GAWK Appoints Industry Veteran Chief Technology Officer

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 2, 2017) - GAWK, Inc. (OTC PINK: GAWK), a cloud-based communications company, today announced the appointment of Michael Shader as chief technology officer (CTO).

Mr. Shader is widely regarded as a visionary innovator and brings to GAWK well-established industry credentials as a technology leader. He has held CTO and key executive roles at five companies, two startups that were acquired, and his most recent company, Oakshire Trading, LLC.

"Mike has thrived in a wide variety of high-technology industries and has a profound understanding of the markets in which we operate," said Scott Kettle, CEO of GAWK. "With his vision and background as a company builder, leader, and technologist, he is an excellent addition to the Company and will add significant value for our customers and shareholders."

"GAWK is involved in developing many exciting new technologies, in line with its history as a technology innovator in cloud communications," said Mr. Shader. "I look forward to contributing to GAWK's future growth and innovation in this new role. By joining GAWK we'll accelerate our time to market with the cutting edge and disruptive services currently in beta that we will begin to roll out in the first quarter."

In the Company's recent shareholder conference call GAWK disclosed its key 2017 initiatives, one of which was the continuation of R&D that will allow improved, competitive services and drive sales and margins.

Shader brings expertise from a career in digital and internet based infrastructure innovation and operations where he built cutting edge business productivity tools and applications for underserved industries.

Shader, a serial entrepreneur in his own right, has a history of successful tech enterprises starting within the video game sector in 1998, he then moved into the infrastructure-as-a-service arena founding one of the first automated virtual machine companies. Shader next built a novel ecommerce platform that competed with an early stage Groupon for DailyTicket. Another key client, DTT Surveillance, collaborated with Shader on the development of their visualization and notification tools within their loss prevention and surveillance products which ultimately landed Subway and 7-Eleven as major customers of DTT.

About GAWK, Inc.

GAWK, Inc. offers a suite of cloud communications, cloud connectivity, cloud computing, and managed cloud-based applications solutions to small, medium, and large businesses; and offers domestic and international voice services to communications carriers worldwide. It offers a suite of advanced data center and cloud-based services, including fault tolerant, high availability cloud servers, which comprise platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and a content delivery network; managed network services that converge voice and data applications, structured cabling, wireless, and security services, as well as include Internet access via Ethernet or fiber at speeds ranging from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps; and data center solutions, including cloud services, colocation services, and business continuity services, such as storage and security. www.gawk.com

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this release that are not strictly historical facts are "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements are based on GAWK's current assumptions, beliefs and expectations, and involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause GAWK's actual results to be materially different from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "plan," "possibility," "offer," "if," "negotiate," "when," "believe," "will," "estimate," "continue," and similar expressions. Risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: ongoing and future intellectual property enforcement actions; the ability to successfully litigate or settle claims of patent infringement; GAWK's ability to obtain necessary financing, generate sufficient cash flow, and maintain appropriate indebtedness; and the increasing development of market competition in the area of telecommunications. These factors and others are described in more detail in GAWK's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in GAWK's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of these reports can be found on GAWK's website (www.gawk.com) under the heading "Investor Relations." GAWK is providing this information as of the date of this release and, except as required by law, does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.