We were founded as a manufacturer and fabricator of synthetic fused silica, a high purity, industrial optical material. The manufacturing aspect of the business entails producing synthetic fused silica through a chemical-vapor- deposition process in furnaces. The fabricating aspect deals with precision cutting, coring and shaping to customer specifications, also done at our manufacturing facility. In recent years, we have suspended operations of our glass furnaces and concentrated on the fabrication of optical materials supplied by other manufacturers. This has included fused quartz from General Electric, fused silica from Corning Incorporated, and various optical materials from Schott Glass Technologies Inc., Ohara Corporation, and others.
On March 8, 2005, we acquired the operating assets and assumed certain liabilities of Optometrics LLC ("Optometrics"), a worldwide supplier of optical components and instruments including diffraction gratings, interference filters, laser optics, monochromators and specialized optical systems. This acquisition approximately doubled our revenues and added significant profitability.
