Collins said he was impressed with the ease of use of EqualLogic's SAN technology. 'I was already pretty much sold on iSCSI,' he said. 'I always had a knock against Fibre Channel. It's not known for how easy it is to use.'

As for EMC, Collins said, 'they were pushing Fibre Channel, which was much more expensive.' EMC also offered an iSCSI SAN, but Benchmark went with EqualLogic instead.

Roger Cox, an analyst at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Conn., said that while EMC offers similar iSCSI SAN products, he believes that EqualLogic's is easier to use.