are most of business users using SW or HW iscsi initiators?

[netappmagic]

I dont have too strong experience on iscsi LUN, and may want to implement here. I need help on some basic questions:

SW or HW initiator, which one is more preferred? or implemented?

What is the most popular SW initiator vendors, and the same question on HW initiator?

MS software initiator is free, should I use it in real business?

Thanks a lot for your help!

[haenggi]

Most of my customers use the SW initiator on Windows or Linux. I don't know may customers anymore that use the HW initiator.

For sure the MS software initiator is the way to go with Windows all of my customer that have iscsi with windows use it.