RFID Product Launch

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs 20th October 2004

                                  SOPHEON PLC                                  

                                  ('Sopheon')                                  

      Sopheon and Siemens Business Services Launch RFID Reference Source       

        for the Aviation Industry in Association with Boeing and Airbus        

World's Two Largest Aircraft Manufacturers Support Availability of Web-based
Service to Promote RFID Standardization

Sopheon plc, the international software and services company, and Siemens
Business Services announced today the introduction of a Siemens Compliance
Direct Service jointly supported by Airbus and Boeing that will provide an
industry-wide internet portal to selected reference sources for the
implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in
commercial airplanes. The portal will help to ensure that users are working
with the latest sources on RFID standardization. Airbus and Boeing are
collaborating to introduce this Web-based service into the aviation industry as
a way of promoting standardization around RFID use.

The Sopheon and Siemens Business Services solution, called 'Antenna,' is
expected to streamline and accelerate product development, ordering,
procurement and manufacturing processes throughout the commercial aviation
industry. It provides a medium for Airbus and Boeing to publish their own RFID
standardized requirements to supplier organizations. The initiative follows
successful piloting of the Sopheon and Siemens service at Airbus.

Industry analyst firm Gartner Group has forecasted that RFID may become the
major technology enabler for the transportation sector in the next decade.
Adopted by the aviation industry, the technology has been linked to an ability
to ensure higher levels of safety, airworthiness and operational efficiencies
for commercial airplanes. Standardization has been identified as a critical
factor in encouraging widespread adoption of RFID technology. Sopheon and
Siemens Business Services, in association with Airbus and Boeing, are promoting
the Antenna service this week to suppliers attending the Global Aviation RFID
Forum in Munich. The Forum was organized, and is being sponsored, by Airbus and
Boeing.

Kenneth Porad, program manager for Boeing Commercial Airplanes' automated
identification program, said, 'Airbus and Boeing have a common goal of
facilitating implementation of RFID across the aviation industry. We also have
many suppliers and customers in common. It will be difficult to promote
widespread adoption of RFID standards without an effective, enabling,
implementation strategy. Working with Sopheon and Siemens Business Services, we
realized that a technology-based solution that encouraged uniformity was
possible. We expect that the Antenna service will be embraced as the industry's
platform for de facto RFID standardization.'

'We saw value in making the same information that Airbus and Boeing use for
RFID compliance available to the companies that supply to and buy from us,'
said Jens Heitmann, senior manager, systems standardization, process and
methods at Airbus. 'Airlines, parts suppliers, regulatory agencies and
third-party maintenance, repair and overhaul shops can now turn to a single
resource for access to the latest RFID standards and information, including
procedures and practices defined by Airbus and Boeing. This is a significant
move in our continuing efforts to ensure the highest levels of passenger safety
aboard commercial aircraft.'

The Sopheon and Siemens Antenna service is a subscription-based offering that
replaces what is often a costly and time-intensive manual process for
manufacturing companies and their customers. The solution is built around
Sopheon's Compliance Monitor software, a component of the Sopheon Accolade
product life cycle management (PLM) suite. The technology enables location,
capture, management and analysis of critical data from a variety of sources,
including professional journals, news publications, Web sites, and internal
libraries arranged by Siemens Business Services' Standardization Competence
Center. By making relevant collections of RFID standards, operating procedures,
best practices and other data readily available to engineering and procurement
teams, Antenna will help to ensure proactive compliance.

'Our work with the two leaders in aircraft manufacturing is a significant
indication of the high levels of interest in the manufacturing community in
general toward adoption of RFID technology,' said Winfried Holz, head of the
global business with IT solutions at Siemens Business Services. 'Boeing and
Airbus recognize that continuous conformity assessment is of critical
importance to their industry. The service that we have developed in partnership
with Sopheon greatly reduces the complexity of staying up-to-date with the
multitude of current and evolving RFID standards and regulations. It will allow
Airbus and Boeing to extend their best practices in compliance throughout their
supply chain.'

'Manufacturing companies in highly regulated industries are increasingly
looking to product life cycle management tools to help ensure compliance,' said
Andy Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. 'And there's growing evidence
that manufacturers who embrace technology to support their compliance
management efforts will reap significant benefits. The collaboration of Airbus
and Boeing in endorsing use of the Antenna service to enable compliance with
evolving standards and regulations will go a long way toward ensuring that the
airline industry will be a leader, not a follower, in the successful adoption
of RFID technology.'

Sopheon Accolade® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.

All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the sole

property of their respective owners.

About Airbus

Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is a large, unified company whose
customer focus, commercial know-how, technological leadership and manufacturing
efficiency have propelled it to the forefront of the industry. With a turnover
of around 19.3 billion Euro in 2003, Airbus now consistently captures half of
all commercial airliner orders, delivering over half of the world's requirement
for large commercial aircraft in 2003. Airbus today is a truly global
enterprise of some 50,000 employees, with fully-fledged subsidiaries in the
United States, China and Japan, spare parts centres in Hamburg, Frankfurt,
Washington, Beijing, and Singapore, training centres in Toulouse, Miami, and
Beijing and 120 field service offices around the world. Airbus also relies on
industrial co-operation and partnerships with major companies all over the
word, and a network of some 1,500 suppliers in 30 countries. Airbus is an EADS
joint Company with BAE SYSTEMS. For more information, please visit
www.airbus.com.

About Boeing

The Boeing Company provides products and services to customers in 145
countries. Boeing has been the premier manufacturer of commercial jetliners for
more than 40 years and is a global market leader in military aircraft,
satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and
services. Total company revenues for 2003 were $50.5 billion. Boeing continues
to expand its product line and develop new technologies to meet customer needs.
Creating new models for its family of commercial airplanes; developing,
producing, supporting and modifying aircraft for the U.S. military; building
launch vehicles capable of lifting more than 14 tons into orbit; and improving
communications for people around the world through an advanced network of
satellites, Boeing is carrying forward a long tradition of technical excellence
and innovation. Boeing employs nearly156,000 people in 70 countries and 48
states within the United States. For more information, please visit
www.boeing.com.

About Siemens Business Services

Siemens Business Services is an internationally leading IT service provider.
This Siemens group offers services all along the IT service chain from a single
source - from consulting to systems integration, right through to the
management of IT infrastructures. Thanks to comprehensive know-how and
sector-specific expertise, the company provides measurable added value for its
customers. With regard to outsourcing and IT maintenance, Siemens Business
Services is among the top ten providers worldwide. Sales in fiscal year 2003
(ending 30 September 2003) came to around 5.2 billion Euro, 76 percent of which
was achieved outside the Siemens organization. The company currently has
approximately 34,300 employees worldwide.  For further information on Siemens
Business Services, please visit www.siemens.com/sbs. For further information on
Compliance Direct Service, please visit http://www.standardisierung.de/
index-e.html.

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.

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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