The microscope manufacturer WITec has begun construction of a new headquarters building in Ulm, Germany including research, production and office facilities. The official ground breaking ceremony with the mayor of Ulm occurred on Friday April, 18. 2008. As an established global player in high-tech instrumentation, WITec benefits from the exponential growth of the Nanotechnology, Materials Research and Life Sciences markets. To meet the increasing demand for high resolution microscopy solutions from these markets, the new building is a necessity in order to secure future growth potential. Compared to WITec's present location, the available space will be more than doubled. A total of 1800 square meters on 4 floors will contain the dynamic core of WITec technology. The state of the art laboratories will focus on research and development, thus reflecting the company's emphasis on innovation. For customer training and instrument presentation, dedicated demonstration labs will be established. The new headquarters will be ready for occupancy by May 2009.

"The new building is another milestone in our ongoing success story and it also anticipates future growth opportunities" says Dr. Joachim Koenen, Managing Director of WITec. "With the new facilities we expect another increase in productivity and efficiency, as the concept of the building is ideally customized to meet WITec's high-level needs for developing and producing state of the art microscopy systems".

The location of the new WITec Headquarters is in the heart of Science Park Ulm. It is one of the largest and most diverse research parks in Southern Germany, situated next to the University of Ulm. Fellow residents who share a strong focus on research and development include Daimler Research Center, Nokia, or Deutsche Telekom AG.

About WITec
WITec is a manufacturer of high performance optical and scanning probe microscopy systems. A modular product line allows the combination of different microscopy techniques such as Raman, NSOM or AFM in a single instrument for flexible analysis of the optical, chemical and structural properties of a sample. The instruments are distributed worldwide and are used primarily in Materials science, Life Sciences and Nanotechnology. WITec is based in Ulm, Germany and Savoy, IL, USA. For more information, please visit http://www.witec.de.