News

Universal Electronics Unveils NevoSL the Ultimate Control Solution For the Connected Home (31/1/2005)

Universal Electronics Debuts NevoSL, Offering Wireless Control of Digital Media and Home Devices From a Single Handheld Controller

At 2005 Integrated Systems Europe show, Universal Electronics (Nasdaq: UEIC) today unveiled NevoSL, a universal controller that intuitively delivers complete audio/visual and digital media control for the networked home. With NevoSL, consumers can not only control virtually all their home theater and stereo equipment, but also play any song, display any digital picture and view any movie in any room from the palm of their hand.

"As consumers increasingly embrace wireless networking to deliver an expanding menu of digital entertainment content to various devices, managing all these media sources becomes a real challenge," said Paul Bennett, Managing Director at Universal Electronics b.v.. "NevoSL solves this problem by delivering a sophisticated and powerful control solution, in a handheld unit that's extremely easy to operate and highly customizable, to give consumers seamless control over their home entertainment and digital media."

Total Control of Entertainment and Media Devices in the Home

Featuring UEI's world-class IR code database for device control and upgradeability, NevoSL is guaranteed to be compatible with virtually any manufacturer's consumer electronics products. With built-in Wi-Fi, NevoSL further extends the multimedia experience in the networked home by providing wireless access and control of digital photos, songs and movies throughout the home or office network.

Unmatched Ease of Use and Intuitive Simplicity

NevoSL features a high-resolution color graphical user interface that delivers a user-friendly control experience that can be quickly and easily configured through a simple PC software application. Even discovery of digital media content on the network is automated, ensuring an effortless set-up and control experience.

Complete Personalization

NevoSL is bundled with a suite of PC editing tools that allow users to create truly personalized control interface solutions to meet the needs of the most challenging home entertainment system and its discerning enthusiast.

NevoSL offers the ultimate control solution for the connected home, with features such as these:

* The NevoSL universal controller and charging cradle, with 17 programmable keys and a scroll wheel for page navigation for an ergonomically-superior, one-handed control experience * NevoStudio(TM), a suite of software tools that includes drag-and-drop capability, site map visualization, extensive button and background galleries, remote function emulation, support for all standard image formats and fast downloading of configuration files to the NevoSL. * NevoMedia Manager, utilizing the Universal Plug-n-Play (UPnP) protocol stack to browse available digital content to stream music, share photos and play movies on most UPnP-compliant network devices * NevoLink(TM), an IP-addressable bridge that enables multiroom device control

Backed by Technology Leaders

NevoSL runs on Microsoft Windows CE .NET 4.2 and the Microsoft .NET Framework as the underlying platform for its robust and flexible development environment.

"Our goal with Windows CE is to arm device makers with the tools and components they need to quickly and easily bring compelling devices to market," said Scott Horn, senior director of the Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft Corp. "We are pleased that Universal Electronics recognized the value of incorporating Windows CE technologies in its NevoSL product line to enable simpler, broader and more flexible access to digital media and devices."

To meet the demanding technology specifications of the NevoSL, Universal Electronics leveraged its long-term relationship with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to incorporate Samsung's high-performance mobile processor, an IR microcontroller, flash and SDRAM memory.

"As a longtime technology partner of Universal Electronics, we support the digitally connected home and are pleased to have contributed to the success of Universal Electronic's NevoSL product," said S.H. Hong, director of the System LSI business at Samsung Semiconductor. "By providing key components such as logic and memory for the NevoSL design, this innovative product will lead the market for broadband-enabled consumer electronic devices."

Exclusive distributors will distribute NevoSL throughout the globe. Nevo SL is scheduled to be available in the second quarter of 2005.

www.mynevo.com