CompuServe Messages

Ah. I've been looking into these since I finally got the ok to seriously start pricing and spec'ing out a network for the office, and the 100mbs were (are) looking pretty decent. but overall, I am still just getting my feet wet in networks. Overall, for a file server, do you feel it is better off to go with someone like Compaq or IBM, or would a clone do just as well? So far everyone is telling me to run screaming from a clone, but the boss sees this as a money saver. I am starting to see it as a major headache for me.