The rise of the Internet of Things has attracted various market players to enter the market – some come from technology related fields while some from other traditional industries who transform themselves into the IoT-savvy players just recently.
The rise of the Internet of Things has attracted various market players to enter the market – some come from technology related fields while some from other traditional industries who transform themselves into the IoT-savvy players just recently.
One example for the later is Leedarson, a Chinese ODM company for LED lighting that entered the IoT fields with smart lighting products. The company has also extended its businesses into home security and smart commercial space solutions.
Founded in 2000, Leedarson has established itself as a top exporter of LED lighting OEM/ODM company. It has customers in 81 countries worldwide and 95% of its products goes to private-label companies in the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia, including GE Lighting, Belkin, IKEA and LG.
Coco Chen, Senior Manager in Strategy
Marketing at Leedarson
Seeing market potential early in the IoT industry, the Xiamen-based company invested in the area and launched smart lighting systems in 2010. In the following years, it expanded its product portfolio into multi-protocol gateways, controllers, smart plugs and various sensors, from temperature, humidity to motion.
In 2017, for instance, the company plans to produce multi-functional sensors and security cameras used in home automation, home security and small commercial space design solutions. “The all-in-one sensor combines the detecting technologies of humidity, temperature, motion and light,” Coco Chen, the senior manager in Strategy Marketing at Leedarson explained.
The camera product will come with cloud service as a whole system, according to Chen.
Chen gives an example that when someone rings the doorbell, the Leedarson security camera will detect motions with its built-in sensor, activate the system in the cloud, and the system will combine images ten seconds before the motion and send the clip to the user, Chen said.
Shifting for clients
From smart lighting to smart home security, the company has shifted the market mainly for its clients.
One of the clients Leedarson caters to is service providers, such AT&T, which become the smart home solution providers to the end-users for their established close relations. End-users buy their first smart home products to mainly take care home security, the company surveyed. That’s why home security has become one of its focus.
Moreover, end-user’s user experience drives how Leedarson designs its products. The company has joined various wireless connectivity standard alliances, such as Zigbee, to design products which supports multiple standards. “End-users will not get confused while using the products if the devices can support different standards,” said Chen.
Abundant R&D resources
In the coming year, Leedarson will also start to integrate voice-control platforms, including Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and Google Home, since more and more of its clients start to ask for this technology.
Currently, the company owns a team over 200 R&D engineers in its headquarter and a team of 50 in Shenzhen. It plans to establish a new team of engineers in Shanghai and another one in Taipei, Taiwan, focusing on voice-control technology this year.
“We see the smart home market performance in 2017 to grow several times compared to 2016,” said Chen. Not only the technology and engineering talents, Leedarson sees itself to grow fast in the rising smart home market for its established relationships with distributors and business partners as a LED lighting solution provider. The company has also deployed the six sigma system into its production lines, making its products more reliable.
Leedarson’s currently has a broad product portfolio “because we position ourselves as a professional IoT ODM company for our clients,” said Chen.