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Description of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2014
Description of Business  
Description of Business

Note 1—Description of Business

        Bruker Corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries ("Bruker" or the "Company"), is a designer and manufacturer of proprietary life science and materials research systems and associated products that help to drive advances in life science research, pharmaceutical, applied markets, nanotechnology, cell biology, clinical research, microbiology and in-vitro diagnostics.

        The Company has two reporting segments, Bruker Scientific Instruments (BSI), which represents approximately 93% of the Company's revenues during the year ended December 31, 2014, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST), which represents the remainder of the business. Within BSI, the Company is organized into three operating segments: the Bruker BioSpin Group, the Bruker CALID Group and the Bruker Nano Group (formerly the Bruker MAT Group). For financial reporting purposes, the Bruker BioSpin, Bruker CALID and Bruker Nano operating segments are aggregated into the BSI reporting segment because each has similar economic characteristics, production processes, service offerings, types and classes of customers, methods of distribution and regulatory environments.

        Bruker BioSpin— Bruker BioSpin designs, manufactures and distributes enabling life science tools based on magnetic resonance and preclinical imaging technologies. Bruker BioSpin's Magnetic Resonance division sells various systems utilizing magnetic resonance technology, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, nuclear magnetic resonance systems (NMR), and electron paramagnetic resonance systems (EPR), as well as OEM MRI magnets sold to medical device manufacturers. Bruker BioSpin's Preclinical Imaging division sells single and multiple modality systems using MRI, position emission tomography (PET), single photon emission tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT), magnetic particle imaging (MPI) and optical imaging (fluorescence and bioluminescence) technologies to preclinical markets.

        Bruker CALID (Chemicals, Applied Markets, Life Science, In-Vitro Diagnostics, Detection)— Bruker CALID designs, manufactures and distributes life science mass spectrometry instruments that can be integrated and used along with other sample preparation or chromatography instruments, as well as Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) detection products. Bruker CALID also designs, manufactures and distributes instruments based on Raman molecular spectroscopy technologies. Bruker CALID's mass spectrometry units are typically used in applications of expression proteomics, clinical proteomics, metabolic and peptide biomarker profiling, drug discovery and development, molecular diagnostics research, molecular and systems biology, basic molecular medicine research and clinical microbiology (for research use only outside the European Union).

        Bruker Nano— Bruker Nano designs, manufactures and distributes spectroscopy and microscopy instruments for the understanding of composition and structure in material science and life science samples. The instruments are based on advanced technologies in X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray micro computed tomography (CT), atomic force microscopy (AFM), stylus and optical metrology (SOM) and fluorescence microscopy (FM), and also include analytical tools for electron microscopes, handheld, portable, and mobile X-ray fluorescence, and spark optical emission spectroscopy systems.

        The Company's BEST reporting segment develops and manufactures superconducting and non-superconducting materials and devices for use in renewable energy, energy infrastructure, healthcare and "big science" research. The segment focuses on metallic low temperature superconductors for use in magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance, fusion energy research and other applications, and ceramic high temperature superconductors primarily for energy grid and magnet applications.