The Zumtobel Group, which specialises in professional light fittings, lighting solutions and lighting components, is set to enter the lamp business. To this end, the Group has founded a subsidiary, LEDON Lamp GmbH, based in Dornbirn in the Vorarlberg region of Austria. The new company will promote the sale of a broad portfolio of innovative LED lamps. The product range will focus on "retrofit" lamps - innovative LED lamps designed to look like and replace all conventional incandescent light bulbs (e.g. with E14 or E27 screw caps). Sales of these high-tech LED lamps will be via retail outlets (e.g. DIY stores) and sales partners across Europe. LEDON Lamp GmbH is headed up by Detlef Mikulsky and Peter Petz.

"LEDs are where the future lies. We have built up a leading level of expertise in this technology and we'll be making use of this knowledge to supply high-quality light bulbs to consumers, which is a first in our corporate history. We are convinced that these LED lamps will make a breakthrough in the market. With their high energy efficiency and outstanding light quality, they are already superior to conventional energy-saving lamps, which have never really appealed to the consumer. With our decision to enter the lamp market at this point, we are ideally positioned to profit from this dynamic business," explained Zumtobel Group CEO Andreas Ludwig.

Leading LED technology from Austria

The LED technology for these future-oriented lamps originates in Jennersdorf in the Burgenland region of Austria, where Zumtobel Group subsidiary Ledon Lighting Jennersdorf GmbH is based. Founded in 2001, the company has established itself as a leading source of expertise in the development and production of high-performance LED light sources. LEDON Lighting mainly supplies the Zumtobel Group brands with LED modules and components. The core competency of Ledon Lighting is high quality white light from LEDs, an expertise with respect to warm-white LEDs and stable, homogenous colour distribution. Ledon Lighting began production of LED modules for use in retrofit lamps as early as 2008. In this sector, the company already ranks among the world's leading suppliers.