Thursday, May 13, 2010

"10 LED Companies To Watch At Lightfair" (CREE; GE; PHG)

Both Cree and GE are trading down a bit over 1%, Phillips 2%.
From earth2tech:
It’s fitting to have the world’s largest lighting convention in the city that’s so covered in lights you can see it from space. This week the lighting show Lightfair kicks off and companies from the world’s largest — Philips, General Electric, Sharp — to small innovative startups, have been launching products and unveiling their world-domination lighting plans. Of course, LEDs (light emitting diodes) are the next generation of solid state lighting technology and are dominating the news at the show (check out our report on Opportunities in LED Solid-State Lighting on GigaOM Pro, subscription required). Here’s 10 companies that are outshining the rest:

Lemnis Lighting: Lemnis — an LED powerhouse to watchlaunched six new LED bulbs at Lightfair, including the Pharox 500, a 500-lumen incandescent replacement that’s dimmable.

Netherlands-based Lemnis is run by Warner Philips, the great grandson of the founder of lighting giant Philips, and the company introduced its first LED bulb that can replace an incandescent in a standard socket about four years ago. In March it raised $35.7 million in funding, and at the time Philips said the round was raised with a pre-money valuation (an estimate of how much the company is worth before the funding) of $170 million.

Philips: Yep, Dutch lighting giant Philips has finally awoken to the LED as a replacement for the common incandescent bulb (here’s a list of five of these bulbs you can soon buy). At Lightfair, Philips launched the 12-watt “EnduraLED” light bulb, which can replace a 60-watt incandescent. Philips says it can deliver 80 percent energy savings and lasts 25,000 hours, or 25 times longer than an incandescent bulb. The company hasn’t priced the bulb yet, but the current industry standard for this product is around $40-50 per bulb. Philips says it will be available in the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2010.

GE/Cree: Last month GE announced its own 9-watt LED bulb that can replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb and uses Cree’s LED chip. At Lightfair this week GE is showing off that bulb, which lasts 17 years and costs between $40 and $50, according to the company. GE plans to start selling the bulb by the end of 2010 or early 2011. GE is also reportedly planning to show ideas for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lighting applications including thin form fixture prototypes.

Redwood Systems: Lighting startup Redwood Systems officially launched its networked lighting management technology at Lightfair. The company — founded in 2008 and based in Redwood City, Calif. — uses sensors, lighting and digital tech to measure light levels, motion, occupancy, and temperature and can cut down the energy consumption of lighting in commercial buildings. The company’s centralized power system, dubbed the Redwood Engine, can power up to 64 LED light fixtures using low voltage network cables. Redwood Systems co-founder and CEO Dave Leonard is a former Cisco executive, and the company raised $12 million from Battery Ventures and U.S. Venture Partners....MORE