Lightimes Online News and Resources for the LED and Solid State Lighting Industry and its Supply Chain

April 18, 2006...Early this year, we decided to remake the approach we had applied in our years organizing the programs for the CS Outlook meets to create a high-energy gathering of compound semi (CS) and solid state lighting (SSL) industry executives and marketeers in a half-day affair (Thursday pm, April 27th in Vancouver) that picks up as CS Mantech wraps up. As you've seen mentioned in this column (and in those only mildy annoying logo banners scattered about the site), it's called, "CompoundSemi Vision 2006" (CS Vision, for short). Tagged onto Mantech, those attending and exhibiting at that premier event can simply make use of their "after-time" that afternoon and evening to kick back and spend some quality minutes with one another in a relaxed "tell me something new - let's make a deal" type atmosphere that executives and marketers long for following any large industry gathering. That's when the real deals go down. Many a company has been bought and sold at a CS Outlook. We intend to carry on that fine tradition at our CS Vision events.

Plus, the Vancouver airline scene is such that, if you attend all of Mantech through Thursday noon, most attendees can't fly away until Friday morning anyway. The way most are plotting their Vancouver stay, they'll either man or visit the Mantech exhibits on Tuesday, do business or attend Mantech talks on Wednesday and Thursday morning, and attend CS Vision Thursday afternoon and evening before heading out Friday. We're also holding it at the same hotel as Mantech, the Vancouver Fairmont, and we've priced it like a workshop (only $395) to make it a "no-brainer" type of decision.

We also thought it would be fun to do something different for a change and came up with a "poker game" party theme for that Thursday evening following the talks. The Fairmont said we can't use real money, but hey, piles of traditional chips make it feel like the real thing. And maybe there will even be visors and cigars to make it even more fun. You may not be able to light up the cigars either, but I bet you can chew on them as you size up your opponents and "chew the fat" (i.e. trade gossip, tell tall stories) over a few hands of poker with your pals, customers... and competitors. Signups are starting to stream in and we expect a goodly number of walk-ins, especially from those natural gamblers. So I guess you could call CS Vision, The Real Deal. I figure the marketers and business strategy guys, especially, are going to like the poker game theme. It's not only fun, it falls into their job description.

Take a look at the refreshed lineup of VIPs steering CS Vision. We've posted the pictures of our two co-chairs on the event home page. Chairing the get-together this year are Bruce Fornier, VP of Business Development at TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc. and Bill Quinn, CTO of Veeco Instruments TurboDisc Division. TriQuint and Veeco's TurboDisc Division (formerly the core of Emcore) have long supported our CS Outlook events, which we used to hold in conjunction with Gorham. The CS Vision events are totally under our charge here at CS Online Inc. now, and following CS Vision 2006 in Vancouver, CS Vision will again be co-located with CS Mantech in 2007, which is slated for next spring in Austin, Texas... which, coincidentally, is where CS Online Inc. is headquartered. So, by attending the CS Vision in Vancouver, you'll be in on the ground floor of something new, based on the reputations of two long-standing industry events. I see this "overlap" and "co-locating" trend to be a healthy sign for the CS and SSL industries we serve as budgets continue to stay tight and a way to maximize time "out on the road."

Take a close look at the intensified agenda and see why this is a must-attend for Mantech marketers, especially. Bruce and Bill will kick things off at 1p followed immediately by a 2006 industry supply and demanded market update by Strategy Analytics's longtime guru, Asif Anwar, director of SA's GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service. Those who've attended our CS Outlook programs in the past know that Asif is very good at being "right on the money" with his market projections. Then we move over to the SSL side of the CS business with an analysis of the LED industry's impact on the compounds from Robert Walker, president & CEO of BridgeLux (formerly eLite Opto). Bob Walker is also co-chair again for our big Solid State Lighting Suppliers Forum (SSLS 2006) event May 9-11 in Taiwan. It might not hurt to play a few hands of poker with Bob at CS Vision to get an even better handle on the scene in Asia, and especially China. Bob's clearly a pioneer in advocating the 'bridging' of US and Asian talents to speed up the industry" (hence the BridgeLux name).

I enjoyed seeing that eLite Opto had changed its name to BridgeLux. Check out their new website, www.bridgelux.com, for more background on what they're doing these days, under this rather well-chosen new name. The site is illuminating to say the least (pun intended), showing that the fabless model is definitely working for the production of affordable LEDs. One of the things posted on the BridgeLux site that caught my eye was a Forbes Asia article by my press colleague (and author), Bob Johnstone. It's titled "Lighten Up" and covers Bob Walker's view (as of last October) of the China R&D, manufacturing and systems integration (as well as political) scene as well as that of Wu Ling, the dynamic former medical doctor who directs the China Solid-State Lighting Alliance in Beijing. Wu Ling is a lovely, articulate and brilliant woman who will again be speaking at our SSLS meet in Taiwan.

You'll get a lot of fresh info from Bob Walker and the other speakers at CS Vision in Vancouver. Those other confirmed speakers to date include: Morris Young of AXT who will speak about InP strategies, Ivan Eliashevich of Emcore addressing recent GaN substrate advancements, Drew Hanser of Kyma on GaN wafer strategies, Primit Parikh of Cree on GaN device strategies. Speaking for the GaAs side of progress will be our co-chair, TriQuint's Bruce Fornier. A few last minute speakers are still juggling their schedules and will be announced soon, so stay tuned to the CS Vision event website. While you're there, pre-register to attend. It'll save you from having to stand in line. As I said earlier, we've priced it like a workshop, at only $395. Heck of a deal. Plus... you get to play poker with the industry pros.

Like our CS Vision event coordinator (and CEO of CS Online Inc.), Tom Griffiths, said when drafting the blurb about the Poker Party... "If you know when they have the cards and when they're bluffing, you'll be ready for the next big deal... Canada says we can't play for money, but we can play for chips, possible prizes, and bragging rights to carry in to 'Texas-Hold'em' next year in Austin."

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