Xenics USA, Xenics North and Latin American office covering the full spectral range of Xenics' advanced infrared imagers, cores and cameras, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Laser Components’ North American sales, marketing and distribution office. With this new agreement, Laser Components USA, Inc. will become the partner to sell and market Xenics in-house developed SWIR line-scan imagers with rectangular pixels. This partnership will further extend Xenics position in the North American IR spectroscopy market. The agreement was jointly signed on February 12, 2016 at the Photonics West Trade show held in San Francisco.

Gooee, the IoT platform provider for lighting, has partnered with EnOcean, the world leader in energy harvesting wireless technology, to integrate a BLE based self-powered wall switch module into the Bluetooth Smart Mesh stack; the primary communication protocol in Gooee’s enterprise IoT ecosystem.

Essex County Council in UK projects it will be able to save about GBP 24 million (US$ 34.23 million) over 20 years with new LED streetlight installations, but despite energy savings it still plans to implement its part-night lighting scheme, reported local paper Dealer Offers.

Today at Light + Building, the world’s leading trade show for lighting and building services technology, Samsung Electronics and Silver Spring Networks announced a partnership to develop a networked LED street lights solution, helping to cut costs and simplify connected lighting componentry for luminaire manufacturers.  This will accelerate the road to smart cities for municipalities, utilities, transportation departments and other outdoor lighting network operators.  

Philips Lighting, a Royal Philips company and global leader in lighting, is helping to drive the adoption of the smart home by partnering up with Dutch telecoms company KPN, French insurance firm AXA and French energy company ENGIE. With lighting considered to be one of the main interests in the connected home along with energy and security , collaborations such as these not only help drive the adoption of the Internet of Things for homes but also deliver energy savings and peace of mind when away from home.

Qualcomm announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros, is working closely with Acuity Brands in the commercial deployment of LED lighting fixtures/services (marketed by Acuity Brands as Bytelight™ Services) that use Qualcomm® Lumicast™ technology to bring indoor positioning capabilities and services to retailers. Unlike RF-based technologies, Lumicast uses visible-light signals transmitted from LED fixtures to deliver indoor positioning. A regular smartphone, using apps enabled by Lumicast software, receives the light signals through the front camera to determine its position and orientation with exceptional precision and speed.

Leading Taiwanese LED epiwafer manufacturer revenues dropped 12% YoY to NT $1.64 billion (US$ 50.63 million), the lowest revenue reported over the last three years, according to a report from Taiwanese media Money DJ earlier this week.

Arianna Tozzi from The Climate Group  addresses in this article how U.S. mayors are valuing LED lighting replacements in their efforts to reduce city carbon emission and energy consumption.

NICHIA Corporation, the pioneer and the leader in LED technology and Future Lighting Solutions (FLS), the world-class leader and innovator in demand creation, marketing and distribution of solid-state lighting technologies, announced a new distribution agreement covering the Americas and Europe*.  

The photonic sensors market has undergone a drastic change based on the research undertaken in the domain of photonic technology in the past. The photonic technology has exhibited increasing application in varied fields. Incessant technological advancements and innovations in the field of fiber optics have driven the adoption of photonic sensors. The photonic industry is now focusing on the development of efficient products. It is now being estimated that over the next few years, eco-friendly and energy saving photonic sensors would be developed and launched into the market.

Philips Lighting, a Royal Philips company and the global leader in lighting, announced today a new agreement for Vodafone to become a global Internet of Things (IoT) managed connectivity partner. Under the agreement, the two companies will enable city authorities worldwide to implement connected street lighting systems which will be connected wirelessly, saving energy and making maintenance easier and more efficient.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation is undertaking a statewide lighting conversion project and saving some money along the way.

Indian state Jharkhand’s discom utility Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) in partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has on average distributed 30,000 LED bulbs daily over the last four months, reported The Times of India.

GCS Holdings, a pure III-V compound semiconductor wafer foundry announced it sealed an acquisition deal with Chinese manufacturer San’an Opto. San’an Opto will purchase 100% of GCS Holdings’ stake for US $226 million.

Honglitronic announced its fiscal performance for the first quarter of 2016 jumped at least 110%.

Philips Lighting will be speeding up R&D in China to compete with established competitors in the next five years, according to a report from China Daily.

Heliospectra, a world leader in intelligent lighting technology for crop cultivation and plant research, announced an order valued at just over US $265,000 for the Heliospectra LX601C cannabis-focused LED light hardware and software system.

Current, GE's innovative energy company, recently announced a strategic partnership with Tianjin government on its intelligent city development during the visit of Bill Ruh, GE Digital CEO, which will enable Intelligent infrastructure by integrating networked lightings with the industrial strength Predix platform.  

More than a year has passed since Kolhapur, a city in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, had launched tenders and appointed a firm to install the new LED lights, but the city council has not found a sustainable economic model to finalize the feasibility of the INR 280 million (US $4.12 million), reported The Times of India.

The Gloucester City Council in southwest UK is implementing two major upgrades in local parking lots to make them more energy efficient and environmental friendly, reported Gloucester Citizen.

A Malaysian manufacturer Elsoft Research has started producing 40 LED test equipment that is valued to reach an estimated RM 20 million (US $) by the first half of 2016, reported Malaysian media StarBiz.

Officials from the Maharashtra state located in western-central India has announced plans of replacing CFL streetlights in 43,665 villages with LEDs, reported Moneycontrol.com.

In a vote 7-1, city officials of Seguin in Texas, U.S. approved the purchase of LED lights to be installed in the downtown area, and agreed to year-round illumination before sunset till 10:00 PM, reported Seguin Gazzette.

One of the markedly visible changes to China’s latest lighting standard GB7000.1-2015, which addresses luminaires general test requirements, is the introduction of blue-light hazard regulations, stated the Machinery and Electrical Products Testing Center under Shanghai’s Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Apple a flexible OLED display patent recently, reported MacRumors.

Europe’s technology leaders in the development of flexible OLEDs for lighting and signage applications have joined together in a consortium to develop an open access pilot line that will accelerate the commercial adoption of this promising new technology.

Universal Display Corporation , enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, announced a collaboration and evaluation agreement with OSRAM, one of the world's leading lighting manufacturers. Under the agreement, OSRAM will begin sampling Universal Display’s proprietary PHOLED™ phosphorescent OLED materials for solid-state lighting applications.

Luxonic has expanded its offering with the opening of its first sales office in Scotland. The business’s new Glasgow base will further Luxonic’s already strong operation across the UK, adding to existing offices in Manchester, Belfast and Luxonic’s HQ and manufacturing facilities in Basingstoke.

The U.S. government’s blockage of Go Scale Capital’s acquisition of former Philips LED component business Lumileds in January 2016, has not deterred the Chinese manufacturer from bidding for Philips Lighting, reported Bloomberg Monday.

Toshiba Lighting and Technology is exiting the consumer market in China, and will be selling all related business operations to local appliance maker Konka Group, according to a recent Nikkei report.