Understanding Data Center & Tiers

Data centers are the backbone of our digital world, providing the infrastructure needed to store, process, and manage data. In this article, you can understand the basics of data centers and their components. Understanding the different tiers of data centers is crucial for businesses to ensure they choose the right level of reliability and performance for their needs. Here is a quick overview of the different data center & tiers:

For better readability and understanding, the data from the table is provided below:

• Tier 1:

• Minimum Capacity Component: N
• Power Path: Single
• Cooling Path: Single
• Redundancy: None
• Concurrently Maintainable: No
• Fault Tolerant: No
• Uptime: 99.671%
• Downtime: 28.8 hours/year
• Make-Up Water Storage: 12-24 Hours
• Fuel Storage: 12-24 Hours
• Maintenance: Requires downtime
• Usage: Non-critical apps

Tier 2:

• Minimum Capacity Component: N+1
• Power Path: Single
• Cooling Path: Single
• Redundancy: N+1
• Concurrently Maintainable: No
• Fault Tolerant: No
• Uptime: 99.749%
• Downtime: 22 hours/year
• Make-Up Water Storage: 12-24 Hours
• Fuel Storage: 12-24 Hours
• Maintenance: Partial downtime
• Usage: Improved reliability

Tier 3:

• Minimum Capacity Component: N+1
• Power Path: Multiple (1 Active, 1 Standby)
• Cooling Path: Multiple
• Redundancy: N+1
• Concurrently Maintainable: Yes
• Fault Tolerant: No
• Uptime: 99.982%
• Downtime: 1.6 hours/year
• Make-Up Water Storage: 24-48 Hours
• Fuel Storage: 48 Hours
• Maintenance: No downtime
• Usage: Critical apps

Tier 4:

• Minimum Capacity Component: 2N+1 (or N+N)
• Power Path: Multiple (2 Simultaneously Active)
• Cooling Path: Multiple
• Redundancy: 2N+1 (or N+N)
• Concurrently Maintainable: Yes
• Fault Tolerant: Yes
• Uptime: 99.995%
• Downtime: 26.3 minutes/year
• Make-Up Water Storage: 72 Hours & more
• Fuel Storage: 72 Hours
• Maintenance: No downtime
• Usage: Mission-critical apps

Key Takeaways:

• Tier 1: Basic infrastructure with no redundancy, suitable for non-critical applications.
• Tier 2: Improved reliability with N+1 redundancy, but still not concurrently maintainable.
• Tier 3: High reliability with N+1 redundancy and concurrent maintainability, ideal for critical applications.
• Tier 4: Highest level of reliability with 2N+1 (or N+N) redundancy, fault tolerance, and no downtime, perfect for mission-critical applications.

In addition to understanding the tiers, it's essential to consider the benefits of colocation and the key features of data centers. Colocation allows multiple enterprises to share a data center, providing cost efficiencies, scalability, and lower carbon footprints. Key features of data centers include power, emergency power backup, cooling, security, monitoring, and surveillance.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of company I work with or have worked with. The information and data presented are based on the Data Centers Overview Oct 2023 Data Dives document and have been summarized and adapted for the purpose of this article. For more detailed insights and information, please refer to the original document provided by Cushman & Wakefield.

Copyright Notice: ? 2023 Cushman & Wakefield. All rights reserved. The content and information in this article are based on the Data Centers Overview Oct 2023 Data Dives document.

Table 1: Comparison of Tiers - Created by Deviprasadh A