Contract Win

Sopheon PLC
29 April 2008

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Tuesday 29 April 2008


                                  Sopheon plc
                                  ('Sopheon')

             Bell Helicopter Selects Sopheon's Vision StrategistTM
                  to Guide Technology and Product Investments

   Product Planning and Roadmapping Software Will Help Aircraft Manufacturer
    Assess Technology Readiness Levels and Increase Returns on R&D Spending

MINNEAPOLIS and LONDON-April 29, 2008-Sopheon, the international provider of
software and services for product lifecycle management, announced today that
Bell Helicopter, a leading manufacturer of commercial and military aircraft, has
selected Sopheon's Vision Strategist (VS) roadmapping software to enhance its
strategic technology and product planning processes.  The software is being
deployed in the company's Engineering and XworX (Advanced Research) divisions
located at Bell headquarters near Forth Worth, TX.  Vision Strategist will be
used by engineers, systems analysts and executives responsible for advanced
product planning.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., Bell has a global reputation for
world-class innovation and a legacy of aerospace firsts.  Founded in 1935, it
designed and constructed its first helicopter in only six months and was the
first company to obtain certification for a commercial helicopter.  Today, Bell
is a leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical
lift aircraft.  It serves customers in more than 120 countries, and is a
pacesetter in aircraft innovation.

The segment of the aircraft industry to which Bell belongs is highly
competitive.  Development cycles can span decades and products are becoming
increasingly complex.  One of Bell's principal challenges is finding ways to
speed up the right new technologies and capabilities to market.  The company
must be able to understand at any point in time how established and emerging
technologies and supplier capabilities link to critical customer requirements.
Bell must also have the capacity to efficiently prioritize projects and
resources so that it can be a step ahead in meeting those requirements.

Vision Strategist will allow Bell to improve the visibility of strategic
planning data and strengthen its ability to anticipate how potential decisions
can impact products that can take up to 20 years to commercialize.  In
particular, Bell plans to use the software's drill-down capabilities to enhance
its understanding of technology readiness levels - a measure used by the company
and many industry leaders to assess the progress of developing technologies as
they mature and become suitable for commercial application.

By providing a single, centralized view of the organization's roadmaps, Vision
Strategist is expected to help Bell executives identify, develop and fund the
technologies and capabilities that are needed to meet near- and long-term
customer demands.  Bell has already begun using VS roadmaps to improve insights
into where and how the company is spending resources across various programs.
In addition, Vision Strategist's capacity to trace the application of
technologies in Bell's portfolio is expected to help the company identify
technology reuse opportunities.

Vision Strategist's ability to support Bell's existing roadmapping frameworks
and organizational structure was a key factor in the selection of the software.
Using Bell's planning data to create prototypes during a two-day workshop,
Sopheon validated that VS could effectively automate the company's manual
roadmapping processes.

'We conducted a thorough review process and found that Sopheon's software was
the only solution that met our needs,' said Scott Harris, technology innovation
manager for Bell Helicopter.  'Vision Strategist enables us to objectively
review investment options, pool resources across the company and speed the
redeployment and development of needed technologies.  It takes less time to
create roadmaps and we have greater confidence in the quality of the data.
Overall, we expect that with VS we will see a significant increase in our return
on technology investments.'

With a single, centralized product planning system now in place, Bell employees
can share roadmaps, visualize dependencies across programs and access accurate
data in real-time to inform decision-making.  The company expects to reduce the
amount of time and money spent on administrative tasks and to eliminate
duplicative efforts in developing, gathering and reporting on technology and
product plans.

'Bell Helicopter's historically strong competitive position reflects their
success in creating products that match market needs,' said Bryan Seyfarth,
solutions marketing director for Sopheon.  'Vision Strategist gives Bell an
automated strategic product planning system that will help reduce the
uncertainty and risks associated with complex technology and product decisions,
allowing the company to more effectively meet customer requirements and
accelerate the delivery of new products to market.'

Vision StrategistTM is a trademark of Sopheon.

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


About Bell Helicopter

A wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT), Bell Helicopter is an
industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned
vertical lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tilt rotor aircraft.
  Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior
quality, Bell's international workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in
more than 120 countries.  For more information, please visit
www.bellhelicopter.com.

About Sopheon

Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of product lifecycle management
software and services.  Its solutions help organizations increase revenues and
profits from new products by synchronizing product planning and innovation
process execution.  Sopheon's Accolade(R) software automates the product
innovation process and provides strategic decision support for the management of
product portfolios.  Its Vision StrategistTM solution automates the roadmapping
process, allowing users to visualize and forecast the future of products,
markets and technologies.  Sopheon's solutions are used by industry leaders
throughout the world, including BASF, Cadbury Schweppes, Corning, Electrolux,
General Motors, Honeywell, Motorola, Nestle and SAB Miller.  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.



                                     -Ends-



For further information contact:


Barry Mence, Chairman                Sopheon plc                          Tel: + 44 (0) 1483 685 735

Arif Karimjee, CFO

Vikki Krause                         Hansard Communications               Tel: + 44 (0) 207 245 1100

Claire Verhagen                      Citigate First Financial             Tel: + 31 (0) 205 754 010





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            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange