You think Corning, you think cookware on your mother’s shelf. You know, the stuff that goes from the fridge, to the oven to the table. Well, that was true, but Corning wants to show us their 21st century image.

Corning’s primary focus in these highly technical times is making the hair-thin glass strands that snake through the world’s telecommunications networks. To better inform those of us who still have images of casserole dishes dancing in our heads, the company has launched its first advertising campaign in more than 30 years. Corning got out of the pots and pans business in 1998, almost 50 years after it invented Pyrex.

The $22 million campaign created by the Omnicom Group in New York, includes television and print ads that play up Corning’s role as the world’s largest maker of glass fiber for fiber-optic communications networks.

In addition to communications fiber, the company, based in Corning, N.Y., makes liquid-crystal-display glass and related products for televisions, screens and lenses. It also produces glass and ceramic products for various specialized industrial and scientific uses.