SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

18 Jun 2007 07:00

Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Monday 18 June 2007

Sopheon plc ("Sopheon") Church & Dwight Chooses Accolade‚® to Enhance Product Innovation and Portfolio Management

Sopheon Solution Favored for Ease-of-Use, Configurability,

and Availability of Hosting Services to MinimizeSupport Demands on Internal IT

MINNEAPOLIS and LONDON June 18, 2007 Sopheon, the international software and services company, announced today that Church & Dwight Co., Inc., manufacturer of ARM & HAMMER‚® consumer, specialty and other products, has selected the Accolade product life cycle management (PLM) system to enhance the company's product innovation processes and strengthen its ability to meet rigorous product delivery requirements. Church & Dwight is deploying Accolade to users across brands and functions at its headquarters in Princeton, NJ, and at operating locations in Europe and Asia.

Founded in 1846, Church & Dwight manufactures a broad range of deodorizing and household cleaners and laundry and personal care products. It is perhaps best known as the producer of ARM & HAMMER‚® baking soda. Other Church & Dwight consumer lines include Brillo‚® cleaning pads, OxiClean‚® pre-wash laundry additive, Xtra‚® laundry detergent, Arrid‚® antiperspirants, CLOSE-UP‚® toothpastes and Trojan‚® condoms. Church & Dwight's adoption of Accolade will enable the company to automate its global implementation of Stage-Gate‚® product-development process methodology. The Sopheon system's capacity to strengthen process governance is expected to reduce development cycle times and help ensure that new products meet the stringent scheduling and delivery requirements of large retail customers.

Church & Dwight's choice of Accolade was based on such advantages as the solution's ease-of-use, simple configurability and strong alignment with Stage-Gate‚®. Another important consideration was Sopheon's ability to host the deployment, an arrangement that will minimize support demands on Church & Dwight's internal IT resources, allowing them to remain focused on other strategic priorities.

"We compared Sopheon's system to five other PLM solutions," said Paul Siracusa, executive vice president of global research and development at Church & Dwight. "Based on our requirements, we judged Accolade to be the strongest both technically and functionally-excellent data integrity in a user-friendly environment. The fact that they could also provide a secure web-based hosting option was key to helping us surmount one of our principal implementation challenges and positions us to accelerate time-to-value."

"Many of our clients and prospects are large, dynamic, global companies that are looking for ways to reduce pressure on internal IT resources," said Paul Heller, chief technology officer at Sopheon. "In response to their needs, we have developed a hosting environment that blends state-of-the-art security and protection of data with technology that allows the end-user to seamlessly and cost-effectively shift IT support responsibilities for Accolade implementation and maintenance to us. More than a third of new Sopheon clients during the past 12 months have opted for the hosted model because it significantly reduces the resources and time required to get to production status. This is an important trend, one that we are well-prepared to meet."

Accolade‚® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.

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

All other registered trademarks are the property of Church & Dwight Co., Inc.

About Church & Dwight

Church & Dwight Co., Inc., engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of a range of household, personal care, and specialty products in the United States and internationally. The company's household products include ARM & HAMMER‚®baking soda, ARM & HAMMER‚® Super Scoop Clumping Cat Litter, OxiClean‚® pre-wash laundry additive, ARM & HAMMER‚® and Xtra‚® laundry detergent, Nice 'n Fluffy‚® liquid fabric softener, and other cleaning products. The company's personal care products include Trojan‚® condoms, Nair‚® depilatories,

First Response‚® home pregnancy and ovulation test kits, Arrid‚® antiperspirants,

ARM & HAMMER‚® toothpastes, and Spinbrush‚® battery-operated toothbrushes.

Church & Dwight's specialty products include sodium bicarbonate for use in industrial and agricultural markets. The company was founded in 1846 and is based in Princeton, New Jersey. For more information, please visit www.churchdwight.com.

About Sopheon

Sopheon is an international provider of software and services that help organizations improve the business impact of product innovation. Sopheon's Accolade system automates and governs 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.

-Ends-

For further information contact:

Barry Mence, Chairman Sopheon plc Tel : + 44 (0) 1483 685 735 Arif Karimjee, CFO Andrew Tan Hansard Group Tel : + 44 (0) 207 245 1100 + 44 (0) 7957 203 685 Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010