SPE.L Regulatory News (SPE)

27 Mar 2007 14:45

Sopheon, the international software and services company,announced today that Winbond Israel Ltd., a developer of semiconductorintegrated circuits and software, is implementing Sopheon's Accoladesystem to support the automation and management of its innovationprocesses. The product life cycle management solution is beingdeployed in the organization's Israeli research and developmentcenters. £ Winbond Israel is a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Winbond ElectronicsCorporation, one of the world's leading producers of semiconductorsolutions. The Israeli operation specializes in developing andmarketing products for personal computers, including Super I/Oembedded controllers and security devices. In recent years, thesemiconductor industry as a whole has continued to grow, but the rateof expansion has slowed. This trend, combined with the emergence ofnontraditional applications in such areas as Trusted Platform Modulesand SideShow(TM) controllers, has heightened the need for both processand product innovation. £ Winbond Israel's implementation of Accolade is central to theorganization's strategy for enhancing its innovation process andincreasing the business return on investments in new products. Thesystem will be used to collect and manage new product ideas, and toenable online collaboration among project teams working on productconcepts selected for development. Executives, process owners and teammembers will benefit from on-demand desktop access to a centralrepository of the data needed to review and assess the status andvalue of projects in the developmental pipeline. At the same time,Accolade's resource planning capabilities will help ensure that teamefforts are properly aligned to support successful completion ofpriority project work. £ "One of the primary reasons we chose Sopheon as a solutionprovider is their domain expertise," said Yoram Avigdor, programmanagement officer and security product manager at Winbond Israel."Their support helped to ensure that the innovation processes we putin place are grounded in the latest best practices. Accolade'sease-of-use and simple configurability were also important. But whatultimately sold us on Sopheon's system was the fact that it matches upwell with our culture. Winbond's business creed is to deliver what wecommit. Accolade's capabilities are a glove-fit with the emphasis oninnovation, teamwork and accountability upon which that creed isbuilt." £ "In the semiconductor industry, a supplier's capacity to respondquickly to custom, end-user requirements is essential to businesssuccess," said Nigel Cordery, European director for Sopheon. "Accoladenot only gives Winbond an automated best-practice process structure,it provides them with the kind of strategic oversight and agilityneeded to quickly deliver solutions that customers will value." £ Accolade(R) is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc. £ SideShow(TM) is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. £ All other trademarks are the sole property of their respectiveowners. £ About Winbond £ Winbond Electronics Corporation, a world-class leading supplier ofIC product solutions, was founded in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan in1987. The company has first-rate capabilities in product design,research and development, manufacturing, marketing and sales. Winbondhas two business groups: £ -- Logic IC Business Group handles uc-based consumer ICs and computer logic ICs. £ -- Memory IC Business Group is dedicated to Mobile RAM and Flash memory. Its major products include low-power DRAM, specialty DRAM, Pseudo SRAM, commodity DRAM, and low-density Flash. £ Winbond operates one 300 mm wafer fab, two 200 mm wafer fabs andone 150 mm wafer fab. The company currently has over 5,000 employeesand holds more than 2,500 patents worldwide. Winbond has subsidiariesin Mainland China, USA, Japan and Israel. For more information, pleasevisit www.winbond.com. £ About Sopheon £ Sopheon (LSE:SPE) is an international provider of software andservices that help organizations improve the business impact ofproduct innovation. Sopheon's Accolade system automates and governsthe innovation process, enabling companies to increase revenue andprofits from new products. 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. Copyright Business Wire 2007