What are Data Centre Tiers?

Why data centre tiers?

Data centre tiers are an efficient way to describe the infrastructure components being utilised at a business's data centre. Although a Tier 4 data centre is more complex than a Tier 1 data centre, this does not necessarily mean it is best-suited for a business's needs. While investing in Tier 1 infrastructure might leave a business open to risk, Tier 4 infrastructure might be an over-investment.

Tier 1: A Tier 1 data centre has a single path for power and cooling and few, if any, redundant and backup components. It has an expected uptime of 99.671% (28.8 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 2: A Tier 2 data centre has a single path for power and cooling and some redundant and backup components. It has an expected uptime of 99.741% (22 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 3: A Tier 3 data centre has multiple paths for power and cooling and systems in place to update and maintain it without taking it offline. It has an expected uptime of 99.982% (1.6 hours of downtime annually).

Tier 4: A Tier 4 data centre is built to be completely fault tolerant and has redundancy for every component. It has an expected uptime of 99.995% (26.3 minutes of downtime annually).