Is Tier IV Certification Worth It?

An article about Uptime Institute talks about the different types of certification a data center can obtain. Achieving tier certification from Uptime Institute can cost a lot of time and money, but it can be pretty important. According to Colocation America Corporation, “If you’re in the data center business and not familiar with The Uptime Institute tier ratings, then you’re not a very good data center company.” So the higher the rating the better, right? Every data center should go for the top tier, shouldn’t they? Not exactly.

What Is Tier Certification?

Here is a summary of the tier certification program from the Uptime Institute. There are four levels of certification, and each can be described with a couple of words:

Tier I — Basic Infrastructure
Tier II — Redundancy Components
Tier III — Concurrent Maintainability
Tier IV — Fault-Tolerant

Each level has its own distinct characteristics and qualifications. The Uptime Institute says that it’s about “worldwide accountability”. They describe their unique position this way: “Uptime Institute Professional Services is the only firm licensed to rate and certify designs, constructed facilities, and ongoing operations against the Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System and Operational Sustainability criteria.” Tier certification is a mature process that is decades old.

Tier IV and Business Objectives

Tier IV is not for everyone. One of the myths of Uptime Institute’s tier certification system, according to their website, is that Tier IV is the best. The organization’s statement on the matter explains it well:

Uptime Institute says that “rigorous uptime requirements” and “long-term viability” are valid reasons to choose Tier III or Tier IV. For Tier IV data centers “You can expect less than 20 minutes of downtime during an entire year, most likely spread out during non-business hours and noticeable.” That’s uptime of around 99.995%.

Should You Go for Tier IV?

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An article on datacenters.com compares Tiers III and IV, and asks “Is a Tier IV data center worth the extra cost?” The writer quotes consultant Rahul Shewale: “It all depends on the kind of reliability and service level agreements with the end client under which the servers in the data center are hosted.” He says that Tier III can be more efficient and cost-effective. Another data center professional says that the expense of Tier IV installation “is a waste ”.

William Angle of Baltimore says that “almost 60% of all infrastructure failures occur because of people, not because of infrastructure equipment failure.” Angle believes that operations are as important as design.

In the end, your tier certification decisions may come down to cost. Balancing reliability and function against cost is an age-old dilemma in the world of technology.

Is a Tier IV Data Center Right for Your Business?

Not all small businesses need to immediately jump to the capability and reliability of a Tier IV data center right away. The cost could prove to be significant when compared with lower-tier data centers. However, there may be some businesses that need the features and benefits of a Tier IV data center. In many cases, Tier III services offer very similar downtimes to Tier IV services and can help a small business with a limited budget make the right decision. The confidential data can be stored in a Tier IV data center or on-premise data center while public data is stored in a less secure and more budget-friendly option.

The Tier 4 Data Center has come to be known to be reliable and robust and represents the highest level of reliability, security, and availability among all the Tiers which makes it the ideal choice for corporations.

Why Is Tier IV So Expensive?

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The sticking point appears to the power supply. As the UK company Teledata points out, “For a data center to meet the requirements of Tier IV, it needs a standby mains power supply.” And that can run into a lot of money, whether it’s dollars or pounds. Tier 4 standards call for 96-hour power protection.

The infrastructure is basically double that of Tier III. Have a look at the power diagram for a Tier IV data center in this article from Colocation America. Volica says that “power storage and distribution is not fault-tolerant in a Tier 3 facility”. They also say that the 2N+1 fully redundant infrastructure of Tier IV is the main difference with Tier III.

Tier 4 Data Centre Features:

ECS Tier 4 Datacenter in Gujarat with State-of-Art Technologies
2N+1 Fully Redundant Infrastructure
96-Hour Power Outage Protection
Fire Detection and Suppression Systems
High-Level Physical Security, Biometric Access Management
Diverse Connectivity Features and Carrier-Neutral
Customer SLA for Availability: Up to 99.999
TIA: 942 Rated 4 -Fault-Tolerant Site Infrastructure with Lowest annual downtime
24×7×365 Help Desk
24×7×365 Monitoring of Collocated IT Assets
Network Operations Centre as well as Security Operation Centre
Where our Enthusiast Expert Team is Happy to Help you Anytime.
The Most Competitive Pricing

AKCP Monitoring the Tier IV

AKCPro Server is our world-class central monitoring and management software. Suitable for a wide range of monitoring applications. Free to use for all AKCP devices. Monitor your infrastructure, whether it be a single building or remote sites over a wide geographic area. Integrate third-party devices with, Modbus, SNMP, and ONVIF compatible IP cameras.

Monitor all your AKCP devices

All deployed AKCP base units and attached sensors can be configured and monitored from AKCPro Server (APS). Base units communicate with the server through your wired local network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN). Remote sites with no wired network send data to the server through the cellular data network.

Integrated Monitoring of All Devices

AKCPro Server integrates all your environmental, security, power, access control, and video in a single, easy-to-use software.

Environmental Monitoring

Monitor all your temperature, humidity, airflow, water leak, and other environmental sensors. Configure rack maps to show the thermal properties of your computer cabinet, check the temperature at the top, middle, bottom, front, and rear, as well as temperature differentials.

Security Monitoring

Ensure that your facilities and critical infrastructure are secured. Door contact sensors, audible and visual alarms are configured and managed from your custom desktops in APS.

Power Monitoring

Monitor single-phase, three-phase, generators, and UPS battery backup power. AKCPro Server performs live Power Usage effectiveness (PUE) calculations so you have a complete overview of your power train and how adjustments in your data center directly impact your PUE.

Access Control

AKCPro Server is used to administer the access rights and schedules for all AKCP Door Control, Cabinet Control, and RFID Cabinet locks. Secure your assets, control access, and generate reports to give a complete audited trail of access.

Video Monitoring

Video feeds from Integrated ONVIF compatible IP cameras and cameras connected to AKCP securityProbe base units can be monitored and recorded in AKCPro Server. Synchronize sensor events with video in the playback window for an “eyes on” to any sensor events.

Takeaway

We can conclude that a Tier 4 Data Center indicates the most robustly designed data center.

Budget: This can be the determining factor for many businesses. In many cases, a hybrid solution of on-premise or multiple cloud data centers may be the right choice.
Security: Does the type of data being stored require the features and benefits offered by a Tier IV data center?
Flexibility and scalability: On-premise data centers are customizable but may lack the scalability needed from growing businesses. Can a cloud-based data center help alleviate this problem?

Reference Links:

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/data-center-tiers-important/

https://www.ecsbiztech.com/significance-of-tier-4-data-center/