LED Industry News: Toshiba, Green Star LED, Rambus, Fern Howard, Switch, MOCVD sales

Green Star LED will be producing LED fixtures under the Toshiba brand, Rambus has licensed its MicroLens technology to Fern Howard, Switch Lighting has hired an executive team and MOCVD sales may be bottoming out.
Green Star LED establishes alliance with Toshiba LED lighting
San Antonio, Texas-based Green Star LED has recently signed a marketing and distribution agreement with Toshiba International Corporation. Under this agreement, Green Star LED will be producing LED luminaires under the Toshiba brand for this global company to sell through its network.


Toshiba LED lighting has only recently entered the North American market, with a focus on lamps and outdoor lighting. Green Star manufactures a line of outdoor and indoor high-power LED fixtures. Aside from adding new products, Toshiba will also benefit from distributing US-made lights for the first time.


The agree is expected to allow Toshiba to expand its product portfolio in the US, particularly with LED fixtures, while Green Star will be better positioned to drive sales volume.


“It is an honor for us to have been selected by Toshiba for this alliance” states Gabriel Senior, Green Star’s CFO. As part of their strict processes, Toshiba engineers scrutinized Green Star's products, designs, manufacturing, and suppliers and were completely satisfied.


Rambus licenses MicroLens technology to Fern Howard
Rambus Inc., a technology licensing company, has signed a license agreement with Fern Howard, a manufacturer of energy efficient lighting based in Alton, UK. This agreement enables Fern Howard to sell advanced lighting products based on Rambus lighting solutions incorporating Rambus patented innovations including MicroLens optics technology.


"We believe edge-lit technology is the much sought-after link between conventional area lighting fixtures and wide-scale LED adoption. It not only provides a pleasing, uniform light source, but when coupled with highly sophisticated MicroLens technology, enables a level of lighting control that is impossible to achieve with other, less efficient LED solutions," said Peter Scott, managing director of Fern Howard.


The companies will demonstrate the first results the collaboration at Light + Building next week.


Switch Lighting expands executive branch
Switch Lighting, a maker of LED retrofit lamps, has announced that it has hired five new executive team members as the company transitions to a commercialization phase. The new execcutives include Daniel Macsherry, chief financial officier, Gary Rosenfield, executive vice president of marketing and national accounts, Bill Lenihan, Executive vice president of business development, David Becker, national sales director of the Retail & Hospitality and Sam Stark, regional sales director of Commercial & Industrial.


Brett Sharenow, former CFO and CSO, will transition to a new role as chief product officer and chief administrative officer. All appointments are effective immediately. The CEO is Tracy Bilbrough.


The company added that its Switch100 100W-incandescent-equivalent A lamp has been launch for sale in commercial channels of distribution.


MOCVD sales to hit bottom
According to a recent quarterly report from IMS Research based in Wellingborough, UK, sales of MOCVD reactors are expected to bottom out in the first half of 2012. The market research firm, which was recently acquired by HIS, forecasts that 342 GaN LED MOCVD reactors will ship in 2012, a 48% decline from 2011’s level of 654 reactors.


According to IMS’ GaN LED Quarterly Supply and Demand Report, the first two quarters of 2012 are expected to experience the lowest shipment levels, with a modest recovery in the second half as companies begin adding capacity in response to expectations of rapid demand growth from the general lighting market in 2013 onwards.


The report states that China accounted for 92% of MOCVD sales in the 4th quarter of 2011.