CES 2019: New cloud-based platform designed for smart homes

Nevo Butler is an end-to-end voice-enabled smart home hub with a built-in white label digital assistant that promises to unify the entertainment control (AV) and home automation (IoT) to enhance the in-home experience, enabling interoperability across fragmented ecosystems.

Built-in entertainment control capabilities and smart home hub features powered by QuickSet Cloud make this device a versatile assistant for the home, capable of addressing a wide range of the current installed base of devices in consumers’ homes, addressing a range of use cases and innovative new services in the smart home. 

• Remain in control of the consumer experience through a branded digital assistant, while offering compatibility with third party digital assistants and expanding compatibility of these platforms with the current installed base of entertainment devices.
• As a far-field voice assistant, this platform enables service providers to quickly and efficiently bring voice assistant capabilities for content discovery and control to their existing Pay-TV households without the need to upgrade current equipment, and unlike other solutions, not limited to connected entertainment devices.
• As a managed, white label smart home hub with a built-in digital assistant, allows home smart home brands to efficiently and securely manage their installed base of devices, and address the expanding consumer demand for cross-brand interoperability with existing digital assistants and smart home hubs through the QuickSet Interoperability as a Service programme. 
• In residential and hospitality segments, it opens the door to offering converged services across entertainment, home safety and security, energy management, and more.
• Access to a growing ecosystem of devices through 'Works With QuickSet' programme, and channel specific Kits offered to accelerate market introduction.
• New service and monetisation opportunities through Partner Service Marketplace initially previewing services in connectivity, analytics, cyber security and digital well-being.

“With Nevo Butler, we are delivering on the promise of unifying experiences across devices in the home - the entertainment device where consumers spend nearly five hours a day - and other smart home devices and services,” said Arsham Hatambeiki, SVP of Product and Technology for Universal Electronics.

“This solution puts brands back at the forefront of the consumer experience, enabling consumers to interact with products and services without going through a single, global service and brings with it the confidence of device compatibility and interoperability.”

Voice assistants powered by artificial intelligence are 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 or bring convenience through better interaction with entertainment devices will play a key role in delivering the experiences promised by a brand. Nevo Butler empowers brands to deliver these experiences quickly, efficiently and directly to consumers.

A new industry research report from international firm Parks Associates shows nearly 75% of the consumers planning to buy a smart home device consider it important for their purchase to work with other products in their home. This demand for interoperability is stronger than brand loyalty, as less than 60% of smart home shoppers consider it important that their future purchases be the same brand as their current products.

“As smart home devices proliferate, interoperability is the key to creating true smart home systems. Consumer adoption of smart home products is driving expectations that devices work together seamlessly. Consumers are buying outside of a single brand’s ecosystem, so they are demanding product interoperability,” said Brad Russell, Research Director, Connected Home, Parks Associates.

Nevo Butler also comes pre-integrated with nevo.ai digital assistant offered as a white label service to deliver branded and customised experiences, and is capable of supporting other voice assistants in the platform to address the growing consumer demand for choice and access to domain specific assistants and services.

Nevo Butler supports a simple, cloud-based, natural language interface to enable conversational device interactions, but also adds offline pre-defined voice commands to ensure a reliable interface to smart home services, even when the Internet is down.

Enterprise integration services ensure the Nevo Butler platform can be seamlessly integrated into the existing service provider subscriber management systems, while a growing list of partner services in the marketplace allow new avenues for monetisation and managed complementary services. 

In addition to its voice-enabled entertainment device and control, Nevo Butler is offered in channel-specific kits bundled with a range of certified devices that include safety and security sensors, energy management controllers, and IoT lighting products.

Universal Electronics will host product demonstrations for all their latest technologies and design concepts, and their most recent product unveiling, Nevo Butler and related platform kits at booth 42325 in the Sands Expo at CES 2019 in Las Vegas from 8th-11th January 2019.