Sopheon PLC
6 November 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6 November 2001
Sopheon and Orbital Software Team Up to Demonstrate
Potential of Integrated New Product Development Solution
Power of Accolade and Organik Combination Showcased
at Two Major International Conferences
Sopheon plc and Orbital Software Holdings plc, who on 22 October announced
agreement on the terms of a merger, have teamed up in recent weeks to
demonstrate how the combination of their Accolade and Organik products would
deliver enhanced solutions to significantly reduce wasted spending and
accelerate time-to-market in R&D and new product development.
Building on a process that began prior to the announcement of Sopheon's
recommended offer for Orbital, the companies showcased the potential of their
integrated capabilities at the 25th annual conference of the Product
Development & Management Association (PDMA) and the KMWorld 2001 conference
held during October. The two conferences, both of which are international in
scope, are regarded as premier events for product development and knowledge
management professionals.
'The ability of Orbital's software to capture questions and answers for reuse,
and to direct users to sources of expertise, is a real complement to Sopheon's
strengths in information management and automation of knowledge-intensive
business processes like R&D,' said Andy Michuda, chief executive officer of
Sopheon. 'We felt confident the product demo would be well-received. Clients
and prospects understand the importance of the product development issues our
combined solution would address, and our experience at the conference confirms
that they clearly see the potential we offer for saving costs and getting
products to market faster.'
'We are very pleased with the feedback from conference attendees who reviewed
the joint product demonstration,' said Brian Gray, Orbital's chief executive
officer. 'We are excited by the prospect of integrating Organik and Sopheon's
Accolade technology into a solution that strengthens our value proposition and
differentiates Organik from other offerings in the marketplace.'
Positive reaction to the prospect of integrating Sopheon and Orbital
technologies is not limited to clients and prospects. 'The knowledge
management solutions that are going to win in today's economy are those that
apply technology to critical business issues and offer significant, tangible
benefits to corporate users,' said Brian McDonough, research manager of KM
software and intranet strategies at IDC. 'IDC believes that the combination of
Sopheon's domain expertise and Orbital's technology offering will benefit from
the the growing demand for knowledge management solutions that improve
business processes such as new product development.'
Orbital and Sopheon are planning to demonstrate their integrated solutions
next at the PDMA U.K. & Ireland Conference to be held November 28-29, in
London.
About Sopheon
Sopheon is an international provider of software-based solutions that enable
organizations to more efficiently access internal and external information and
turn it into the knowledge to compete. Sopheon serves nearly half of the
technology-driven companies on the Fortune 500, providing industry and
process-specific software applications that are pre-loaded with specialized
content and access to human expertise. They include the Web-enabled Accolade
new product development system and the award-winning Teltech.com Web-based
research portal for technical and business professionals. Sopheon's European
headquarters are in Guildford, U.K., and its U.S. headquarters are in
Minneapolis. The company also has operating bases in Germany and the
Netherlands. Sopheon is listed on the Alternative Investment Market of the
London Stock Exchange and the Euronext Amsterdam. For more information, please
visit www.sopheon.com.
About Orbital Software
Orbital Software is a leading provider of intuitive, expertise sharing
software that dramatically enhances innovation and productivity, reduces time
to market and maximizes the value of corporate intellectual capital. Orbital's
flagship Organik software provides expertise location capabilities to bring
people and information together so that users can ask questions, find experts
and share knowledge. Founded in 1994, Orbital has European headquarters in
Edinburgh, U.K. with U.S. headquarters in Framingham, MA. For more
information, please visit www.orbitalsw.com.
Ends
For further information contact :
Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483-883000
Arif Karimjee, CFO Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483-883000
Brian Gray Orbital Software Holdings plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1313-483000
Steve Liebmann Buchanan Communications Tel : + 44 (0) 20-7466-5000
Barbara Jansen Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205-754-080
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