OTTAWA, June 21, 2017 /CNW/ - Leonovus Inc. ("Leonovus") (TSXV: LTV) the Chief Executive Officer and executive staff will provide shareholders and investors with a strategic update at today's Annual General Meeting. A conference call (1-877-850-3241) for the presentation part of the meeting will start at 11:20 EST. The call will not be interactive but the Executive team and Board will answer emailed questions in real-time. Questions can be sent to info@leonovus.com.
"I would like to thank all our shareholders for their continued support of Leonovus. I am very pleased with our progress to date and I believe we are about to do even better. The new Office 365 market, as noted in my report, is a massive new market for Leonovus technology. We continue to receive messages from our customer prospects that we have a significantly differentiated software-defined storage solution for customers needing data security and compliance. I am pleased to provide the following update, which will be presented at the AGM on Wednesday, June 21, 2017. Questions from shareholders are welcomed," said Michael Gaffney, Chairman and CEO, Leonovus Inc.
Revenue – We previously announced the expectation of revenue to start by the end of Q2 2017. As of this date, we are pleased to report that we are on track to achieve our revenue goals. We also have several product trial installations (a bank, a police force, and two systems integrators) that we hope to turn into paying customers in the near future. Each time we present the Leonovus solution set to customer prospects there appears to be strong validation that our product strategy is on the right path. We continue to be bullish on new sales.
Sales Partners – The past quarter saw a lot of activity regarding sales channel partner recruitment. We signed partner agreements with ZoneTi (Montreal, Quebec) and Snowy River International (Canmore, Alberta). Currently, there are three new companies close to signing a sales partnership agreement. We believe that a broad basket of partners is required to fully access the total market for our technology. We continue to make partnership recruitment a key strategy.
Technology – At the core of the Leonovus software defined storage solution is the protection of data. In late 2016 we uncovered that compliance was an important requirement for our customers – but lacking in our technology stack. The IT departments of most corporations have GRC ('Governance, Risk Management and Compliance') policies and procedures. Leonovus was built to support Governance and Risk Management and over the last six months, the product development team added a Compliance capability to our software, which provides, even more, differentiation for our software.
Leonovus 365 – Shareholders are encouraged to review our website and the documentation on our new product targeting the installed base of 89 million Microsoft 365 users. Our Leonovus 3.0 software-defined object storage solution appears to be an ideal technology 'fit' that provides MS 365 with advanced security and compliance features at a very competitive price. Uniquely, Leonovus seamlessly pools the cloud storage from all the OneDrive licenses into one managed cloud storage instance. Leonovus 365 can also seamlessly include on-premises storage or other cloud storage services to the Cloud Storage Pool making it a hybrid and even multi-cloud storage solution. Competitive solutions are in the $45 per month range and Leonovus pricing is significantly below that number.
Advanced Collaboration in Leonovus 365 – With our collaboration application users can define, create, manage and delete groups for direct secure, authenticated file sharing. There are access control lists with customized privileges by a user, role or group for all content along with shared commentary on contents/files and shared concurrent editing. Email notification is available to all users in a group of updates on shared content and automatic content distribution just by dragging it into a pre-designated folder. Leonovus 365 supports data migration from over fifty (50) external cloud services enabling the user to bring content, currently residing in unprotected or unsanctioned cloud services, back into the secure, sanctioned Leonovus/OneDrive or hybrid environment/cloud.
Cryptography Certification – Another requirement from our customers is for the certification of our software to the FIPS 140-2 ("Federal Information Processing Standards) standard. Leonovus has started to follow Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP), which is a joint American and Canadian security accreditation program for cryptographic modules. The program is available to any vendors who seek to have their products certified for use by the U.S./Canadian Government and regulated industries (such as financial and health-care institutions) that collect, store, transfer, share and disseminate "sensitive, but not classified" information. Product certifications under the CMVP are performed in accordance with the requirements of FIPS 140-2 by approved third party agencies. We expect the certification process to be completed in eight to twelve months. We have completed the initial technology audit, which identified the no material issues with our solution other than a 'basket' of typical issues that will be addressed for us to achieve the FIPS 140-2 standard.
Patent Monetization – In May 2017 IP consultants were retained to evaluate the monetization potential of our patent portfolio – specifically the 'media acceleration' patents from the early days of Leonovus. We are pleased to report that there appears to be an opportunity for the company to sell or license these patents. Given the feedback from two groups of consultants the monetization of the patents is not trivial and would be done in conjunction with an experienced intellectual property licensing company ("IPLC"). The basic business model is to split the monies gained from licensing, or selling, the patent 50/50 with IPLC after expenses. Monetizing these patents could be a significant, non-dilutive, source of cash for the company. If we move forward with this monetization strategy, the collection of monies, if any, would typically occur over a six to twenty-four month period.
Liabilities – The Company currently has agreements with all former employees regarding the settlement of outstanding salary liabilities. An updated equity for debt proposal is being prepared for all of these employees to accelerate the settlement of these liabilities. A comprehensive settlement with these employees, if finalized, will remove a significant amount of debt from the company and facilitate the raising of new capital.
Acquisitions – An acquisition of a revenue generating company, to accelerate the growth and contribution to Leonovus overheads, is a viable option assuming the availability of cash resources. Leonovus has been monitoring the opportunities to acquire or merge with another small revenue generating company in the data storage space. If such a transaction were to occur we would expect to effect it using our equity for the purchase and raising cash for the working capital.
First Canadian Capital Corp. – Leonovus has retained First Canadian Capital Corp. ("First Canadian") as a consultant to provide strategic marketing and investor relations ("IR") services to raise Leonovus' profile within the technology community. First Canadian will initiate and maintain an ongoing dialogue with retail brokers, analysts, portfolio managers, and media groups to positively enhance market awareness of Leonovus. The CEO previously announced the importance of expanding messaging to new investors while supporting information to current investors. With IR professionals onboard, management will have more time to focus on running the business and building the customer base, which in turn provides more and better information for our customers.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information, which may involve risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, competitive developments, risks associated with LeoNovus' growth, the state of the financial markets, regulatory risks and other factors. There can be no assurance or guarantees that any statements of forward-looking information contained in this release will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These and all subsequent written and oral statements containing forward-looking information are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, LeoNovus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers should not place undue reliance on any statements of forward-looking information that speak only as of the date of this release. Further information on LeoNovus' public filings, including its most recent audited consolidated financial statements, are available at www.sedar.com.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE LeoNovus Inc.
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