Vodafone is launching the Nevo Butler entertainment and smart home hub from Arizona-based Universal Electronics (UEI) for its residential TV and broadband customers in Portugal.

UEI specialises in wireless universal control for home entertainment and smart home devices. Nevo Butler is UEI’s secured, voice-enabled, white label hub that blends entertainment and smart home control for various applications.

With far-field voice control and interoperability with various ecosystems, Nevo Butler lets users discover and control virtually all connected devices in the home using hands-free voice, including set-top boxes and TVs, as well as audio accessories, security systems, lighting and thermostats.

Nevo Butler extends Vodafone’s existing voice assistant to allow intuitive, hands-free, far-field interactions with the Vodafone Portugal entertainment service. It is integrated with Vodafone’s infrastructure to provide a consistent user experience, and enables seamless discovery of connected entertainment devices in the home. Compatible with a large set of existing entertainment systems globally, it allows hands-free voice search of Vodafone’s libraries and video playback, as well as power and audio control of televisions.

“Vodafone Portugal and UEI have been working collaboratively for several years and we share a strong commitment to innovation and continuously improving the user experience,” said Luis Cardoso, responsible for content and services at Vodafone Portugal. “We are excited to bring this advanced technology to our customers, allowing them to easily set up and control our entertainment service with their voice using our customised wake word. Customers can relax on the couch and say ‘Hello, Tobi, turn on the football game’ and the TV will turn on and take them right to the content they want to watch.”

UEI has been developing entertainment and smart home control technologies for over three decades. It was the first to introduce voice search and control in entertainment platforms and features such as automated setup and universal control of connected devices through its portfolio of QuickSet-enabled products.

“UEI is thrilled that Vodafone is the first company to offer Nevo Butler to its customers,” said Paul Arling, UEI’s CEO. “As one of our flagship products, Nevo Butler encompasses many of the leading discovery and control capabilities of our QuickSet platform and represents another example of our ongoing investment in technology for the future.”

Founded in 1986, UEI designs, develops, manufactures, ships and supports control and sensor technology and a broad line of universal control systems, audio video accessories, and intelligent wireless security and smart home products.