MicroStrategy released a free starter package of its business intelligence tools, hoping to seed departments and workgroups of large organizations that could eventually decide to upgrade to the paid version.

The Reporting Suite enables companies to use Microstrategy's integrated BI platform to develop and deploy Web-based reporting applications. Users can view data in tabular grid reports and graphs, drill down on data, make ad hoc queries and export data to Excel and PDF formats.

The free software is meant as an entry point for initiating small, departmental reporting applications, while presenting a path to expand the BI deployment as needed.

The Reporting Suite comes with a license for up to 100 users. In addition, the package includes the MicroStrategy BI server with a one-CPU limit, and two-user licenses for its report development software.

In addition, Microstrategy is offering at no charge two-user licenses for many of its other products, including its OLAP, distribution and mobile services. The company is also providing online support at no charge, as well as 60 days of e-mail support.

"With MicroStrategy, companies can start with small applications and easily migrate them into a cohesive and consistent enterprise BI framework," Sanju Bansal, chief operating officer for Microstrategy, said in a statement released Friday.

MicroStrategy which is battling in a crowded market that includes major tech vendors, such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP and IBM.

Not included in the free version, however, are some of MicroStrategy's most attractive products, such as dashboards and the in-memory option that provides faster analysis, better insight and more rapid deployment with minimal IT involvement.

These features and more are part of MicroStrategy 9, the paid version of the company's BI platform introduced in January. Among the paid version's biggest advantages is federated access to a myriad data sources.

The free Reporting Suite is available through the vendor's Web site.

InformationWeek has published an in-depth report on how predictive analytics, real-time monitoring, and the speed of in-memory technology are changing the value proposition of business intelligence. Download the report here (registration required).