The Microsoft tools will replace ReportNet reporting software from Cognos Inc. at the Seneca Falls, N.Y.-based manufacturer of water pumps, Bellizzi said. The company also uses an earlier version of the Microsoft reporting tools.

Later this year, Gould plans to replace the Cognos PowerPlay analysis software used by its power users with Microsoft's Analysis Services 2005 OLAP tool, he added.

The annual licensing costs to keep the Cognos software in place are approximately equal to the one-time licensing and hardware costs of deploying SQL Server 2005, Bellizzi said, without providing figures. In addition, the Cognos software was "really overkill" for the company's reporting requirements, he said.

Goulds Pumps also expects to further reduce its use of the Microsoft Access database as it expands its use of Reporting Services 2005 and its SQL Server database. Use of the older Reporting Services 2000 has already allowed the firm to cut its total Access licenses from 6,500 Access databases three years ago to 4,000.

"We're generating close to 2,000 hits on the Reporting Services database for reports every month," Bellizzi said. "Who knows how many [Access databases] I can really stick a fork in, because you can use [Reporting Services 2005] and get the same information."