1. Uptime’s Tier Certification

Uptime Institute’s Tier Standards are the globally recognized standard for data center availability and overall performance. It allows for various performance levels that consider both the built environment, as well as the approach and performance of the operations team.

While Uptime Tier Standards define the topology and operational sustainability performance requirements for each Tier Classification, Tier Certification verifies the application of the Tier Standard to ensure the facility is designed, constructed and operated to those specifications.

Uptime developed Tier Certification over 30 years ago to measure how well a data center can meet the needs of an organization. Since then, these certifications have gained worldwide recognition and provide a mark of excellence unique to high-performing businesses. With organization-specific, component-level and performance-based evaluations, as well as extremely thorough and unbiased site visits, few programs can match the caliber of Uptime’s certification.

2. TIA-942 Site/Facilities Certification (DCCC)

ANSI/TIA-942 (a.k.a. TIA-942) is a quality standard for data centers that represents worldwide consensus from industry leaders on data center design and build. TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) is the leading trade association representing the global information and communications technology (ICT) industry through standards development, policy initiatives, business opportunities, market intelligence and networking events. TIA is accredited by ANSI (American National Standards Institute) as a “Standards Developing Organization” (SDO). The TIA-942 Conformity Audit conducted by EPI provides an extensive and meticulous assessment for conformity to the requirements of the standard involving over 1,200 criteria encompassing Site Location, Architectural, Electrical, Mechanical, Telecommunication, Physical Security, Safety, Fire Detection/Suppression and Facilities Monitoring. The audit helps to verify whether your mission critical infrastructure is aligned to your business requirements. TIA-942 is by far the most popular standard when it comes to data center design (more than 9,000 copies purchased worldwide). Independent research has shown that 78% of data center operators/owners use the TIA-942 standard as the basis for their data center design.