There is More to TIA-942 Than Ensuring 99.995% Uptime

TIA-942 is a standard for the information and communications industry, and data centers are adopting this standard to have 99.995% uptime. However, there is more to TIA-942 than ensuring all-time availability. Adopting TIA 942 offers many other benefits:

TIA-942 Offers Broad-based Design and Operational Guidelines

TIA-942 standards are comprehensive. It offers guidelines for the design and installation of the data center. The scope of recommendations cuts across disciplines, with an overriding focus on the architectural and operational elements of the data centers. It covers the architectural features of the building, electrical design, fire protection, topology, access, pathways and spaces, design of the network, cabling requirements and redundancy.

The standards provide the recommended best practice for each of these elements and offers a checklist that gauge the extent to which these considerations are heeded to by the data center.

TIA-942 Ensures Standardization

In the absence of rigorous guidelines, each data center tends to have unique specs and this causes serious challenges in product selection, troubleshooting, and re-supply. TIA-942 goes a long way in standardizing the design and operations of data centers, and yet, its granular nature allows flexibility.

TIA-942 Improves Performance 

TIA-942 guidelines are, in essence, organized common sense, and ensures for the data centers maintain:

• High quality of design
• Superior performance
• Standardized nomenclature
• Interoperability between different vendors
• Scalability for future growth

TIA-942 vs. Uptime Institute Tiers

Many professionals confuse TIA-942 and Uptime Institute Tiers. However, any similarities end at the surface. TIA-942 is more comprehensive and broad-based and offers a checklist. The Uptime Institute Tiers basically guides design topology and focuses solely on ensuring a high level of availability, rather than offer a checklist to gauge the extent of availability, it categorizes the data centers into levels or tiers.

Lifeline Data Centers is TIA-942 compliant and offers the stipulated 99.995% uptime.

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.