Exactly. I read through the whole blah blah in the hope to find out
what's so special about it and was very disapointed.

Well, it does say:

"Most surgical lasers now use expensive single crystals, which
limit the range of operating wavelength to very narrow bands,"
explained Weber. "REAl Glass would provide tunability . . .
Our glass can provide efficient power lasers and expand
coverage to new wavelengths," he said.

I don't know enough about the field to know whether tunability, new
wavelengths, and efficient power are really new.

Now, if you want technical details, you'll need to find the papers
(perhaps at http://ntrs.nasa.gov/ or in the patent No. 6,482,758).
This is a news release aimed at a non-technical audience.