EPI has released its brand-new service for data centre owners/operators to upgrade their Uptime Institute Tier Certification to TIA-942 Certification. 

It is common knowledge that the Uptime Institute Tier Topology guidelines only address the electrical and mechanical infrastructure of a data centre. Although critical, data centre owners/operators have come to learn that the Uptime Institute’s Tier guidelines are missing some fundamental elements for today’s business critical environments. TIA-942 is a truly complete data centre standard as it also addresses site location, architectural aspects, physical security, fire safety, telecommunications, to name a few.

According to Edward van Leent, chairman & CEO of EPI Group of Companies, “The advantages of TIA-942 Conformity Certification far outweighs those of Uptime Institute Tier Topology Certification.  Unfortunately, the market is still not fully aware of many facts such as that the Uptime Institute Tier Topology is actually not an official standard but a guideline provided by a commercial organisation whereas TIA-942 is a true Standard developed by a non-profit Standards Development Organisation accredited under ANSI. This brings great transparency which is important for any data centre owner/operator. Furthermore, TIA-942 covers all important elements of today’s mission critical data centres so more and more customers are challenging their Uptime Institute Tier certified data centre operators on why they only have certified their power and cooling infrastructure and left out key elements such as security, network etc. The market has also often been ill informed that TIA-942 is not certifiable which is incorrect. EPI is incorporated as a CB – Certification Body and is therefore qualified to certify data centres to the TIA-942 standard. We believe that this Upgrade program will enable data centres to finally ensure that all important areas are part of their risk management strategy proving they have their customers best interest at heart”.

EPI will provide three types of upgrade packages.  Those with the Uptime Institute Design Certificate can choose to upgrade to a TIA-942 Design Certificate or TIA-942 Facilities Certificate.  Those with Uptime Institute Constructed Facilities Certificate can upgrade to a TIA-942 Constructed Facilities. 

Pricing varies depending on the size and target rating level of a data centre but are often at a fraction of the cost compared to Uptime Institute’s Tier Topology certification.