The Uptime Institute’s Tier Performance Standards measure the performance of data centers through methodology used to define the uptime of a data center. Uptime Institute has awarded 443 Certifications in 60 countries around the world.
The Uptime Institute’s Tier rating system encompasses four certification levels: Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV.
After earning Tier IV certification from the Uptime Institute earlier this year, Switch’s SUPERNAP 8 has now added Tier IV Gold certification for Operational Sustainability. Headquartered in Las Vegas, the SUPERNAP ecosystems are rated as a Tier IV and meet or exceed all design, construction and operational standards.
“Uptime isn’t just about having a resilient facility. Human error is among the leading causes of data center outages, underlining the importance of a well-trained staff and operational best practices,” wrote Rich Miller in his piece announcing the news in DataCenterKnowledge.com. “Uptime now says Switch has met its highest standards for managing its data centers. The operational sustainability standard recognizes the human factors in running a data center, as well as the design of the facility to meet fault tolerant standards.”
The design and operations of SuperNAP 8 “uniquely expresses harmony of technology, staff, and operational processes, which is key to sustained availability,” Lee Kirby, the CTO of the Uptime Institute, told DataCenterKnowledge.com.
“Switch’s SUPERNAP 8, MOD1 is one of only four data centers around the world, and the first in the U.S. colocation market, to truly demonstrate Fault Tolerance throughout the design, construction, commissioning, and operations,” said Kirby. “Switch’s achievement of Tier IV Gold with a modular design and construction solution further speaks to that team’s sophistication.”
The only other data centers to have earned Tier IV Gold status are the Telefonica data center in Spain; a US Bancorp site in Kansas, and a municipal facility serving the Province of Ontario in Canada. Switch becomes the first carrier-neutral colocation data center to earn the designation.
“Tier IV means that from a design and construction perspective, our facilities are built to the absolute highest standards in the world. This comes as a result of SUPERNAP Founder and CEO Rob Roy’s 218 patented and patent pending claims that have changed the landscape of the data center industry. The Gold certification represents operational sustainability and that the SUPERNAP team operates at the highest level in the industry. As a result, SUPERNAP has become the first ever Tier IV Gold carrier-neutral colocation facility in the world.” Missy Young, Executive Vice President of Colocation.
Completed in 2013, SUPERNAP 8 is the latest design from Rob Roy. It sits adjacent to SUPERNAP 7, the 400,000 square foot center that put Switch on the map. Switch has more than 1,000 customers, including more than 40 cloud computing companies and a dense concentration of network carriers.
“I have seen countless data centers around the globe, and nothing comes close to the Switch SUPERNAP data centers,” Peter Gross of Bloom Energy, a data center design pioneer as founder of EYP Mission Critical Facilities, told DataCenterKnowledge.com. “Rob Roy has revolutionized modern data center design and has created a technology ecosystem that is unrivaled in the industry. This achievement of Tier IV Gold from Uptime is incredibly well-deserved and thoroughly earned.”
SUPERNAP 8 was built using a modular approach known as SwitchMOD. Each MOD features two 10MVA power rooms and two separate data halls, each with a capacity of 800 cabinets. Some of the innovations in SuperNAP 8 include:
SUPERNAP 9 and 10 are under construction, which will add capacity for 130 megawatts of power and up to 8,000 cabinets.
“SUPERNAP 9 is currently under construction and will be opened in 2015,” said Missy Young, Executive Vice President of Colocation. “The facility is already 22% sold out. When SUPERNAP 9 is completed it will be 575,000 sq ft, making it the largest SUPERNAP.”
