We have revised a rate equation model to accurately reproduce the thermal behavior of p-doped quantum dot lasers. Using this model, we demonstrate the potential of InAs quantum dot membrane lasers for on-chip communications as the simulated device exhibits a room-temperature threshold of 0.70 mA and an estimated power of 16 mW, moderately degraded to 3.2 mA and 8 mW at 120°C. Next we report preliminary experimental work based on InGaAs quantum-well LED exhibiting lateral current injection, providing interesting prospects on the manufacturability of quantum dot membrane lasers studied here.