Universal Electronics Inc

Universal Electronics Inc

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: UEIC S&P 600 Component
Industry	Consumer Electronics
Founded	1986; 38 years ago (1986)[1]
Headquarters	Scottsdale, Arizona , USA
Products	IoT Devices, Smart thermostat, Smart Home, Virtual Assistant, Remote controls
Brands	QuickSet QuickSet Cloud One For All Nevo Ecolink RCS
Website	uei.com

Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) is an American smart home technology provider^[2] and manufacturer of universal remote controls, IoT devices such as voice-enabled smart home hubs,^[3] smart thermostats, home sensors; as well as a white label digital assistant platform^[4] optimized for smart home applications, and other software and cloud services for device discovery, fingerprinting and interoperability.^[5] The company designs, develops, manufactures and ships products both under the "One For All" brand^[6] and as an OEM for other companies in the audio video, subscription broadcasting, connected home, tablet and smart phone markets. In 2015, it expanded its product and technology platform to include home automation, intelligent sensing and security.

UEI's global headquarters is located in Scottsdale, Arizona with R&D offices in Santa Ana, California, regional offices in Enschede (The Nederlands), Manaus (Brazil), Hong Kong, Bangalore (India), San Mateo and Carlsbad (California), and Twinsburg (Ohio).^[1][7]

In 2014 UEI was ranked 80 on Forbes' list of "America's Best Small Companies."^[1]

Many of UEI's products use different low power wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and Zigbee (or other 802.15.4 communications). UEI is a member of different wireless industry alliances such as ZigBee Alliance, Bluetooth SIG as well as Wi-Fi Alliance.^[8] UEI also offer SoCs such as UE878^[9] and SDK to enable multi-protocol communication for different smart home devices such as leading Smart TVs.

Products

UEI is one of the world's largest manufacturers of remote controls, responsible for an estimated 30% global market share in home entertainment remotes.^[10] Under its Ecolink brand, it also makes home security and automation products such as motion and door/window entry sensors for DIY and professional home security markets and OEMs such as Interlogix (UTC), Honeywell and Tyco . Many of the control products are made under contract and then sold under the brand name of larger consumer electronic manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba, Daikin, Mitsubishi, Yamaha, and Sharp, as well as North American cable and satellite TV providers such as Comcast, Rogers, Cox, Shaw, Charter, DIRECTV and DISH.^[10][11]

UEI makes numerous products that use ZigBee, Bluetooth^[12] or Wi-Fi technology. They are a member of the ZigBee Alliance, Bluetooth SIG^[13] and Wi-Fi Alliance.^[14]

QuickSet Cloud

QuickSet Cloud^[15] is Universal Electronics’ software product family including web services and embedded SDK for simplifying discovery and universal control setup and operation in a smart home. QuickSet solution is a widely^[16] deployed technology already in over 400 million devices around the world including set-top boxes from Comcast,^[17] Dish Network^[12] and DirecTV,^[18] televisions from Samsung^[19][20] and Sony, game consoles such as Xbox One,^[21] and many leading smartphones,^[22][23] and tablets to enable automatic discovery and control of nearly any connected home device.

QuickSet Cloud, part of QuickSet product family, is actively used by millions of devices every week such as Comcast's X1^[24] Platform. This platform is capable of automatically discovering devices through different interfaces such as IP or HDMI based on proprietary fingerprinting algorithms, and controlling these devices through a range of protocols such as IR, IP, HDMI-CEC, ZigBee or Bluetooth

In January 2019, UEI announced^[4] a white label digital assistant platform, nevo.ai, in collaboration with Microsoft. This voice assistant is optimized for smart home applications in security and energy management, as well as entertainment control.

Acquisitions

In February 2009, UEI purchased all of Zilog's software & IP assets related to Zilog's universal remote control business, including all ROM code, software, and database of infrared codes.^[25] Zilog sold these assets for $31 million cash.

In August 2015, UEI strengthened its position in the smart home market by acquiring Ecolink Intelligent Technology, a wireless home security and automation specialist.^[26] In May 2017, UEI further expanded its smart home offering by acquiring RCS Technology, a pioneer in smart thermostats and energy management.^[27]

Honors

In 2017, National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarded UEI a Technology & Engineering Emmy Award for its contribution to "Contextual Voice Navigation for Discovering and Interacting with TV Content."^[28]

China Labor

In October 2021, Reuters published an article in which it suggested that Universal Electronics, Inc, employed Uyghur workers at one of the Gemstar plants in China and that this employment was “bearing the hallmarks of what one would consider to be forced labor”. While the reporter acknowledged that she never visited the facility or spoke to any of the workers, she did validate with an UEI spokesperson that UEI had indeed hired these 356 Uyghurs to work at the specific Gemstar facility in China. The article and allegations did raise questions by certain customers and public officials. UEI takes these accusations seriously and the company took immediate and swift action.

Two independent audits on the labor practices of the staffing agency as well as the manufacturing plant in question confirmed that there was no evidence of forced labor as defined by the International standards and that these workers were treated in the same humane way as other workers at the facility and that they were receiving the same (above minimum) remuneration as their co-workers with similar employment. After these audits were concluded, and in consultation with customers and labor practice advisory experts, UEI management decided to terminate the relationship with the staffing agency in question and release these specific workers with appropriate severance.

Since then, management has been implementing additional measures to further strengthen their labor practices and processes, which include becoming a member of the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) in early 2022.

References

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