Celebrating 25 years of Excellence in Wireless Control: Universal Electronics Inc. (UEI) was incorporated in 1986 and the following year began selling the first One For All brand universal TV remote control into the North American market. For founders of the company, Frank Doherty, Paul Darbee, and Frank O’Donnell, this was a promising evolution in remote controls that, for the first time, allowed consumers to purchase a remote for their TV that wasn’t from the original TV manufacturer. The success of these beginnings and the addition of control of other devices beyond TVs set the company on pace for national recognition growing from annual revenues of $166,000 in 1988, to $50 million by 1992.

Early success of the universal TV remote fueled many innovations out of the Anaheim, California research center and that drive continues today from the Cypress, California Innovations Team. In the first decade of existence, UEI brought technology to market that today is considered necessities in universal remote technology. Starting with Macros in 1989 and powerful setup features like learning and SIO Programming to remotes in 1998, UEI lead the way in making universal remotes easier to set up and compatible with virtually any device. Continued innovations in online PC setup and easy to follow applications like UEI QuickSet continue to revolutionize universal remote control setup and compatibility. In today’s rapidly changing home entertainment ecosystem, UEI plays a central role making it easier to connect, control, and interact with content, technology, and devices.

Along with technology innovations, UEI also expanded the scope and breadth of its business world wide. From humble beginnings in Twinsburg, OH, UEI quickly expanded operations to include European Headquarters in Enschede, Netherlands. Along with these geographical expansions, the business also expanded from retail into the subscription broadcast, satellite, and OEM markets. Today, UEI has customers in six continents serviced by offices all over the world. UEI estimates that it builds or delivers the technology in 1 in 3 remotes sold worldwide.

Acquisitions in 2008 of Zilog Inc and in 2010 of China based Enson Assets Limited (C.G. Development Limited and C.G. Technology Limited) greatly expanded the international reach and end-to-end capabilities of the company providing it with greater database coverage, personnel resources, and manufacturing capabilities.

Today UEI is a complete end-to-end solutions provider in control – and its position is almost unrivalled in the industry. For 2010, the company reported record revenues of $331.8 million, the eight straight year of continuous growth and the 13th straight year of profitability.