Editorial:
Time to Get Picky About Those Conferences?
... The words ring too often in a growing industry… "There's a new conference this year." The immediate response (right after the 'aaaarrrggghhh' sound) is often pre-programmed, "Where, when, how much, and why the heck do we need another one… don't we have enough already?" Simple answer to that last... Read the editorial...
(if it resists... go here)
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2010 Summit Series is ready to succeed... are you?
After the successful 2008 launch and 2009 continuation of the
Solid State Lighting Design Summit in
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The Summit brings together lighting decisin makers with industry thought leaders,
pioneers, and innovators from the across the solid state lighting eco-system.
Read the 2009 conference report...
Following our changes in 2009, 2010 will continue
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participants and sponsors are vetted to separate the wheat from the chaff
(have your IES LM-79 test reports ready!). The 2010 Summit has expanded to 2
venues, including LA/Long Beach completed in January and October for NY/NJ.
Look into the series information at www.SSLsummit.com
for the details. Sponsorships are available for the full series.
Intematix Adds Lednium as Strategic Customer
November 9, 2006...Phosphor expert, Intematix, has added yet another customer to its list of strategic
customer wins. The company located in Fremont, California USA, reports that
Lednium Pty Ltd of Mooroolbark, Australia selected a broad range of Intematix’
patent-backed phosphors to continue their product line expansion into white
and warm white power-LED solutions for general purpose lighting applications.
Dr. Yi-Qun Li, Intematix co-founder and display and lighting business general
manager pointed out, “Phosphor output typically degrades in the high
junction temperature environments that you would expect in power-LED designs.
The Intematix approach has resulted in higher luminous output and reliability
once junction temperatures exceed 60 degrees C.” He added, “With
a considerable investment of effort being required to incorporate a new phosphor
source, the product roadmap becomes another key decision factor. Beyond our
expanding warm white and alternate-color offerings, our upcoming phosphor coating
product line has created substantial interest for Lednium.”
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Philips Lumileds Debuts New SnapLEDs for Dual-Drive Automotive Applications LIGHTimes Staff
November 9, 2006...Philips Lumileds of San Jose, California USA, has debuted the new SnapLED 150
LEDs for use in automotive dual drive applications such as rear combination
lamps that act both as stop lights and tail lights. According to the company,
the new SnapLED 150 LEDs are specifically designed, qualified, tested and binned
for dual drive automotive applications, and they remove the need for costly
pulse-width modulation circuits. Additionally, the LEDs eliminate the “flicker”
when this type of circuit is used.
The company points out that the difference between the tail lamp and stop lamp
is a direct result of the current applied to the LED — the lower the current,
the less light output. Lumileds says that the LEDs deliver stability at very
low currents down to 5mA. “We have never accepted that the technology
hurdles preventing resistor drive circuits for RCL applications could not be
solved,” said Jason Posselt, Automotive Marketing Manager at Philips
Lumileds. “The new SnapLED 150 products enable resistor drive circuits
and fundamentally improve the engineering process and lower costs for rear combination
lamps. Coupled with SnapLED’s unique clinch technology that enables dimensional
design, SnapLED 150 will lead where lower system costs, high performance and
design flexibility are critical.”
Philips Lumileds is far from new to the automotive market. In fact, the company
boasted that the automotive industry installs about 4 million SnapLEDs in cars
and trucks each year. Furthermore, the company contends that this number is
expected to grow as costs fall and adoption in automobiles increases. Company
News Release
Harvetek to Benefit From Sony LED Orders
November 9, 2006...Sony PlayStation 3 game console reportedly uses both blue laser diodes and
red LEDs. Harvetek, a Taiwan-based LED maker who supplies red LEDs for Sony’s
PlayStation 3, posted 20 percent higher revenues in October over September,
according to Digitimes. Harvetek has reached its full production capacity of
330 million LEDs per month, but it will expand its capacity to 400 million units
in early 2007, the Digitimes article
reported. SL Chine, Harvetek’s spokesman, told the Chinese-Language Economic
Daily News that LED orders from Sony will remain strong in November.
November 9, 2006...One city in Canada, Brampton (which lies west of Toronto), has started an LED
exchange program at its Sixth Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony. The ceremony, put
on by the Rotary Club of Brampton South, which take place on November 17, will
light up a 40-foot spruce decorated with more than 15,000 twinkling lights.
The ceremony, which runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m., in Ken Whillans Square at Brampton
City Hall, also begins the city’s Second Annual Winter-Lights Celebration.
(Ref: City of Brampton
News Release).
Once again this year, electric power company, Brampton Hydro One, will offer
its free LED Light Exchange Program. The program allows residents to bring one
string of old Christmas lights to the tree-lighting ceremony and exchange them
for one string of energy efficient LED lights, at no charge. Programs such as
these provide an ideal opportunity for people to learn about and try LED lighting
with virtually no cost to themselves.
When the time comes in the not-too-distant future when LEDs are used for general
lighting, who will be the early adopters of the technology? The obvious answer
is the people who know something about them or have at least seen them in operation.
While getting some future customers in one town to try LED Christmas lights
may do little to help speed up the overall adoption, it couldn’t hurt.
The large-scale free sample idea may be expensive, but it might make LEDs the
light source of choice that much sooner.
Joint Ventures, Mergers, and Acqusitions Prevalent in CS Sector in Q3 2006, Strategy Analytics Says CompoundSemi News Staff
November 8, 2006...Strategy Analytics released its regular annalysis of compound semiconductor
news. Strategy Analytics (SA) noted that during the third quarter of 2006, several
important joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions dominate the landscape of
the compound semiconductor industry in both the RF and LED markets. Among the
mergers, in mid September, Freescale Semiconductor of Austin, Texas USA, a semiconductor
company which does some work with the compounds in wireless components, agreed
to be acquired by a private equity consortium in a transaction valued at $17.6
billion. According to SA, Freescale has become a private equity company like
Avago and NXP. (Ref: Sept.
News Release). Additionally Jazz Semiconductor merged with a wholly owned
subsidiary Acquicor Technology Incorporated.
Strategy Analytics also pointed Epistar’s move to acquire two more Taiwan-based
InGaN LED makers. (Ref: Coverage).
Strategy Analytics predicts that this move may thrust Epistar into the ranks
of the top five InGaN LED suppliers. Despite this, equipment manufacturer, Hermes-Epitek,
and DRAM manufacturer, ProMOS formed the joint venture EpiLED.
“Consolidation in the LED market, especially in Taiwan, is a prerequisite
to improving product quality and consistency so that the solid state lighting
community can start serving the general lighting markets,” commented
Asif Anwar, GaAs service Director. “While it may seem surprising to
many observers that Promos and Hermes-Epitek have chosen to enter this consolidating
market, the joint venture can be successful if it is able to harness silicon-style
manufacturing philosophies to LED manufacture.”
“The increased merger and acquisition activity surrounding companies
active in the RF industry underlines the continued strength of the RF markets,”
noted Stephen Entwistle, VP of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies
Practice. “The appetite of private equity firms for companies such
as Freescale underlines strong performance as a result of healthy demand from
end markets.”Strategy
Analytics News Release
Cree Signs First Global Lighting Distrbutor, Arrow Electronics LIGHTimes Staff
November 6, 2006...Cree Inc., a solid state lighting component maker of Durham, North Carolina
USA, reported signing an agreement with Arrow Electronics to sell and support
Cree’s XLamp Products worldwide. According to Cree, the agreement gives
customers of Arrow Electronics, who number over 130,000, access to Cree’s
latest technology and XLamp products.
Under the agreement Cree says it will supply LEDs to Arrow Electronics’
thousands of field representatives, applications engineers, and technicians
in 290 locations worldwide. According to Cree, the agreement gives Arrow Electronics
the opportunity to sell the XLamp products, which Cree contends are the brightest
and most efficient LEDs currently on the market. Arrow Electronics will be offering
Cree’s newly released XLamp 7090 XR-E Series LED, a 160-lumen white, power
LED which boasts efficiency equal to fluorescent sources.
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Lighting Science Group Products to be Sold at Retailer, Current Energy SSL Design News Staff
November 7, 2006...Lighting Science Group Corporation reported that its products will be available
at Current Energy, a retail store based in Dallas, Texas USA, which is focused
on selling energy efficient products. With the retailer’s focus on energy
efficient products, it is not surprising that the store sells LED products.
Lighting Science Group said that the store will sell its R-30 (Ref: R-30
Bulb Introduction Coverage), G-25, flame tip bulbs, and flashlights, and
its LED votive candle sets.
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Commentary & Perspective...
Time to Get Picky About Those Conferences? Tom Griffiths - Publisher
November 9, 2006...The words ring too often in a growing industry… "There's a new conference
this year." The immediate response (right after the 'aaaarrrggghhh' sound)
is often pre-programmed, "Where, when, how much, and why the heck do we need
another one… don't we have enough already?" Simple answer to that last one
is yes, and no. Yes, we have plenty of them and probably too many when you look
at the worldwide picture and automatically assume you need to be at every one.
But when there's a new can of soup on the grocery shelf do you fall to your
knees and plead with the store manager not to make you buy another one because
your cart and pantry are full? Or is it more likely that you only pick the flavors
that look attractive to you.
It's called a choice, and as long as you have a system and resolve to
quickly evaluate the choices, more are better. This may seem basic, but when
there were just a few conferences, we tended to automatically attend them all.
We may not have noticed how many we are now signed up for as they crept up on
us one or two at a time over the years. Time for the blasphemy: If the schedule
is over-filled, it's time you dropped some. So how do we make it an efficient
decision making process? We've gathered some input over the last few decades
and are happy to share what's come our way.
Who's writing the story? You don't judge a book by its cover, but by
the author, the table of contents, and by what qualified commentators have to
say about that book. The best conferences are put on by "authors" (organizers)
that have something more at stake… skin in the game, so to speak. That means
having core business components that depend upon on the growth and success of
the industry. As a 'for instance' we run news and resource sites dedicated to
the LED, solid state lighting and compound semi industries. If things turn the
wrong way here, we don't have the option to drop the event, buy a list and turn
to the paper airplane industry for our next conference. Our objective is to
help the industry succeed and grow our business as a result, rather than picking
a growing industry because "that's a good place to make some money". PennWell's
Strategies Unlimited fits that bill as well. They've been with the industry
since virtually day one, generally producing the highest quality market studies
you'll find for this industry. And guess what? Studies don't sell in industries
that are contracting. No growth, no business for them. That's a big reason we
support their annual Strategies
in Light event, scheduled this year for February 12 to 14 in San Jose, California.
Once you have a knowledgeable and committed organizer, the next ingredient
is the agenda. Does it have flow, or is it a bunch of spaghetti topics that are
thrown against the wall to see what sticks in hopes there's at least a couple
things that appeal to somebody? (At least there's plenty of time to return the
phone calls you're missing while you're wasting your time there!). With a strong
agenda, not only do you hear from industry innovators and leaders, but you'll
see a progression that builds from one topic area to the next, allowing a complete
picture of the technology, market, or (speaking generically) techniques to unfold
for the target audience. Sometimes it's bottom-up, and other times top-down
(to frame the picture before the details are filled in). Either way, the key
is that progression which should take the attendee on a path that spurs new
ideas and approaches that will focus their business. If your information needs
match a good portion of the agenda, go!
Hunting the contacts… Keep in mind that it's possible you may not need
the information, but that you need access to the audience that it will draw.
If it's for the contacts, examine the opportunity cost of attending. Is the
audience fit strong enough that you are going to get a good number of new or
renewed contacts? Keep in mind that just moving some relationships forward a
step is more than worth the price of admission. Is the location near areas where
you can do some business on either side of the conference? An executive retreat
or technical conference makes sense in one of those "fun" places. When it comes
to business conferences, it just makes sense that they would be in an area that's
either within striking distance of other productive visits, or designed to simplify
travel.
A final sort… If you're still not sure on a go or no-go, then it's time
to ask what people have to say about this particular conference. (Don't put
much stock in the testimonial on the website unless the comment is credited
to an attendee of last year's conference, not some generic "past conference").
If the conference is a new one, don't discount it. It may be an ideal replacement
for one that is only doing a half-way job right now. Ask what the organizer
has done before. Are they specialized in this or a related area? Did you look
at the agenda of those related conferences to see how it flowed and if the topics
seemed consistent and on-target? If they don't have links to past conferences
or information, send a note to ask for some. If the conference has been around
in previous years, does it seem that past companies (speakers, sponsors) are
returning to support the conference from year to year?
None of the questions are hard, and given how precious our time is these days,
it's worth a little homework to save a week if it's the wrong one, or possible
put you a year ahead if it's the right one.
Next up… To sponsor, exhibit, or "none of the above"?
If you have questions about
the solid state lighting and compound semiconductor industries or
have
news or views to share, we want to hear from you! Feel free to contact
us anytime. The main office line is +1
(512) 257-9888
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