Collaboration on a turnkey digital assistant platform for the smart home hub

Universal Electronics has announced a collaboration with Microsoft to begin a new digital assistant platform for the home developed on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform utilising AI and IoT services. The companies have collaborated to provide a white-label smart home hub platform, Nevo Butler, with a combined digital assistant, as well as a series of turnkey kits addressing energy management, home safety and security, and entertainment control, in residential or hospitality domains. “With Nevo Butler, we are democratising 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” said 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.”