Simplifying and enhancing consumers' experience of technology has been UEI's central objective since it introduced the first preprogrammed remote control nearly two decades ago," said Rob Lilleness, president and chief operating officer of UEI. "We're honored and inspired by this opportunity to join with many other innovative companies in extending the limits of what a fully connected home can achieve for consumers."

Through its ongoing work with the inHaus consortium and products such as Nevo, UEI is enhancing its industry-leading database of infrared codes with two-way radio frequency technologies and other innovations for controlling the connected home.

About InHaus

The Intelligent House Duisburg Innovation Center -- "inHaus" for short -- is a thematically and organizationally unique and integral concept in the field of product-oriented innovations for a networked life. The basis of the project is the inHaus facility in Duisburg, Germany, which includes a residential home, a workshop, a networked car and a networked garden. Prominent international companies collaborating with the Fraunhofer Institute on this project include Honeywell, Miele, Sony, Deutsche Telekom, Siedle, Viessmann and Volkswagen. The project is supervised by the IMS Duisburg (the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems, www.ims.fhg.de).

About Universal Electronics

Universal Electronics Inc., based in Southern California, develops software, firmware and turnkey solutions designed to enable consumers to wirelessly connect, control and interact with an increasingly complex home environment. The company's primary markets include original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in consumer electronics and personal computing, as well as multiple system operators in the cable and satellite subscription broadcasting markets. Over the past 17 years, the company has developed a broad portfolio of patented technologies and the industry's leading database of home connectivity software that it licenses to its customers, including many leading Fortune 500 companies. In addition, UEI sells its universal wireless control products to distributors and retailers in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia under the One For All(R) brand name. More information about UEI can be obtained at http://www.uei.com/ .

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, ordering, delivery and market acceptance of products and technologies identified in this release; the Company's continued ability to design products in a fashion that results in its technology becoming the standard for handheld devices; the continued importance of the Company's database of codes; 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.

NOTE: Nevo and One For All are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Universal Electronics Inc.

Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Universal Electronics Inc.
08/02/2004
CONTACT:
Deborah Hamilton of Waggener Edstrom, +1-650-266-7020, or deborahh@wagged.com
for Universal Electronics Inc. Web site: http://www.uei.com