Deutsche Telekom and DSP Group to trial a state-of-the-art ULE-powered home gateway solution

Deutsche Telekom, one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications companies, and DSP Group(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:DSPG), a leading global provider of wireless chipset solutions for converged communications, announced today that the companies have joined forces to trial a state-of-the-art ULE-powered home gateway solution targeting smart home services. Representing the next generation in home networking, ULE technology is based on DECT standard and inherits its fortes including outstanding secure range, video and audio support and a simple star topology. ULE also benefits from its "DECT only" frequency band, which allows interference-free operation for the lifetime of supported devices. With ULE technology inside Deutsche Telekom's home gateways, Speedports are positioned to become the true center of the smart home enabling a myriad of new applications for the end customer, such as home automation, safety and monitoring services. After an initial trial phase, these applications can be made available to all existing Deutsche Telekom customers that have a DECT-enabled Deutsche Telekom Speedport with a simple software update. The Speedport home gateways will capitalize on ULE's star topology eliminating the need for repeater to be installed as is necessary with other mesh-based competing technologies. Over a thousand devices -- including motion, window contacts, smoke and flood detectors as well as other sensors -- can be seamlessly connected to the Speedport gateway via ULE, thereby bringing a new value proposition to Deutsche Telekom's end users: a smarter, connected home. End users will be able to monitor whether smoke alarms are operational, whether their batteries need replacement, and even to transmit the alarm to the utilities via an IP connection. For countries where home detectors are mandated this can bring serenity to the home owner. The ability to save energy by utilizing ULE enabled smart plugs through the gateway allowing users to benefit from monitoring and managing the energy consumption of their home appliances, either on demand or according to pre-determined times, will become a reality. All can be done seamlessly from home or remotely via Internet-enabled smartphones, tablets, laptops or PCs. These benefits will add to a powerful and attractive service proposition which will help improve customer loyalty and reduce churn. "ULE is not just another technology in the burgeoning market of smart home applications, its outstanding range, interference-free operation and self-install capabilities make ULE the ideal platform for a smarter home," says Dirk A. Bottger, Vice President, Terminal Management Fixed Line of Deutsche Telekom. "Millions of Deutsche Telekom gateways already benefit from DECT connectivity, and most of them can be easily enabled for ULE and smart home applications by a simple automatic firmware update without any disruption to best-in-class services we deliver to our customers." "ULE has the potential to be the unifying solution for the highly fragmented home automation market," says Ofer Elyakim, Chief Executive Officer of DSP Group. "ULE provides an interference free, easy-to-install fully interoperable solution that finally meets the increasing demand for interoperability across a variety of home application including energy management, home security and others at the lowest possible cost of ownership. Home automation solutions should be connected to the Internet, allowing users to watch and control their homes. Whether from home or remotely, ULE is the ideal solution provides all these benefits and much more." DSP Group