Philips Converts From Analog To Digital  

CNet has an article on the shift towards energy efficient LED lighting by Philips - Philips Lighting rides analog-to-digital wave.

The lighting industry is changing from analog to digital technologies, a move that could bring traditional semiconductor and IT suppliers into lighting, said Philips Lighting CEO Rudy Provoost.

Before heading the 117-year-old Philips Lighting business, Provoost was CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics, a position that gave him a good understanding of the digital world.

"Over time, as the shift from analog to digital technology continues, we will indeed see companies in the ICT (information and communications technology) world probably get involved in digital lighting," he said.

Potential new competitors would be Asian high-tech manufacturers or semiconductor makers, he said. "The question is not if but how. That landscape is going to change."

Philips is pushing hard into solid-state lighting, having spent about $4 billion acquiring LED (light-emitting diode) lighting companies over the past two years. Provoost this week is in the U.S., where some of those acquired companies are, including LED lighting firm Color Kinetics and Genlyte.

Energy-efficient lighting is one of the areas that is expected to benefit from a government-led stimulus package, which has provisions for retrofitting government buildings, schools, and municipal buildings.

Provoost said that LED lighting is far more efficient than alternatives--five times more than incandescent and halogen lights and at least as efficient as fluorescents--and they last longer than others.

The most promising areas in the short term for LED lighting are office buildings, shops, outdoor lighting for city "beautification" projects that use colored lights, and in consumers' homes.