According to a report from Needham & Co., SAN-related revenues at Datalink grew by 7 percent during the past quarter, even as other categories declined. Though Robinson admits that many potential customers are applying more scrutiny to SAN plans, he says advising customers on the cutting edge of technology is where Datalink earns its keep.
"We're not interested in selling something that's already a commodity. It has to be hard, the newer stuff."
And by remaining independent, Datalink hopes to prove that it's mostly interested in helping its customers with their specific problems, rather than pushing a single line of products.
"Our status gives us a certain amount of independence, of objectivity," Robinson says. "We hope that's more valuable to our customers, rather than focusing on one product."
Of course, that also puts Datalink into the tricky position of competing against the sales and integration teams of the same companies it buys products from (like EMC Corp. [NYSE: EMC], for instance). Robinson says the tightrope dance Datalink must perform is all a part of playing under the big top that storage networking has become.
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