SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

31 Jan 2006 07:02

Sopheon PLC31 January 2006 Embargoed Release: 07:00hrs Tuesday 31st January 2006 Sopheon Plc ('Sopheon' or the 'Company') Leading IT Market Research Firm Cites Sopheon As First-Mover In Taking Advantage of Major Market Trend New Report Says Company Well-Positioned to Benefit From Convergence of Product Life Cycle and Portfolio Management Solutions Sopheon Plc, the international software and services company, announces todaythat global IT research and advisory firm IDC has published a profile analyzingSopheon and its flagship Accolade process and product portfolio managementsystem. The report credits Sopheon with early recognition of the convergence ofproduct life cycle management (PLM) and project portfolio management (PPM)solutions and taking effective action to capitalize on this trend, which IDCcharacterizes as a major, new market force. (Source: IDC, "Sopheon's AccoladeBreaking out in PLM and Portfolio Management Convergence," Doc #34274.) In an IDC Product Flash, analysts Evan Quinn and Gisela Wilson examine Sopheon'smarket position and the evolution of its flagship offering. From the analysts'perspective, Accolade's functional focus on improving the product developmentprocess, including recent enhancements to the solution, has separated it fromtraditional project portfolio management software and is positively impactingSopheon's business outlook. The report observes that Sopheon seems "particularly well positioned to ride thePLM/PPM convergence trend given its differentiated approach." Earmarks of thatapproach, according to IDC's analysis, include built-in support for the widelyused Stage-Gate(R) product development process framework; portals and analyticstargeted for process industries; integration with Microsoft(R) Project; andstrong portfolio management features. The commentary points to Sopheon'sexpanding sales pipeline, increasing deal size and its stepped-up pursuit ofindirect channel sales partnerships as validation that the company is movinginto a new phase of growth. "Sopheon stands out as a first mover in PLM/PPM convergence," the reportconcludes, "and possesses a position of leverage in Microsoft's businessapplication partnership community. Accolade is ahead of many of its moreestablished competitors in terms of how to leverage collaboration, portal, andcontent technologies for innovation management." "Generic project management tools can provide great value operationally," saidAndy Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon, "But they don't address theneeds of corporate executives for information that can help them make strategicproduct-development decisions. There's a growing body of evidence that one ofthe most important characteristics separating innovation leaders from the packis that they put in place a strong product innovation process and support itwith superior project management skills. Accolade enables organizations toquickly develop these capabilities as a sustainable competitive advantage. Oursolution was built from the ground up to manage projects within the businesscontext of the new product development process. And it has demonstrated that itcan produce break-through results. Being recognized as a "first-mover" in thisemerging market of applying project management best-practices to the productlife cycle management process is strong validation of our unique application andstrategic focus. Having this recognition come from one of the world's topindependent IT research and advisory firms is especially affirming." Sopheon Accolade(R) is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc. Stage-Gate(R) is a registered trademark of the Product Development Institute. Microsoft(R) is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the soleproperty of their respective owners. About Sopheon Sopheon (LSE: SPE) is an international provider of software and services thathelp organizations improve the business impact of product development. TheSopheon Accolade(R) product development system automates gate- or phase-basedproduct development processes and provides strategic decision support thatallows companies to improve innovation, cut product development spending wasteand shorten time-to-market. Sopheon's Monitor software operates as a "readingrobot" that automatically reviews, filters, analyzes and pushes relevant contentto healthcare and engineering professionals to enable effective compliance withprotocols, standards and regulations. Sopheon is listed on the AIM Market of theLondon Stock Exchange and on the Euronext in the Netherlands. For moreinformation, please visit www.sopheon.com. 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 1100Andrew Tan + 44 (0) 7957 203 685 Floor van Maaren Citigate First Financial Tel : + 31 (0) 205 754 010 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange