i/o Data Centers Earns Tier III Certification

phoenix-one-exterior

The front entrance to the Phoenix One data center.

Lots of data center operators talk about Tier standards. But a much smaller number of companies actually take the step of having their facilties certified by The Uptime Institute, the data center think tank that developed the four-level reliability ratings. Uptime's list of Tier-accredited data centers includes less than 60 facilities. Most of those who do are single-tenant corporate data centers rather than colocation or hosting providers, making it difficult for customers to lease space in a Tier-certified data center.

That's beginning to change. In 2008 the ATAC OnePartner data center in southwestern Virginia became the first U.S. commercial facility to earn Tier certification. Now a much larger colocation provider, i/o Data Centers, has been awarded Tier III Certification for Design Documents for the first phase of the company’s enormous i/o Phoenix data center. The 540,000 square foot facility is one of the largest data centers in the United States, and the first phase features 180,000 square feet of data center space.

"Tier III Design Certification signifies a design solution that is capable of responding to a 24 x 7 performance objective - without shutdowns for equipment work or replacement," said Pitt Turner, Executive Director & Senior Tier Certification Authority with The Uptime Institute. "i/o’s achievement of such a high performance capability over such a scale is impressive."

The Uptime Institute is the only firm that is licensed to rate and certify mission-critical facilities using The Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System.