Press Release

May 20, 2004

Ottawa, Ontario May 20, 2004: Espial Group, the leading provider of software solutions for digital television today announced that NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH will offer Espial Evo as an application suite for digital TV designs based on the EMMArchitecture2 processor. The applications include an On Screen Display, Electronic Program Guide and Managed Content Viewer, built on an architecture designed for efficiency and speed. NEC Electronics chose Espial Evo because the skin-able nature of the applications enables a easy adaptation to client needs and customization to their brand.

OEMs more often see the need to customize the look and feel of their TV offerings. The ease with which Espial Evo skins are changed will enable TV Manufacturers using NEC Electronics' products to efficiently customize their software design for their various markets. As a consequence, NEC Electronics' customers could differentiate their TV offerings by changing the look and feel with no change to the underlying code.

"There is a new way to compete in the TV space," states Nick Russell, Digital AV Marketing Manager at NEC Electronics. "Nowadays, customers are demanding turn-key solutions for integrated DTV. From hardware to software, it needs to be quick to market, simple to use and visually appealing. Espial and NEC are committed to exceeding these expectations."

Designed for advanced capabilities in resource constrained devices, Evo requires only a marginal memory footprint. However, not compromising for functionality, Evo has been created with a modular architecture, allowing television manufacturers to easily include additional features and optional components such as:

Evo Display - an On-Screen Display application with scalable menu system, configurable remote control-activated visual display and closed captioning configuration for DTV tuners

Evo Guide - an Electronic Program Guide application displaying Service Information (SI) data customized to any look and feel

Evo Viewer - managed content viewer for uni-directional or bi-directional interaction with extensive HTML tag support and transition

"Offering cutting-edge functionality with an extremely small footprint is every application company's goal. I am proud that we have achieved this while introducing the advanced concept of easy skin-ability," comments Neale Foster, Marketing Director for TV. "Together, Espial and NEC will raise the bar for consumer expectations in the DTV market.

The Evo on EMMA2 solution will be demonstrated at MediaCast, London, England May 25 - 27 at meeting room C70. More information can be obtained on the NEC Electronics Stand C12. Evo is available immediately for market deployments.

About Espial
Espial is the leader in creating scalable application software for consumer electronics. In addition to a robust technology platform, Espial has a reputation for excellence in creating or enabling graphical user interfaces, Video-on-Demand, T-commerce applications, Flash and Real Player content. Espial's software solutions allow consumer electronics manufacturers to reduce their time to market and development risk for technologically advanced TVs, DVD recorders, set-top boxes, and mobile phones - anything that requires an enhanced user experience. Espial has more than 100 device design wins with companies such as Intel, Motorola, LodgeNet, Philips and Samsung, and has deployed proven solutions for home and mobile broadband networks.

About NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH
NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany, is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of semiconductor products in Europe. Committed to meeting customers' cost, performance and time-to-market requirements, the company offers solutions ranging from standard products to system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, as well as customized products for next-generation designs. NEC Electronics also offers customers the benefit of state-of-the-art manufacturing locally in Europe, besides the global production of its parent company, NEC Electronics Corporation. Additionally, NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH is the exclusive European sales and marketing channel of LCD and PDP modules from NEC LCD Technologies Ltd. For more information visit: http://www.ee.nec.de.

For more information contact:

Yvonne Robinson
Press relations
Espial Group
(613) 230 4770
yrobinson@espial.com

Europe Digital AV Group,
Press relations
NEC Electronics (Group) GmbH
+49 (0)211 6503-1469
digital_av@ee.nec.de