Editorial:
Solid state lighting group launches, SSL Summit picking up speed
... A new opportunity to communicate... Solid State Lighting Design has just launched a Linked-In group (this link, might get you there if you already have a Linked-in account, which is free, othewise search groups for "solid state lighting" and you'll spot our logo). Linked-In seems to be a solid... Read the editorial...
(if it resists... go here)
The
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
New Jersey, the feedback was consistent: Just what we needed, do it again soon.
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
or changes in 2009, 2010 will continue to be all about quality, quality, quality.Showcase participants and sponsors are vetted to separate
the wheat from the chaff (have your IES LM-79 test reports ready!).
With revised dates for LA, the 2010 Summit has expanded to 3 venues, including
LA/Long Beach lined up for January, Mar/April for Taiwan and October for NY/NJ.
Look into the series information at www.SSLsummit.com
for the details. Sponsorships are available for the full series or just the US
events.
Green LED Research Continues with More Funding LIGHTimes News Staff
September 3, 2009...Christian Wetzel at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is continuing work to develop better and more efficient green colored LEDs with help from a recent funding award of $1.8 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The color of light produced by LEDs depends on the type of semiconductor material it contains. The advancement of LED technology, Wetzel said, has followed a specific progression. The very first LEDs were red, and not long thereafter researchers tweaked their formula and developed some that produced orange light. Next in line, after considerable research efforts and some key breakthroughs, were blue LEDs, which can easily be found today as blue light sources in mobile phones, CD players, laptop computers, and other electronic devices.
Kinoton Launches Transparent 360° LED Display LIGHTimes News Staff
September 3, 2009...Kinoton, a maker of professional projection and display technology based in Munich, Germany, has announced the availability of the Litefast MAGIC 360° Display, a crystal-clear 360-degrees LED display. Unlike other cylindrical video displays, it is completely transparent. The company boasts that the Litefast MAGIC offers several benefits unmatched by other Digital Signage displays. The company says that the Litefast MAGIC's see-through 360° display can be turned into a showcase for exhibiting actual products inside the 360° display. It features 1mm LED pixel pitch which the company says is unsurpassed in the LED display market. It guarantees crisp and sharp pictures even if viewed at close range.
A transparent Litefast MAGIC 360° Display equipped with an in-screen product showcase, can be seen at Kinoton’s IBC booth No. 6.A10, along with Litefast MINI desktop displays in different sizes and the new Litefast MOTION 100 SL high-contrast 360° video display for portrait images.
Company News Release
Samsung Says ASA Ruling allows Use of Term "LED TV" in UK with Explanation LIGHTimes News Staff
September 3, 2009...The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), a self-regulatory group for advertisers in the UK, has condemned Samsung's ads referring to its "LED TVs". The ASA received some complaints about the ads. The complaints assert that Samsung's so called "LED TVs" are actually LED backlit TVs and edge lit TVs. The complaints also contend that the technology is not an entirely new class of television, but another form of LCD TVs that use LEDs for backlighting or edge lighting instead of CCFLs. The ASA agreed.
Samsung on the other hand argues that the TV's are revolution in their energy efficiency and that they produce "sharper images, deeper blacks and brighter colours,"
ASA found that the term "LED TV" was not consistently adopted throughout the industry" as Samsung claimed in its defense of the ads. Further, the ASA ruled that the TVs in question were not comprised entirely of LEDs as some outdoor billboards and video screens are. So, the ASA said that the term "LED TV" would be misleading.
The ASA has upheld the complaints of the TV and magazine ads that Samsung put out.
The ASA says that in the UK, Samsung should no longer refer to its TV's as "LED TVs", unless they are comprised entirely of LEDs. However, the ASA standards carry no codified legal authority for the industry. A spokesperson for Samsung in the UK stated that the ruling allows for the company to continue using the term "LED TV" as long as it is accompanied by an explanation that it is an LCD screen that uses LED technology for backlighting.
ASA Adjudication Concerning Samsung Electronics UK Ltd
Osram Claims Oslon LX LEDs Smallest 1 W LEDs for LCD Edge Lighting LIGHTimes News Staff
September 3, 2009...Osram Opto Semiconductors boasts that its Oslon LX white LEDs are the smallest packaged 1 W LEDs for backlighting LCD displays.
The company says that the LED's strong light can be very efficiently injected into thin light guides with an optimized lens. According to the company, this allows ultra-thin displays that can be uniformly illuminated even with single-side injection.
The company notes that thanks to the compact LED format and the high light output of typically 75 lm or 90 lm at an operating current of 350 mA, it is sufficient to inject the light from two sides or even from only one side to provide uniform backlighting for TVs and computer displays with a diagonal of up to 65“. The polynomial lens with a beam angle of 125° is designed to achieve an injection efficiency into the light guide of almost 80%.
Philips and Lighting Science Group Settle All Litigation SSLDesign News Staff
September 1, 2009...Lighting Science Group Corporation (“LSG”) and Royal Philips Electronics announced that they have settled all of their commercial and intellectual property disputes. The settlement involves a comprehensive agreement that revives their former commercial alliance. Under the terms of the agreement, trading of LED lighting products between the companies will be intensified, LSG will take out a royalty bearing license to the Philips LED based Luminaires and Retrofit Bulbs licensing program, and Philips will make a limited equity investment in LSG.
The commercial relationship reportedly involves mutual sourcing and supplying of LED components and products. The details concerning the commercial arrangement and the patent license agreement are confidential. The investment of five million United States dollars is in the form of a convertible note that will convert to preferred shares upon LSG’s planned rights offering. The agreement also provides for mutual releases for all claims relative to the past, including all intellectual property and commercial claims and all the pending cases between the companies will be dismissed.
Also during the month of August, Royal Philips Electronics ended its patent litigation against Taiwan LED-maker Epistar that it brought before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). Philips reportedly ended the litigation because the patent in question would expire before the ITC could resolve the dispute. Royal Philips Electronics News Release
Energy Focus, Inc. Awarded Additional $0.5 Million to Provide LED Lighting for US Navy Ships LIGHTimes News Staff
September 1, 2009...Energy Focus, Inc. of Solon, Ohio USA, a maker of solid state lighting fixtures, reports that it has been awarded an SBIR extension grant from DARPA to develop LED-based fixtures for general lighting on navy ships.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded the company $.5 million from the extension small business innovative research (SBIR) grant.
According to the company, the new fixtures will replace 50 and 110 Watt water tight incandescent fixtures now in use. Energy Focus, Inc. says that with the new fixtures it can offer energy efficient, long-life LED lighting alternatives to replace both incandescent and fluorescent systems across the entire Navy fleet.
Holiday Inn Hotels Switch to Signage Using GE LED Lighting LIGHTimes News Staff
September 1, 2009...The Holiday Inn hotels will get new LED-based signage as part of the $1 billion global Holiday Inn brand relaunch. According to Holiday Inn, more than 3,200 of its hotels are being updated to improve quality and consistency of service at
Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels around the world. A redesign of the iconic brand logo required new exterior signage for over 3,200 locations. The signage reportedly incorporates GE Tetra LED lighting systems, which are GE ecomagination certified solutions from Lumination, GE Consumer & Industrial’s LED business. The new signage will reportedly save Holiday Inn an estimated $4.4 million annually over previous neon and fluorescent lighting including $3 million annual maintenance savings and $1.4 million from energy savings.
Mitsubishi Electric Completes Installation of Two Diamond Vision Screens for Nakayama Racecourse LIGHTimes News Staff
September 1, 2009...Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, reports that it has completed installation of two multi-screen Diamond Vision large-scale display systems, called “Turf Vision,” at the Japan Racing Association (JRA)’s Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The new screens will be debuted on Saturday September 12, 2009, the opening day of the “Fourth Nakayama Keiba (horse race).”
The displays incorporate LEDs and the latest digital screen controllers. The two Turf Vision screens can provide high-definition video content, and will display a variety of information to race course visitors.
The 40.8 m wide and 9.6 m high “Turf Vision 1” is installed on the left-hand side of the front stand. This screen can reportedly be divided into two parts, to simultaneously display separate contents such as dynamic real-time media streams and race results. The “Turf Vision 2” screen installed on the right-hand side is 14.4 m wide x 8.0 m high, and will feature displays of the race track, paddock and odds.
Similar Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision screens can be found today in many baseball and football stadiums, numerous other racecourses and other venues. Recent installations of racetracks in Japan include the 977-inch screen for the Biwako Kyotei (boat race) in March 2008, the 828-inch screen for the Utsunomiya Keirin (bicycle racetrack) in March 2009, the 587-inch screen for the Maebashi Keirin in April 2009 and the 561-inch screen for the JRA Sapporo Racecourse in June 2009. Mitsubishi Electric aims to further expand its business in large scale displays for racecourses and stadiums. Mitsubishi Electric News Release
Raleigh-Durham International Airport Gets $1.38 Million in Stimulus Money for Change of Runway Lighting and Signs to LEDs LIGHTimes News Staff
August 27, 2009...The Raleigh-Durham International Airport will receive $1.38 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will provide $1.38 million to the Raleigh Durham Airport Authority for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport to rehabilitate runway lighting on runways 5L/23R. The funding will go towards a $10 million runway lighting and airfield signage replacement project. RDU Airport News Release,
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Ledtech to Ramp Production and Start U.S. Shipments of Low Temperature LED Lighting
August 27, 2009...Ledtech of Taiwan expects to increase its share of the low temperature and refrigerator case lighting market in Taiwan to increase from 60 percent to 90 percent in 2010, company chairman Frank Liu said in a Digitimes article.
A digitimes article cited Liu who indicated that the company plans to begin production of LED light bars at its China plant with a monthly capacity of 40,000.
The company noted in the article that its LED lighting revenues make up more than 50 percent of its total monthly revenues so far in 2009.
Ledtech will reportedly begin shipping 5-foot long LED light bars to the U.S. market in September or October. The company expects that this additional market will help raise revenues during the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2009.
The article also stated that Ledtech is working with Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha of Japan for LED light bar production. Orders from the Japan partner started in May, and so far the value has reached NT$10 million (US$3.05 million),
Our news features are reported
by the LIGHTimes staff writers.
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September 15, 2009...A new opportunity to communicate... Solid State Lighting Design has
just launched a Linked-In group (this
link, might get you there if you already have a Linked-in account, which
is free, othewise search groups for "solid state lighting" and you'll
spot our logo). Linked-In seems to be a solid tool of choice among a wide variety
of professionals, and we're going to use it to assess the value of comments
and interaction, as well as the work load it creates for our organization. We've
tied in the RSS feeds that chunk up our current SSL Design news stories, which
should be the basis of the comment threads. Having taken a look at a few other
groups out there, it's easy to see the value diminshers, including unmoderated
discussion topics which turn into advertisements for companies or services,
some not even directly involved with the industry. The good news is that no
one is anonymous on Linked-In, so offenders only embarrass themselves. The bad
news is that no one is anonymous, so some of the more "gritty" thoughts
we might otherwise get to see won't find their way into words. It's a start.
Be sure to check it out.
And for a quick chuckle in about "groups", we came across one in
the SSL industry that reminded us how exciting the industry is, in the sense
that lots of people might be jumping in without yet having all the tools that
it takes to really be "a lighting company". The description of the
group sort of speaks for itself (direct cut and paste, misspellings and extra
words as they appeared): The [name removed] group wants to hear from business
professionals who offer some unique talent to the our firm. The market stienks
and securing an opportunity that is geared towards helping the environment that
is lucrative is rough. We are mover and shakers and are on a global mission
to help rid the planet of mercury infested inneficient lighting. If you are
connected and want to contribute, while earning some nice cake, then we look
forward to hearing from you! I expect the author isn't the same one putting
together their press releases, and we'll claim our share of occasional typos,
but when the rubber meets the road there in the sales channel, are lighting
decision makers seeing the consistent professionalism that they need to for
LED lighting to be a credible industry?
SSL Design Summit is picking up momentum... You would be hard pressed
to miss the banners we fly about, so be sure to give a click and check out the
current topic agendas to see what's coming up in New York/New Jersey Nov 3-4
and then in Los Angeles Dec 1-2. The fact that there are both East and West
coast versions should be a hint that we're regionalizing the conferences to
better meet the lighting decision maker audiences where they live. We'd also
like to recognize the now-full compliment of co-chairs for the 2009 series,
which include Jeff Miller of Pivotal Lighting
Design, Kathy Abernathy of Abernathy
Lighting Design, Randy Sabedra of RS Lighting
Design and now, Andy Powell of Lighting
Design Alliance. (Anyone notice a pattern there? Hint: "lighting design").
Jeff and Kathy are, respectively, the President and President-Elect of the International
Association of Lighting Designers (IALD),
while Randy and Andy are both past presidents of their respective sections of
the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES).
All will be speaking, along with a number of their lighting design/engineer/architect
colleagues, and one is currently even an LED skeptic, having been burned by
some poor quality and service in a somewhat recent attempt to incorporate LED-based
lighting in a project.
The Summit series is all about quality...
Remember that when theory and reality collide, reality always wins. LED
lighting offers the promise of incredible efficiency, capability and performance,
but there can still be a bit of a gap here in the real world. Focus #1 will
be to educate, inform and connect lighting decision makers with quality
LED lighting companies and their thought processes, in order to equip them
to make the best business decisions concerning the inclusion of solid state
lighting in their projects. To that end, as we've always done for our speakers/topics,
we'll also be vetting the reception evening showcase companies, and even
our sponsors, to assure that products anyone sees live, hears about in a talk,
or companies that are promoted, are pretty highly assured to perform as advertised.
(We contend that if the big lighting trade show took this approach, only 20
or so booths there would be showing SSL products... wouldn't that make the lighting
decision maker's job easier). Focus #2 will be on educating and informing
luminaire manufacturers (great, good and other) with the real needs of lighting
decision makers, as well as connecting them to quality enabling technology
providers so they can better access the tools they need to implement quality
products that serve the customer's needs. Simple enough. For direct conference
links, you can visit the NY/NJ,
LA or
Taiwan
sites.
Conferences - Good ones are still incredibly valuable, others aren't...
Strictly as an illustration, an announcement for a non-LED or SSL industry conference
crossed my desk recently, pronouncing how good things were going, and that if
you hurry here at the last minute, you can "register one, bring one free". Seems
to us you should get the same deal if you already registered, especially since
you showed the commitment to register early, providing the organizer with oft-needed
cashflow that is used to better promote an event. Makes you wonder if the commitment
of the conference is at all to the industry, or merely to themselves. We always
challenge those evaluating their yearly/quarterly conference plan to ask themselves
a two-part question: "Does the conference deliver well thought out and
organized content, and do they have 'skin in the game' in which their success
is linked to helping the industry to succeed , or can they just bail out and
do a conference in some other industry?" Two-for-one or other last minute
discounts are a hint that the underlying value may not be there, and past attendees
are not choosing to be attendees this time around. Exceptions exist of course,
as can be the case if an industry consolidation occurs (simply fewer companies
around) or if it turned out that something else created a calendar or attention
conflict (been there, done that). If those exceptions aren't applicable, challenge
your assumption of the value.
An often missed value component - the web... Shhhh, it's a secret: Advertising
and sponsorships are about branding and messaging, not about "click throughs".
Are TV and radio advertisers so ignorant that they've tossed away hundreds of
billions in 30-second ads without a single click-through... or is it maybe really
about branding, recognition and messaging? "Calls to action" happen separately,
based on PR and news reports in an industry such as ours, especially news concerning
a new product introduction or a substantial application/account win. Broadly
speaking, what should you get from a Summit conference sponsorship?
1) Association with an event that demands quality from its high-visibility
participants. It's a visible testimony to the industry that you are also a company
that values substance and quality of performance over hype. (Brand-building
by association, and proof that you "made the cut").
2) Branding exposure. While 150-250 people may attend the events, we typically
see 50K-100K page views on the conference websites. Premium sponsors logo's
and links appear on all of those pages, while smaller sponsors appear on many
of them (at the bottom, but where there is still important content). Between
all of the events, attendees will likely account for 3000 or less of the page
views. The other 47,000-97,000 are still saturated with the branding, and each
one helps solidify that quality-association connection. Not everyone gets that
concept, but we find the most successful companies in the industry sure do.
And what if you are a luminaire manufacturer and don't (yet) qualify for a
high visibility position? No sweat. There's a limited number of such positions,
so it's not a ding against you in anyone's eyes, and we're not publicizing who
didn't qualify. We just can't offer the implicit endorsement and exposure that
comes with a high profile sponsorship. Your mission is to be there to hear from,
and network with, the decision makers to really understand their needs, and
to grasp the latest from the quality LED and other component suppliers, so you
know the latest about the resources and expertise that you need to in order
to position your product to qualify in the future.
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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