Product Development

Sopheon PLC
06 February 2008

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Wednesday 6 February 2008




                                  SOPHEON PLC
                           ('Sopheon' or the 'Group')

                              Product Development


Sopheon, the international provider of software and services that improve the
financial return from innovation and product development investments, announces
the introduction of the world's first software solution that ties strategic
market, product and technology roadmapping directly to the operational aspects
of product development. The solution was created by integrating the Group's
Accolade(R) product portfolio and process management software with the latest
version of the strategic product planning software, Vision Strategist(tm)('VS').
Sopheon acquired VS through its purchase of Alignent Software Inc in June 2007.


An estimated 65% of companies struggle to keep product portfolios and
development activity aligned with corporate strategic plans.  A principal reason
is that in most organisations, product planning and product development
execution are independent, complex processes.   What's more, they are typically
carried out by multiple, geographically dispersed teams and functions with
insufficient emphasis on making sure that innovation projects fit the business'
long-term product strategies.  Sopheon's new solution captures and manages the
detailed, up-to-date project data needed to support gate and portfolio
decision-making, while simultaneously modeling short and long-term scenarios
around market factors to inform planning decisions.   Gate decisions improve
because they consider strategic plans, and operational and external issues. At
the same time, roadmapping decisions are made more dynamically and with greater
confidence because they leverage accurate, up-to-date details on current
projects.  The result is stronger synchronization between product innovation
planning and execution, helping companies to create a continuous innovation
stream that predictably and reliably supports achievement of corporate goals.


Central to today's announcement is version 4.0 of Sopheon's Vision Strategist
product planning and roadmapping solution, which was completed in December.
Earlier versions of VS have been deployed by a broad range of companies,
including leading manufacturers such as BAE Systems, Corning, Honeywell,
Medtronic, Motorola and Northrop Grumman, and government entities such as the
U.S. Navy and Air Force. Recent studies found that approximately 30% of
companies now use roadmaps; the same research showed that twice as many top
performers in product innovation employ roadmaps compared to poor performers.
Roadmaps created by the VS system can be used to project and analyze - in a
highly visual manner - the future of everything from products, technologies and
markets to the competitive landscape.  The software is pre-populated with
best-practice charts and reports that allow users to generate presentations and
other deliverables with ease.


Suresh Verma, lead science & technology strategic planner for the Naval Air
Systems Command (NAVAIR), commented:


'Our success as a developer of weapons systems depends upon being able to
anticipate the direction of key technologies and make the right investment
decisions. We're rolling out Sopheon's Vision Strategist within our PMA 209
Common Avionics organization, one of NAVAIR's key programs.  The solution allows
us to chart and analyze the impact that forecasted events and trends will have
on the technologies that we expect to be core to the Navy's capabilities in the
future.  That is an enormous performance advantage.'



                                     -Ends-



For further information contact:


Barry Mence, Chairman     Sopheon plc                 Tel: + 44 (0) 1483 685 735
Arif Karimjee, CFO
Andrew Tan                Hansard Communications      Tel: + 44 (0) 207 245 1100
                                                           + 44 (0) 7957 203 685
Claire Verhagen           Citigate First Financial    Tel: + 31 (0) 205 754 010
David Newton              Seymour Pierce              Tel: + 44 (0) 207 107 8000



About Sopheon plc

Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services that
help organizations improve the business impact of product innovation.  Sopheon's
solutions automate and govern the innovation process, enabling companies to
increase revenue and profits from new products.  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.


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