Lutron’s LEDucation Booth Was Impressive

When I entered Lutron’s booth at LEDucation, I expected to be overwhelmed by endlessly complex control options and a dizzying assortment of products and components. I was wrong. The Lutron booth was a master class in presenting highly technical and complex products in a simple to understand story. Some of the credit goes to Doug Kafka, National Sales Manager at Lutron, who patiently gave me the booth tour and endured my many questions.

What struck me most about Lutron’s booth was the simplicity of their presentation of just two commercial control systems:

Athena – Lutron’s powerful networked lighting control system (NLC), capable of hybrid (wired and wireless) cloud-connected control of lighting and window shades.

Vive – Lutron’s simpler wireless control system for more room-scale, smart lighting control.

This two–solution approach mirror’s the lighting control industry’s evolution toward either simpler room-scaled controls or more complex, full-featured NLC systems for the building and campus scales. Finally, just a few of the latest sleek and modern control panels and keypads tastefully completed the controls display. That was it for controls.

Only one lighting product was on display, the latest Ketra and Rania D2 downlights. See image above. The partial reflector in the small aperture downlights created a striking negative space in the middle. There was no direct viewing of the light source, only the indirect reflection off of the partial reflector – a great effect. The recently launched D2 architectural downlights deliver Ketra’s full-spectrum and Rania’s dynamic white light in a 2” or 3.5” aperture small form factors. The D2 downlights are wirelessly controlled, eliminating control wiring, simplifying installation and maintenance. The Rania provides 3-channel tunable white from 1800K to 5500K. The 3-channels more accurately follow the black body curve in color space and yield a wider gamut. Tool-free tilt and rotation with lockable positioning enables precise aiming of the downlights.

Cudos to Lutron’s marketing department for avoiding the trap of showing everything you have and creating a cluttered and confusing mess. Less was truly more at the Lutron booth.

Image: Lutron’s Ketra D2 architectural downlight. Photo by David Shiller

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and President of Lighting Solution Development, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has co-chaired ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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