You may have read our previous post about data center tiers, but in case you haven’t we’re going to dive into tier 4 data centers.
What are Data Center Tiers?
If you’re in the business of data centers, you likely already know all about data center tiers. But, just in case, here’s a brief explanation.
The Uptime Institute developed tiers to assess the capability of a data center. There are four tiers, Tier 1 being the lowest, Tier 4 being the highest. Companies that don’t have real-time product sales generally use Tier 1 and 2 centers. Larger companies, or those with advanced software and requirements will use Tier 3 and 4 centers.
Tier 1 data centers offer no redundancy and only a single path of cooling and power. Tier 2 data centers are slightly more robust, sometimes offering some built-in redundancy. The next tier, Tier 3, offers redundancy (N + 1) as well as several sources of cooling and power. Tier 4 data centers are fully redundant (2n + 1) and can sustain a 96-hour power outage.
Tier 4 Data Centers
Tier 4 data centers offer the best features and highest level of protection available. They are a must-have for any company that simply can’t afford downtime. Boasting a 99.99% availability, they are only down for an average of 26.3 minutes each year. That’s less time than you’ve spent on Reddit today alone! This 99.99% availability will greatly decrease your business’ chance of losing money and customers during a shutdown. In the case of a power outage, a Tier 4 will cover you for up to 96 hours. With a fully redundant (2n + 1) system, you’re utilizing two different, independent utility paths.
An important difference between Tier 3 and Tier 4 centers is how they handle disk changes. In Tier 3 the disk change is a cold-swap; whereas Tier 4 utilize hot-swap disk changes. The benefit comes from being able to upgrade or replace parts on a disk without service interruptions. Hot-swap is only available in Tier 4, not Tier 3.
Experienced Solutions Architects
To glean more information about Tier 4 Data Centers, contact us today. Our experienced solutions architects and engineers are ready to analyze your current systems and offer commensurate solutions.
