The structural origin and laser performance of thulium-doped germanate glasses have been studied. The investigation includes two main sections. The first part discusses the Raman spectroscopic and thermal stability of the host glass structure. The low value of the largest phonon energy (850 cm(-1)) reduces the probability of nonradiative relaxation. The large emission cross section of the Tm(3+) : (3)F(4) level (8.69 x 10(-21) cm(2)) the high quantum efficiency of the (3)F(4) level (71%), and the low nonradiative relaxation rate of the (3)E(4) -> (3)H(6) transition (0.09 ms(-1)) illustrate good optical properties of the germanate glass. In the second part, the room-temperature laser action from the thulium-doped germanate glass is demonstrated when pumped by a 790 nm laser diode. The maximum output power of 346 mW and slope efficiency of 25.6% are achieved.