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    1. LEDs & SSL Design
    2. Modular Light Engines

    CSA Group acquires LED testing company Orb Optronix

    Nov. 19, 2012
    The acquisition of privately-held Orb Optronix will enhance CSA’s ability to provide testing and certification services to LED and lighting manufacturers globally.

    CSA Group, a global testing and product-certification organization, has acquired Orb Optronix, a privately held LED test and measurement company located in Kirkland, Washington, near Seattle.

    David Bajorins, co-founder of Orb Optronix, said that the deal combines “Orb's deep technical understanding of LED technology, industry-leading software, and cutting-edge LED, lamp and luminaire metrology capabilities, with CSA Group's SSL safety- and performance-testing capacity.”

    “This acquisition represents the formation of a real ‘Dream Team’ in the SSL test industry,” continued Bajorins. “It will help ensure our customers receive the best and most accurate LED and SSL product testing. It will also enable us to have the available capacity expected by all of our tier-one customers.”

    CSA Group is an independent, not-for-profit membership association and its certification mark appears on billions of products worldwide. Its key competitors in the SSL field are UL and Intertek. CSA Group has an established presence in the United States with a 30,000 ft2. testing facility in Atlanta, Georgia, providing testing and certification of LED and lighting products to more than 75 different standards, as well as third-party testing for Energy Star, LED Lighting Facts, and Designlights Consortium programs.

    CSA also provides energy-efficiency verification (EEV) services in Cleveland, Ohio, and Toronto, Canada. CSA Group's Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shanghai labs provide LED lighting testing and certification services, as well as EEV services, to lighting manufacturers in China.

    "CSA Group's acquisition of Orb Optronix is at the core of our commitment to accelerate our market presence and breadth of offerings for the lighting industry," says Richard Weiser, vice president, US and Mexico, CSA Group. "This purchase is in keeping with our overall strategic growth plan as we continue to expand our lighting business in North America and globally."

    Orb Optronix has 17 employees, and provides a wide range of LED test and measurement services in its Kirkland laboratory. It specializes in the characterization, measurement and testing of discrete LEDs, LED array, LED light engines, LED replacement lamps, and LED luminaires including IES LM-80-08 LED lumen-maintenance testing, IES LM-79-08 luminaire testing, and flat-panel-display testing to VESA standards.

    Orb’s clients range from major LED manufacturing companies to early-stage lighting projects which require next-generation SSL design solutions. The company also manufactures and sells LED test and measurement equipment to characterize and evaluate LEDs, LED lamps and luminaires, including Light Measurement Systems, Electrical-Thermal-Optical LED characterization systems, spectroradiometers, spectrometers, laboratory power supplies, and premium software for LED characterization.