Microsoft Corp. today announced that a new survey by NerveWire Inc. shows customers of Siebel Systems Inc. can earn a 248 percent return on investment (ROI) over 11 months by deploying Siebel applications on Microsoft� SQL Server (TM) 2000, compared with other competing solutions.

NerveWire conducted a study of 12 companies using Siebel CRM applications running SQL Server 2000 or a database from a leading competitor (see http://www.microsoft.com/sql/ for more study information). The study compared the costs of migrating, supporting and maintaining the SQL Server environment versus the cost of continuing with the competing data management system. NerveWire concluded that customers migrating to SQL Server 2000 can achieve a 248 percent ROI and a payback period of 11 months. The net present value for the migration project was $387,311.

The study also found that customers could expect reduced hardware, software and IT support costs. For example, average server hardware costs were 27 percent lower for customers of SQL Server, and lower software licensing and maintenance contracts accounted for 6.8 percent of the total savings of migrating to SQL Server.