TIA-942 Datacenter Standardization

Thu Sep 1 03:07:29 UTC 2005

> 
> We have already been asked about where our datacenters fit in with the 
> TIA942 spec in several RFPs! It does cover some good topics, but it also 
> leaves out the design and structure of many things which are far more 
> likely to cause an outage than the copper and fiber physical plants.

Yeah... and it introduces/codifies the concept of "tiers" of 
datacenters... Yet, its possible to be have "tier 4" access to 
telecommunications while being a "tier 1" datacenter to operate those 
telecommunications, or vice versa.

What bothers me as significantly as this tier stuff is that 
redundancies, procedures, staffing, testing, policies are only 
mentioned, but not actually discussed (such as the why's, or how to test 
for the condition). They refer to specific technologies... like "RAID" 
as an application for a "tier 4" facility. They mention colocation and 
internet data centers, but don't discuss or even address how your 
facilities survivability is not fundamentally affected by non-carrier 
grade equipment being installed by customers -- yet, not surprisingly, 
the "tier 4" definition specifically talks about all the equipment 
installed in the datacenter.

There is lots of hand waving... like "beware the EPO".

And yet, it doesn't discuss how facilities like Exodus's NJ facility 
that had all the power outages or Equinix/Ashburn and Equinix/Chicago 
which presumably meet at least, the Tier-3 specifications by design... 
still fail when they are implemented poorly. That 99.99% and above 
availability have more to do with maintenance and procedures than the 
equipment you installed initially.

Its more of a document I'd expect to spend a ridiculous some of money to 
have a consultant produce, not someone who should know better. Great 
college guide book to discuss "issues" though.

Deepak Jain
AiNET