Microsoft CPD Program

Immediate Release: 25 October 2004

                                  Sopheon Plc                                  

   Sopheon Brings Portfolio and Program Management Solution and Expertise to   
           Microsoft's Program for Collaborative Product Development           

Accolade Solution Utilizes Sopheon's Domain Expertise and Microsoft's
Collaboration Technologies to Help Manufacturers Speed Products to Market

Sopheon, an international software and services company, announced today that
it will bring its portfolio and program management (PPM) system and expertise
to Microsoft's Program for Collaborative Product Development (CPD), which
provides a solutions framework for helping manufacturers expedite the delivery
of products to market, while reducing costs associated with the product
development process.  Sopheon will work with Microsoft to develop and deliver
solutions that further integrate many of Microsoft's collaborative technologies
into Sopheon's Accolade product development system. 

This announcement is consistent with Sopheon's publicly-acknowledged focus on
building strategic relationships that extend the functionality, scalability and
market reach of its Accolade system and support expansion of implementation
capabilities to keep pace with escalating market demand for Sopheon's solution.
In related news, Sopheon also announced today that it would integrate Microsoft
Office Project Server 2003 and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 into
Accolade to further enhance the solution's collaborative, information-sharing
and enterprise deployment capabilities.

Microsoft's Program for CPD is designed to help companies make optimal use of
investments in Microsoft productivity, project management and collaboration
solutions to improve new product development (NPD) success rates. The approach
centers on enabling better collaboration among cross-functional team members so
that projects are completed more quickly and with higher quality deliverables,
while providing seamless access to information that allows for faster, better
decision-making. It addresses two critical aspects of product life cycle
management (PLM): portfolio and program management; and product design and
collaboration. This focus on the importance of effective portfolio management
is validated by recent Gartner Group predictions that Global 1000 manufacturers
will increase their investment in portfolio management by at least five hundred
percent over the next six years in order to improve R&D performance. Sopheon's
Microsoft-based Accolade system will be a key portfolio and program management
solution delivered under the CPD program.

'Sopheon has developed a reputation as a domain expert in product portfolio and
product development process management,' said Don Richardson, director,
Manufacturing Industry Unit at Microsoft. 'By combining their advanced software
solution and industry-specific knowledge with Microsoft's proven, easy-to-use
technology solutions, Sopheon has responded to the industry's demand for tools
that provide the collaboration and communication capabilities needed to help
manufacturers deliver products to market faster.'

'The emphasis of Microsoft's concept of Collaborative Product Development goes
to the heart of what it takes to achieve new product success,' said Andy
Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. 'No product development process
will work unless it is used. One of the reasons our Accolade solution has been
so successful is that we have been able to take advantage of Microsoft
technology to help achieve ease-of-use and high process adoption rates that
translate directly into improved ROI from R&D spending. By furthering our
efforts with Microsoft through the CPD program, we will be able to extend
Accolade's functionality and scalability, while also enabling users to derive
greater value from their existing Microsoft investments. We are pleased to be
part of the CPD initiative not only because it makes good business sense for
Sopheon, but because it makes good business sense for our clients and
prospects.'

Sopheon Accolade® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.

All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the sole
property of their respective owners.

About Sopheon

Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services that
help organizations improve the business impact of product development. The
Sopheon Accolade product development system automates gate- or phase-based
product development processes and provides strategic decision support that
allows companies to improve innovation, cut product development spending waste
and shorten time to market. Sopheon's Monitor software operates as a 'reading
robot' that automatically reviews, filters, analyzes and pushes relevant
content to healthcare and engineering professionals to enable effective
compliance with protocols, standards and regulations. Sopheon is listed on the
AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands.
For more information, please visit www.sopheon.com.

For further information contact:

Barry Mence, Chairman   Sopheon plc               Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735                       
Arif Karimjee, CFO                                                             
                                                                               
Adam Reynolds           Hansard Communications    Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100                      
Andrew Tan                                              + 44 (0) 7957 203 685     
                                                                               
Barbara Jansen          Citigate First Financial  Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010