(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In response to the industry’s demand for greater transparency and education within the Tier Classification System, the Uptime Institute Professional Services’ (www.uptimeinstitute.com) Owners Advisory Committee (oac.uptimeinstitute.com) is set to vote on changes to the tier standards as early as next fall, according to reports.
Having grown from the publication of the Tier Classifications Define Site Infrastructure Performance white paper in the late 1990s, the Tier Classification System is currently the de facto international standard for objectively evaluating a data center’s mission critical functionality and effectiveness. According to a new SearchDataCenter.com report, the committee is aiming to deliver a more international standard to make it more usable internationally.
Bank of Montreal facilities management director and committee member Mike Wills told SearchDataCenter.com that the electrical distribution even between the US and Canada is typically a difference between 480 and 600 volts, and they differ even more between North America and Europe. “What makes a Tier 4 here might not make a Tier 4 there,” Wills said. “You have to be able to account for those differences.”
The Uptime Institute Professional Services’ created the Owners Advisory Committee in May to arbitrate future changes to both the “Tier Standard Topology” and the “Operational Sustainability” criteria. The Tier Standard Topology relates to already-built environments and their maintenance, and its performance in the case of an infrastructure failure. Operational Sustainability addresses other management decisions such as site selection, energy efficiency, staffing, security and work procedures.
At the same time, the Uptime Institute introduced the Accredited Tier Designer program, a comprehensive training course for design professionals to enhance their understanding of the practical application of the Tiers, including misconceptions and common misapplications. The Uptime Institute plans for the ATD designation, awarded upon successful completion of an exam, to provide a substantial differentiator in the engineering services market, especially for data center projects that specify a Tier objective.
“We’ve listened carefully to what the marketplace was calling for and have delivered,” Uptime Institute Professional Services vice president Julian Kudritzki said in a statement. “These two new elements enhance the value and depth of the Institute’s Tier Program because owners will now be offered a place at the table to incorporate their perspective into the standards-setting process. Also, design professionals will be offered in-depth training and certification on how to practically apply the Tiers.”
The introduction of the Owners Advisory Committee and the Accredited Tier Designer program were the first major improvements to the Tier system since the Uptime Institute unveiled operational sustainability grades more than a year ago as an enhancement of its Tier standards, defining the availability levels that lie between Tiers.
