To be or not to be… comments on Data Center certification – Part 1

One of the topics that interests me most about technology projects is risk management and what we know about the “cost of risk management”.

It would be very expensive to manage all the risks that can be identified in a project, so if we work with a methodological framework such as the one proposed by industry best practices, we need to prioritize the risks based on the probability of occurrence and the impact that can occur if the risk materializes.

Based on this information, we can determine which risks require more attention, mitigation and/or contingency plans, and other measures.

In a data center implementation project, the “target tier” must be defined at the beginning of the project, based on an assessment of the risks of the data center operation and how it could impact the business if a service interruption occurred.

Then, during the design phase, the engineering must be developed to meet the target. The target level considers the characteristics and functionalities of a data center that will operate within the organization’s risk appetite and expectations.

One way to verify that the design meets this Tier objective is to have the design certified by an external entity that reviews and validates the design against an industry standard, such as the Uptime Institute’s Tier Topology Standard.

To learn more about certification, I invite you to sign up and stay tuned for the second part of this publication.