Can anyone point me to a set of standards that define a "Class A Data
Center?" I'm not asking for requirements, but an actual pointer to
standards hammered out by an organization or governing body.
Thanks.
"must have connectivity from a Tier-1 provider"? 
Both "We have a Class A Data Center" and "We are a Tier-1 provider"
translate to "I am a salesperson."
HTH. HAND.
This is the assumption I have come to as well. Are there any
established standards for enterprise datacenters at all, aside from the
obvious, N+1 redundant everything, diverse paths, etc.?
Particularly of interest would be "established standards" for "Class A
Datacenter" specifically relating to the physical plant -- Power,
cooling, physical security, etc. I think we can all agree in general on
N+1 everything, and we can go round and round again on what exactly
constitutes "Tier-1 provider," but what about the physical space itself?
I can put a fully-redundant network with multiple "Tier-1" connections
in my garage but I still wouldn't consider my garage to then be a "Class
A Datacenter."
Andrew
andrew2@one.net wrote:
Particularly of interest would be "established standards" for "Class A
Datacenter" specifically relating to the physical plant -- Power,
cooling, physical security, etc. I think we can all agree in general on
N+1 everything, and we can go round and round again on what exactly
constitutes "Tier-1 provider," but what about the physical space itself?
I can put a fully-redundant network with multiple "Tier-1" connections
in my garage but I still wouldn't consider my garage to then be a "Class
A Datacenter."
And let's not forget that they need to have good staffing, especially the abuse department.
-Jack
I don't know if it qualifies as an "established standard", but ISTR that
Steve Bellovin had a paper about various levels of reliability in data
centers ... [searches] argh. I can't find it yet. Perhaps Mr. Bellovin can
refresh my memory ... the paper I'm recalling had specifications for 5 or so
different levels of reliability and redundancy in data centers (able to
withstand criminal attack, armed attack, conventional explosives, nuclear
explosion, acts of God, etc.) and was interesting reading. The focus, as I
recall, was on the level of engineering required to reach various levels of
uptime (99.9, 99.99, 99.999, etc.).
This ringing a bell for anyone else?
doh! Indeed I do mean that file. I got Bellovin and Doneland mentally
transposed for some reason. Apologies all (still thought that document was a
good read, though).