Data center certifications are driving more companies to outsource data centers

Data center certifications are driving more companies to outsource data centers.

Federal, state and local requirements on a company’s data center are on the increase. Companies that store personal data on their clients and employees have to spend more time, money and resources on keeping that personal data safe. Requirements include multiple levels of physical security, such as physical separation, PINs and other personal ID-based access, and detailed audit trails. Maintaining data center compliance can cost a medium size company hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

What are the data center certifications that matter?

The most important data center rating is a measure of the reliability (uptime) of a data center. Many industry people talk about data centers in terms of the tiers that Uptime Institute defined, although few facilities spend the money to get the actual Uptime Institute data center certification. How a data center is designed, built and maintained to meet N+N redundancy and concurrent maintainability is what really matters.

SAS 70 data centers are certified to have defined “controls”, or operational procedures for the data center. SAS 70 Type II data centers are independently certified to adhere to these controls that they define. Although SAS 70 has become a requirement in many modern data center projects, the value of a SAS 70 data center certification lies in the quality of the controls that the data center operator defines.

TIA 942 compliant data centers follow the Telecom Industry Associations definitions of a data center. This certification is more detailed than the Rated-4 data center rating. Lifeline Data Centers builds our facilities to the TIA 942 compliant data center standard because of the granularity of detail in the standard.

Data center compliance refers to the different industry regulations that are placed on a company’s systems and data. We regularly assist our clients in FDA, HIPAA, FISMA, NIST, and Sarbanes Oxley audits. These regulations are increasing by the year; your choice of outsource data center can make a huge difference in your ability to maintain compliance in a cost-effective manner.

Companies outsource the data center to help with certifications and compliance. These companies can leverage the certifications and compliance that the outsource computer room provider maintains. They can reduce the time, money and other resources they must spend on data center compliance and certification.

What data center certifications do you need to meet in order to satisfy the government? What standards are your clients and vendors requiring in order to do business with them? Is your industry changing? Call Lifeline Data Centers at 317.423.2591 to learn more about how to reduce your data center compliance burden.

Alex Carroll

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers
Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.