Fusion calls "timeout" in sulfur lamp race

In November 1998, US-based Fusion Lighting Inc. announced that they would take their sulfur lamp off the market. Fusion says they are planning to make fundamental changes to the design and that they hope to have an improved lamp on the market in 1999. The decision follows the breakup of a close partnership between Fusion Lighting and the Swedish defense electronics group CelsiusTech, who has been aggressively marketing the lamp as part of a light-pipe system in Europe.
According to Kent Kipling, vice president of Fusion Lighting, "the market didn't develop nearly as well" as they had hoped. However, in a letter sent out to European OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), Fusion states that they remain "committed to the potential of sulfur lamps for the lighting industry" and "are continuing R&D on a new product to replace Light Drive 1000" (the name under which the 1-kW sulfur lamp was marketed). Mr. Kipling says that Fusion hopes to have a new sulfur lamp for general lighting purposes on the market in spring 1999. The new lamp would most likely be in the same power and efficacy range as the product just taken off the market. It would also build on the current magnetron-microwave technology. It will take "several years" until a low-wattage, solid-state powered lamp would be ready for market introduction, says Mr. Kipling.
In effect, the breakup of the partnership means that CelsiusTech and its daughter IKL exit the lighting business in all but one respect; i.e. IKL may become a component supplier to Fusion in the future. The decision to leave the market was surprising since Celsius Tech bought a substantial share of the stock in Fusion as recently as spring 1997, but apparently some fatal market decisions were made. CelsiusTech/IKL insisted on selling the lamp as an integrated part of a light pipe system instead of developing relations with various luminaire manufacturers, which is normal for a light source manufacturer. Several Scandinavian luminaire manufacturers had expressed interest in using the lamp as a platform for various applications, but according to one major Scandinavian manufacturer, CelsiusTech/IKL were not willing to provide the discounts and competent technical support, etc., normally expected by an OEM. Even if the companies had come through in this respect, it would have been risky to develop applications for the sulfur lamp. Luminaire manufacturers who had been developing niche applications for the lamp now found themselves in a very difficult position, competing with the sole supplier of their most important component.
Later, CelsiusTech/IKL found themselves in a similarly awkward position, competing with 3M, their supplier of components for light guides. When sales on the Scandinavian light guide market failed to reach the volumes that would have been needed for a sound profit margin, there was no other market to fall back on.
While redesigning the 1kW lamp, Fusion will spend most of its efforts to commercialize a low-wattage (~120W), high-luminous-intensity lamp for projectors and high-end car headlamps. This is a market segment where cost is less an issue, provided that the lamp offers quality advantages over other lamps. However, Kent Kipling points out that Fusion has no intentions to market this lamp for general lighting applications since it will be less efficient than a CFL. But he claims that the lamp will offer a level of performance that would make it competitive with other lamps for projectors on the market.

Nils Borg

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