Tier ratings are an important indicator of data center security, and are crucial to a business understanding where their information is being held. Now, the company that administers those ratings is making some important changes meant to better protect business owners and organizations renting space in those centers.
Previously, The Uptime Institute, the consortium that designates tier point ratings, has awarded certificates for both design and construction. Design certificates for blueprints and security based on what the planned data center will hold, and construction certificates based on the actual finished product.
The Uptime Institute, realizing what every small business owner already knows, determined that much can change between the planning and practical stages of construction. However, many data center that had been awarded certificates on designs that hadn’t fully been finished were still advertising the higher of the two ratings.
From CIO.com
“This practice is patently deceptive, since customers believe the facility has been constructed to meet certification criteria when in fact it hasn’t,” said Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters, who’s been pushing for changes to the system.
“To address the problem, Uptime Institute will no longer hand out the marketing foil that shows a data center has been design certified, nor list those data centers on its website.”
If you’re interested in tier ratings, or you would just like to speak about data center security and safety, contact SSI.