Aamir Hussain, Global Cable and Telecom Executive, Nominated to Espial Board of Directors

Brings global experience and relationships gained from executive roles at CenturyLink, Liberty Global, AT&T and Telus

OTTAWA, Ontario--()--Transforming the viewing experience worldwide, Espial today announced that Aamir Hussain, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of CenturyLink, Inc., the 3rd largest telecommunications service provider in the USA with $18 billion in revenues, will stand for election to Espial’s board of directors at this year’s Annual General Meeting to be held on June 13, 2017.

Aamir Hussain, leads product, platforms, infrastructure, cloud, network operations and information technology for CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), a global communications, hosting, cloud and IT services company that provides broadband, voice, video, data and managed services to millions of customers. Prior to CenturyLink, Aamir was the Managing Director & Chief Technology Officer of Liberty Global in Europe (NASDAQ: LBTYA/B/K), one of the largest cable companies in the world serving 48 million RGUs, where he led the technology and network organizations across 13 countries in Europe spanning voice, video, broadband and wireless. While at Liberty Global, Aamir led the development of several next generation video and broadband solutions, along with mobile network solutions across the European cable footprint. Aamir has also held senior executive positions at Covad Communications, AT&T, Qwest and Telus. Aamir has first-hand involvement in launching various next generation video platforms and cloud strategies across multiple operators at both CenturyLink and Liberty Global. Aamir has completed business, telecom and strategy training at Harvard Business School and Insead in France. He also holds a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor in Electrical Engineering from University of South Florida.

“As a board, we are continually evaluating and considering candidates to strengthen our board in order to bring new perspectives and thinking” said Peter Seeligsohn, Chairman, Espial. “I am very pleased to announce Aamir Hussain as a nominee to our Board of Directors. There are few in the industry who have Aamir’s depth of knowledge and unique industry perspective, given his European and North American experience and from having held executive roles in both telecom and cable companies. His experience will help Espial further expand in the European cable and broader telecom markets. Aamir’s leadership and strategic perspective will be a valuable addition to our board in shaping future strategy and executing on our goals to the benefit of our shareholders.”

“Espial has developed an exciting portfolio of cloud, device and user experience products and solutions. Their recent success across service providers in Europe and North America to launch next generation video services is impressive" said Aamir Hussain. "Our industry is going through a transformation in technology, delivery and business models and Espial’s focus around RDK, IP, and Cloud are important elements in helping service providers evolve to next generation services. I look forward to working with the Board and management to help them achieve their vision."

About Espial (www.espial.com)

With Espial, video service providers create responsive and engaging subscriber viewing experiences incorporating powerful content discovery and intuitive navigation. Service providers achieve ‘Web-speed’ innovation with Espial’s flexible, open software leveraging RDK and HTML5 technologies. This provides competitive advantage through an immersive and personalized user experience, seamlessly blending advanced TV services with OTT content. With customers spanning six continents, Espial is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with R&D centers in Seattle, Montreal, Silicon Valley, Cambridge and Lisbon, and with sales offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.espial.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains information that is forward looking information with respect to Espial within the meaning of Section 138.4(9) of the Ontario Securities Act (forward looking statements) and other applicable securities laws. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "predict", "potential", "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In particular, statements or assumptions about, economic conditions, ongoing or future benefits of existing and new customer, and partner relationships or new board nominees, our position or ability to capitalize on the move to more open systems by service providers, existing or future opportunities for the company and products (including our ability to successfully execute on market opportunities and secure new customer wins) and any other statements regarding Espial's objectives (and strategies to achieve such objectives), future expectations, beliefs, goals or prospects are or involve forward-looking information.

Forward-looking information is based on certain factors and assumptions. While the company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information, by its nature necessarily involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements or could cause our current objectives and strategies to change, including but not limited to changing conditions and other risks associated with the on-demand TV software industry and the market segments in which Espial operates, competition, Espial’s ability to continue to supply existing customers and partners with its products and services and avoid being displaced by competitive offerings, effectively grow its integration and support capabilities, execute on market opportunities, develop its distribution channels and generate increased demand for its products, economic conditions, technological change, unanticipated changes in our costs, regulatory changes, litigation, the emergence of new opportunities, many of which are beyond our control and current expectation or knowledge.

Additional risks and uncertainties affecting Espial can be found in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Results of Operations and Financial Condition and its Annual Information Form for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2016 on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. If any of these risks or uncertainties were to materialize, or if the factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information were to prove incorrect, actual results could vary materially from those that are expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein and our current objectives or strategies may change. Espial assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

Contacts

Espial Group Inc.
Carl Smith, +1 613-230-4770
Chief Financial Officer
csmith@espial.com
or
Kirk Edwardson, +1 613-301-3423
Director of Marketing
kedwardson@espial.com

Contacts

Espial Group Inc.
Carl Smith, +1 613-230-4770
Chief Financial Officer
csmith@espial.com
or
Kirk Edwardson, +1 613-301-3423
Director of Marketing
kedwardson@espial.com