rambus and the light bulb
On Monday Rambus issued a number of press releases associated with LED lighting at CES 2013. Rambus acquired LED technology back in December 2009, so activity in the area is not a surprise. What is a surprise though is the announcement of an actual product, a Rambus light bulb. It seems almost corny that a […]
On Monday Rambus issued a number of press releases associated with LED lighting at CES 2013. Rambus acquired LED technology back in December 2009, so activity in the area is not a surprise. What is a surprise though is the announcement of an actual product, a Rambus light bulb. It seems almost corny that a company better known for large legal battles around SDRAM and RDRAM technologies is going to be producing a light bulb. Before exploring this a bit further it must be said that technology development and commercialization is never a linear process.
The “Rambus Introduces Revolutionary LED Light Bulb” entitled Press Release announced the first offering, an A19 60W equivalent light bulb. Within the release emphasis is certainly placed on their MicroLens(TM) light distribution technology. In this particular application it appears the MicroLens(TM) will be incorporated as or in a cylindrical light guide. While there is mention of some other electronic components there is no mention of the actual LED source, suggesting this part of the bulb will be off-the-shelf and is not seen as central to any advantages of their offering. Going back to the December 2009 Press Release announcing acquisition of Global Lighting Technologies this MicroLens(TM) “light distribution technology” was again front and center. Taking a different perspective I think what the two releases say about Rambus is equally interesting.
The opening sentence of the 2009 release reads, in part, “Rambus Inc., one of the world’s premier technology licensing companies …”. The same sentence in Monday’s release reads, in part, “Rambus Inc., the innovative technology solutions company that brings invention to market …” So in the roughly three years between these releases Rambus’ picture of itself has changed from a “technology licensing company” to an “innovative technology solutions company”. The variance is even more evident in the “About Rambus Inc.” paragraph of the two releases.
It might be said that Rambus has gone through a bit of a renaissance the last few years as it diversifies its technology, and IP, portfolio. This has included investments in cryptography, next-generation non-volatile memory and LED lighting. With its introduction of a light bulb one starts to see some sort of almost conglomerate and not simply a licensing company. It might also be said that Monday’s release answers a question I thought about last year. Namely, is it Rambus’ intention to bring an NVM part based on the acquired Unity CMOx technology to market? I think the answer is yes.