Osram, SYLVANIA, Sylvania and SLS….a rose by any other name is still a rose…

OSRAM and SYLVANIA are separate companies and your humble editor still cannot figure out who is who (or WHO.)

In a press release dated 2 MAY, the first paragraph begins with “LEDVANCE is unveiling new SYLVANIA lighting solutions for the commercial and residential market at Booth 1701 at LIGHTFAIR International….”  This seems simple enough.  This was the old SYLVANIA that changed their name to LEDVANCE, and they were acquired by a consortium of companies led by MLS.  MLS also goes by Forest Lighting in the U.S.  This sentence mentions SYLVANIA lighting solutions, which I thought meant the old SLS or SYLVANIA Lighting Solutions.  But not so, upon closer examination, the words lighting solutions are not capitalized–and this is from a company that loves capital letters–so they simply are referring to SYLVANIA lighting solutions and not Sylvania Lighting Solutions.  

In an article about Osram’s new North America Headquarters dated 1 MAY, appearing in Architectural Record, the first paragraph ends with the sentence,  “The project largely employs products from Osram’s Sylvania Lighting Solutions group.”

So I can draw the conclusion that Osram owns SLS, but shouldn’t it be called something other than Sylvania Lighting Solutions?  Perhaps Osram Lighting Solutions? I thought the old SLS was the company that went out and created demand and provided the labor in an effort to sell SYLVANIA products.  I did not think of SLS as a product company.  So where did Osram get their luminaires for their new HQ?   Did they come from SYLVANIA or Sylvania or Osram?

To further complicate matters, when I go to the LIGHTFAIR website and look up exhibitors, the website shows Osram, having two booths: 1401 and 1701, but according to the press release, 1701 belongs to SYLVANIA/LEDVANCE, not Osram. 

Can you imagine the confusion during move-in at the show? Fortunately the two booths are almost next to each other.