VTech to Bow Connected Home Products Based on ULE and Wi-Fi at CES

VTech will hitch to the connected home bandwagon at CES, the company said Tuesday, when it unveils a line of wireless monitoring products based on Ultra-Low Energy (ULE) and Wi-Fi technologies. The company will demonstrate how integrated ULE sensors in a baby monitor system can send notifications that a door or window is open in a child’s room, while a motion sensor can indicate a child’s movement, it said. Homeowners can program a cordless phone to notify them that ULE sensors have been triggered and to receive a voice alert through the phone system. They can also program the phone to call them at another phone number if they're away from home, the company said. VTech’s IP hub provides Internet connectivity for the sensors and devices, allowing consumers to control the devices in the home via a smartphone app. VTech will offer a variety of smart sensors and home-control devices to supplement its wireless monitoring devices, including open/closed, motion, glass-break, siren and flood sensors, it said. Consumers will be able to control connected AC power outlets and LED lights from mobile devices, it said. VTech called ULE the “newest proven communications standard known for its reliability, security and long range,” saying up to 50 million ULE products are expected to be sold next year. ULE operates on a reserved 1.9 GHz-frequency band that’s “free of interference and delivers unsurpassed range,” VTech said. As a result, homeowners can run all their VTech sensors and control devices on a point-to-point, encrypted network with a range of roughly 1,000 feet, while other technologies require repeaters to reach the same range, making them less reliable and more expensive, it said. ULE is also one of the most energy-efficient smart-home technologies available today, VTech said.