Special glasses for special applications
SCHOTT offers a broad range of special glasses and related materials that meet specific customer demands. These include radiation-resistant protective glasses, glasses for use in operating high-performance lasers, filter and anti-reflective glasses, as well as optical components for day and night vision devices. These are joined by special applications like thin-film coatings or the zero expansion glass-ceramic ?Zerodur? for use in even the most demanding thermal environments.

Long-term protection for sensitive electronics
Protecting sensors and other sensitive electronic components in a safe and reliable manner is often of vital importance to the ability of modern safety applications to function and can even save lives in emergency situations. Thanks to the unique combination of glass and/or ceramics and metal, housings from SCHOTT remain hermetically sealed and extremely durable, even under the most severe environmental influences. In this area, the portfolio includes the most common TO (Transistor Outline) series, hybrid packages, but also large-format feedthroughs for nuclear power plants, nuclear-powered vehicles and submarines, for example. Furthermore, the Electronic Packaging Business Segment offers a wide variety of glass components, for instance glass powders and hermetic glass seals for packaging reed switches.

The future in every fiber
Fiber optical applications allow for ever smaller, lighter and more effective display and night viewing applications. Helmet-integrated displays, specially illuminated instrument displays for airplanes, but also unique solutions for aircraft lighting or illuminating landing systems can be realized with the help of this technology. SCHOTT is also the international market leader when it comes to equipping advanced night viewing devices with high-quality optical components. Furthermore, certain tasks that require sensors, especially in the area of imaging and biodetection, can be performed with the help of fiber optics.

Protective armor with a view
Transparent armor made of glass or glass-ceramic ranks among the most important innovations in recent years. Regardless of whether it is to be used in the windshields of military vehicles, cockpit glazing or the windows of buildings that are potentially at risk, high ballistic resistance and high visibility are extremely important. Thanks to its high technological expertise in this area, SCHOTT is the perfect partner to the security industry. Due to its light weight and high light transmittance, the borosilicate glass used is better suited than the other types of glasses on the market. SCHOTT constantly works on testing and modifying other types of glasses and glass-ceramics together with its strategic partners.

Technological expertise
Perhaps more than almost any other group in the world, SCHOTT combines in-depth understanding of manufacturing and processing glass. The following five areas of core competence allow for almost all customer demands to be met with respect to components, products and systems:
? Composite materials made of glass and glass-ceramics
? Melting and crystal growing technologies
? Hot forming technology
? Post-processing expertise
? Glass and ceramic-to-metal seals

Focus on innovation
The unique challenge of modifying each and every product to meet the special needs of the customer calls for constant innovation and the improvement of materials and production processes. Research and development are of the highest priority to the company. In fact, more than 600 highly qualified employees are devoted to developing new techniques and technologies at modern research centers in Germany and the U.S. Even more synergies are created by involving many different international companies and universities.

Controlled security
Especially in the sensitive area of military applications, reliable export controls and protection against unauthorized access are extremely important. The measures SCHOTT takes have been subjected to successful audits both in Europe and the U.S. An integrated Export Compliance System in combination with a corporate policy that applies all over the world ensures that SCHOTT products are sold in a safe manner all over the world.

SCHOTT Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing and sales companies in all major markets. Its workforce of around 17,500 employees generated worldwide sales of approximately 2.9 billion euros for the 2009/2010 fiscal year. The company?s technological and economic expertise is closely linked with its social and ecological responsibility.