What is a Tier-3 Data Center

Before we jump onto the description of Tier -3 data center, it is important to understand the hierarchy.Tier 1 to 4 data center is actually a standardized methodology used to define the uptime of a data center.

The Tier number designation to any data center is based on the evaluation of following parameters:

a) Data center performance
b) Investment
c) ROI (return on investment)

Tier 3 data centers are considered fairly robust and less prone to failures. Tier 3 is designed to host critical servers like dedicated server, vps servers with fully redundant subsystems (cooling, power, network links, storage etc.

Quite obvious, the simplest is a Tier 1 data center used by small business or shops.

-§ Tier 1 = Non-redundant capacity components (single uplink and servers).

-§ Tier 2 = Tier 1 + Redundant capacity components.

-§ Tier 3 = Tier 1 + Tier 2 + Dual-powered equipment and multiple uplinks.

-§ Tier 4 = Tier 1 + Tier 2 + Tier 3 + all components are fully fault-tolerant including uplinks, storage, chillers, HVAC systems, servers etc. Everything is dual-powered.

Data Center Availability According To Tiers

The Tier levels also describe the standard availability of data from the hardware at a location as follows:

-§ Tier 1: Guaranteeing 99.671% availability

-§ Tier 2: Guaranteeing 99.741% availability

-§ Tier 3: Guaranteeing 99.982% availability

-§ Tier 4: Guaranteeing 99.995% availability

Data center bandwidth

It is important to note that one should not confuse bandwidth tiers with datacenter tiers: These are two different logics to categorize servers. To add, there is no certification body for bandwidth tiers.

-§ A tier 1 bandwidth provider is a provider that doesn’t pay for bandwidth - it’s independent.

-§ A tier 2 provider peers with some network capacity but pays for access to the rest.

-§ A tier 3 provider purchases all access from a third party - it is reliant on peers for its capacity.

Though some of the terminologies must be kept in mind while you start planning to evaluate a data center to outsource some of your IT operations:

-§ The numbering system is reversed, with 1 being the best - not the worst.

-§ Tier 1 bandwidth providers are considered to be the fastest and most reliable. However, hosts often have multiple providers, so the issue is rarely clear cut.

-§ Numbering is only assigned on a scale of 1 to 3, not 1 to 4.

Summary

A Tier III data center offers 99.98% availability and data centers in this configuration provide facility to manage maintenance periods without affecting the continuity of service on the servers.