When one of the founders of VirtaIT - Valentino Semeria - first came to Spain's Costa del Sol he worked as an IT Manager for La Perla Living (www.laperlaliving.com). All their computers were "clone" computers bought from local computer shops who assembled all the hardware components themselves. As PC specifications changed regularly and as and when new video cards, motherboards, etc came to the market they were bundled into the "clone" case.
Often - when the hardware components are carefully chosen and assembled - this never poses a problem. And in all fairness, many computer and IT service businesses do just that. In this case the clone PCs work fine for years.

However this is not always the case, unfortunately. Locally-based on the computer vendors on the Costa del Sol do not have the resources to get it right most of the time. Doing this requires extensive production and testing techniques.

The result was many failures in computer hardware, simply because there were either not assembled correctly or because the hardware components were not sufficiently tested for inter-compatibility. This was very evident in the entire PC network La Perla Living and in the many other offices we have audited.

Some computer specialists will argue that they have had less problems with the clone PCs than they have experienced with branded PC's such as Dell, HP or IBM. Well maybe, but when more and more of IT strategists of large organisations such as the BBC or the NHS choose Dell it must say something. Just look at the badge on the computer the next time you are watching TV - 8 out of 10 times it will be Dell. Even Boulanger (La Cañada) use Dell machines - and they sell computer equipment!

Subsequently to all of this, when VirtuaIT was formed in 2002 it's primary strategy was never to build or buy nothing other than quality, tested, branded pc or networking equipment.
Our branded PC strategy simply works. With fewer hardware failures to repair, we are better positioned to focus on the more productive IT solutions of our clients - those which add value to their product or service. VirtuaIT have just celebrated a two-year anniversary (link to 2 year anniversay page) of buying Dell PCs, laptops, PDAs and networking equipment without a single hardware failure.