Establishment of LEDON Lighting GmbH, Austria, for pioneering LED applications. Strategic partnership with TIR Systems Ltd, Canada, to make use of innovative LEXELTM LED technology.As one of the few global players in the international lighting industry, the Austrian-based Zumtobel Group continues to focus on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the technology of the future and has now expanded its activities with a view to further exploiting innovative LED technology. Zumtobel recently set up LEDON Lighting GmbH, a wholly-owned Group subsidiary managed by Ruedi Hug, formerly Managing Director of TridonicAtco Schweiz AG. The new company is based at the Millennium Park in Lustenau in the Vorarlberg region of Austria and is expected to move into its new premises in March of this year. The location was selected for its proximity to the Zumtobel Staff and TridonicAtco sales organisations, the applications expertise available in the Vorarlberg region, and the existing production capacities offered by the Zumtobel Group. During the start-up phase, LEDON Lighting will employ around 20 people.
Zumtobel Group now covers the entire LED value chain
Complementing the Group's existing LED activities based at Jennersdorf in the Burgenland region of Austria, where Tridonic Atco focuses on LED modules and the Lexedis Lighting joint venture concentrates primarily on white LED light engines, the new company's efforts will be centred on the use of innovative LEDs in pioneering lighting concepts and new fields of application. "We expect LED technology to have a far-reaching and dynamic impact on the field of professional lighting," said Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas J. Ludwig, setting out the reasons for the establishment of LEDON Lighting. "With LEDON Lighting in place, we now cover the entire value chain for LED-based lighting solutions at the Zumtobel Group and have established a solid platform for the lighting of the future. As well as reinforcing our existing brands – Zumtobel Staff, Thorn and TridonicAtco – with new LED products, LEDON Lighting will be using this innovative technology to open up entirely new sales channels and market segments for our Group."
Innovative edge through strategic partnership with TIR Systems
Through its newly formed LEDON Lighting subsidiary, the Zumtobel Group has also entered into a strategic development and supply agreement with the Canadian company TIR Systems Ltd., a world leader in light-enabling technologies for LED-based solid state lighting. In 2005, TIR Systems developed LEXELTM technology, becoming the world's first supplier to offer a solid state light source with fully integrated control and dimming functions. In the future, LEXELTM technology will play a significant part in the innovative LED-based products offered by LEDON Lighting.
Zumtobel invests CAD 4 million in TIR Systems Ltd.
In addition to the commercial agreement between the two companies, through a convertible bond Zumtobel AG has invested 4 million Canadian Dollars in TIR Systems Ltd., which has been listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange since 2004. The high-tech company was founded in 1982 to commercialise technology invented at the University of British Columbia and today has a workforce of some 120 employees. "For the Zumtobel Group, the strategic partnership with TIR Systems is a perfect enrichment of our dynamically growing LED activities," said Andreas J. Ludwig, commenting on the agreement with TIR Systems. "Access to LEXELTM technology provides us with an important innovative edge. Both companies are committing significant resources to our joint development effort to help this innovative technology make the decisive breakthrough."
In the course of 2006, LEDON Lighting will become the first European lighting manufacturer to turn out products based on LEXELTM technology. Key fields of application will include professional indoor lighting for the retail, hotel and museum segments.
