Product Launch

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Tuesday 24 May 2005

                                  SOPHEON PLC                                  

                         (`Sopheon' or `the Company')                          

                    SOPHEON INTRODUCES ACCOLADE VERSION 6.0                    

                New release extends Sopheon's market leadership                

   In enabling successful adoption of best-practice new product development    
                                    process                                    

Sopheon, the international software and services company, today introduced the
latest version of its flagship Sopheon Accolade® product portfolio and process
management system. Based on extensive research involving customers, partners
and industry experts, the nearly 30 new features being introduced in Accolade
6.0 are focused on eliminating the administrative, communication and
knowledge-sharing impediments to successful adoption of best practice product
development process methodology, and improving the quality and efficiency of
portfolio decision-making. They include:

  * Dashboard on the Desktop - integrates Accolade with the user's existing
    personal productivity tools. Reduces one-off training, avoids duplication
    in administrative tasks and reduces need for behavioral change.
   
  * Instant deliverables - helps create gate-meeting presentations, reports and
    other process-related materials in minutes, freeing up time to focus on the
    intellectual and strategic challenges of product development.
   
  * Enhanced portal access - makes it possible for users to find and retrieve
    information related to their projects without having to look inside
    multiple applications.
   
  * Alignment monitoring - easy evaluation of how well day-to-day project
    activities align with the performance standards and strategic priorities of
    the organization.
   
Dr Robert Cooper, president of the Product Development Institute and developer
of the Stage-Gate® product development methodology, said: 'One of Accolade's
principal strengths is the way in which it clearly, simply lays down the steps
of the Stage-Gate® process, automates them, and takes the administrative burden
out of executing them. These advantages encourage team members and executive
stakeholders to try the system. When they do, they quickly see its value, and
trial turns into adoption. Many of the features being introduced in this latest
version of Accolade will reduce the time and effort needed to successfully
implement Stage-Gate®. Accolade will help ensure that your process is really
used.'

One of Sopheon's central goals in continuing to evolve Accolade is to create
the most user-friendly, efficient product development environment possible.
This includes looking for ways to link Accolade to productivity tools that are
already available and familiar to Accolade users. For example, key aspects of
the enhanced functionality being introduced in Accolade 6.0 were created by
integrating widely used Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft® Office
Project Server 2003 and SharePoint® Portal Server 2003. 'We initially chose
Sopheon as a partner in our collaborative product development initiative
because we recognized that they are the industry leader in expertise and
solutions related to product portfolio and process management,' said Tim Low,
senior product manager, Microsoft. 'What excites us about the partnership today
is that it has resulted in an application that uniquely and effectively focuses
Microsoft technology on the critical front-end of the product development
process and the challenge of product innovation. With tight integration to the
Microsoft® Office Enterprise Project Management platform and SharePoint® Portal
Server 2003, Accolade 6.0 gives product development teams and executives the
ability to access and share project-related information from enterprise-wide
systems and use that data to make faster, better portfolio management
decisions.'

Parker Hannifin, the $7 billion global market leader in motion and control
systems, has a first-hand perspective on the positive impact that Accolade can
have on process implementation success. 'One of the principal reasons we
selected Accolade was our belief that it would help ensure successful adoption
across 122 business units and 8 operating divisions,' said Bob McAdoo, director
of IT applications for Parker. 'We rolled out Accolade six months ago in
conjunction with the introduction of our Stage-Gate® process. Not only is the
system being used, adoption levels companywide have exceeded our expectations.
With the enhancements being introduced in the newest version of Accolade, we
expect use rates to continue to escalate.'

Other industry leaders such as BASF, Cadbury Schweppes, GlaxoSmithKline,
Revlon, Cargill, and Pfizer, as well as a broad mix of mid-market companies,
have implemented Accolade to improve innovation, cut product development waste
and accelerate idea-to-commercialization cycles. Users have reported achieving
up to 40% increases in revenue from new products and 20-30% reductions in
time-to-market.

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     
                                                                              
Floor Van Maaren       Citigate First Financial     Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010

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 (PD) processes and provides strategic decision support that
allows companies to improve innovation, cut product development spending waste
and shorten time to market. 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.

Sopheon Accolade® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.

Stage-Gate® is a registered trademark of the Product Development Institute,
Inc.

Microsoft® and SharePoint® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners