Choosing a Data Centre: Tier Ratings, Certifications and Carrier Neutrality

When choosing where to place your servers, the brochure numbers — square feet, megawatts — matter less than how the facility handles failures and who you can connect to.

Resilience design

• Tier classification: Uptime Institute Tier III facilities are designed to be concurrently maintainable — any component can be serviced without shutting down IT load. Tier IV adds fault tolerance. Ask whether the rating is certified or just “designed to”.
• Power: independent A and B feeds, UPS redundancy and generator fuel autonomy.
• Cooling: redundant units and a clear plan for high-density racks.

Certifications and audits

ISO 27001 for information security, ISO 9001 for quality, SOC reports and, for payment workloads, PCI DSS. Ask for current certificates and their scope.

Connectivity

A carrier-neutral facility hosts many carriers, internet exchanges and cloud on-ramps. You can switch or add providers with a cross-connect instead of new construction.

Location and risk

• Flood, seismic and fire risk
• Distance from your offices and DR site
• Access for your engineers and deliveries

Commercials

Compare power pricing, cross-connect fees, remote-hands rates and contract flexibility, not just rack price.

We shortlist and compare facilities for you through our Racks Co-Location service. Get options.