Resources


Tiers Program Publications

Tier Standard: Topology

The Uptime Institute has released the latest update of the Tier Standard: Topology effective 1 January 2018. This 2018 update to the Standard specification (previous update was dated 2012) is the result of more than five additional years of real-world data center experience and additional application notes associated with the use of newer technologies found in many recent data centers. The 2018 update to the Tier Standard : Topology reflects the experience drawn from organizations completing Uptime Institute’s Tier certification and additional experience gathered by Uptime Institute Professional Services during the conduct of its professional services portfolio. Mostly clarification to eliminate any ambiguity as well as providing additional context in nature, the 2018 update to the Tier Standard : Topology clarifies the intent of Uptime Institute regarding a number of topics, including; the need for on-site power generation, definitive ambient temperature ranges, a recommendation on communications entries, and makeup water for evaporative cooling systems.

Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability

The Uptime Institute Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability is an objective methodology for data center owners to align the facility management program with the specific Tier of installed site infrastructure in order to achieve the organization’s business objectives or mission imperatives. Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability establishes the behaviors and risks beyond the Tier Classification System (I, II, III, and IV) that impact long-term data center performance. Tier Standard: Operational Sustainability unifies site management behaviors with the Tier functionality of the site infrastructure.

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series: Engine-Generator Ratings

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series supplements Data Center Site Infrastructure Tier Standard: Topology by providing additional clarity on the Tier consequences of specific subsystems. An objective of the Tier Program is the consistent application of infrastructure availability concepts to facility systems supporting data center critical environments.

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water

The Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series supplements the Data Center Site Infrastructure Tier Standard: Topology by providing additional clarity on the Tier consequences of specific subsystems. An objective of the Tier Program is the consistent application of infrastructure availability concepts to facility systems supporting data center critical environments.

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series: Continuous Cooling

The Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series supplements the Data Center Site Infrastructure Tier Standard: Topology by providing additional clarity on the Tier consequences of specific subsystems. An objective of the Tier Program is the consistent application of infrastructure availability concepts to facility systems supporting data center critical environments.

Tier Requirements for Power

Uptime Institute’s Tier Topology standard has been created to assure any organization can meet its required levels of business services by relying on a predictable level of performance in the data center. While power is one of the most critical resources used to operate any data center, the types of power utilized to operate that data center greatly influence the results achieved. With 20 years of incident data across more than 1000 data centers to draw from, the Uptime Institute Tier Standard asserts that onsite power generation is the only source of reliable power. The high level of performance available from Tier certified datacenters stems from power distribution designs that rely only on this reliable power.