Is DC tiering properly understood and does it remain useful and relevant?

Is the Uptime Institute’s Tier Topology properly understood and does it remain useful and relevant in today's DC industry?

The Uptime Institute Tier standards have been around since 1995 and enjoy an almost ubiquitous use within the data centre industry. However the Tier standards are typically misrepresented and the last five years has seen an increase in the use of invalid descriptions such as "Tier3+" or some other non-recognised nomenclature in order to try and describe or differentiate their facility.

The Uptime Institute started certifying data centres against the Tier Standards in 2008 to respond to an increasing demand for certification within the industry and to prevent evident misuse.

The DCSG and Uptime have planned a joint event to explain the Tier Topology in more detail and to ask whether the Tier Standards remain relevant? Are they evolving fast enough to keep pace with a rapidly changing industry sector? Are they fully understood and do they continue to represent value to our industry?

In an evening hosted by the DCSG, the Uptime Institute Network Director in EMEA, Mark Acton will first set the scene by updating the audience on the most current changes and perhaps more importantly the often misunderstood intent and philosophy behind the Tier classifications.

The second half of the evening will be a presentation from Chris Flanagan of Fujitsu as to why they became Tier certified and what value it brought to their business.

The evening will end with an audience Q&A session.

Agenda

• 6:00pm - 6:15pm Arrivals & Refreshments

• 6:15pm - 7:00pm AGM and Activity update

• 7:00pm - 7:30pm Buffet and refreshments, opportunities for networking

• 7:30pm - 8:10pm Uptime Tier Standards Update and Briefing

• 8:10pm - 8:20pm Audience Q&A session

• 8:20pm - 8:50pm Tier Certification at Fujitsu

• 8:50pm - 9:00pm Audience Q&A session

• 9:00pm Close