TIA Position Paper

EVOLVING DATA CENTERS DEMAND

STANDARDS-BASED COMPLIANCE &
CERTIFICATION

Executive Summary
Data center growth remained consistent over the past decade with total space and
power capacity doubling between 2010 and 2020 according to a report by Research
and Markets. Now, emerging data-intensive and low-latency applications, combined
with evolving data center architecture, is increasing complexity and calling for a
greater distribution of resources and better reliability, resiliency and scalability.
According to the latest forecast from Gartner, end-user spending on global data
center infrastructure is now projected to reach $200 billion in 2021 as the number of
global data centers reaches over 7 million.

The challenge of planning, designing, deploying and managing complex high-

performance data centers is putting a significant strain on data center designers,
owners and operators. At the same time, expanding service, compute and security
requirements have led to a highly competitive landscape and the need for multi-
tenant data centers to differentiate themselves. Ensuring reliability, resiliency and
scalability to support growth and emerging technologies across multiple locations,
sizes and types of data centers, while in an increasingly crowded market, can only
come from a globally-recognized industry-driven standard and certification program
based on an objective, transparent and living data center design framework.
IoT AND BIG DATA DRIVE DECENTRALIZATION, GROWTH,
COMPLEXITY AND COMPETITION
The Demand for Lower Latency

Latency, which is the time it takes for data to traverse from its point of origin to its
destination, has become increasingly unacceptable as businesses rely on faster-
responding applications to maintain productivity, reduce cost and increase profit.
Long latency can be very costly to a business, for example, a stock broker can lose
millions of dollars in revenue if their electronic trading platform is just 10 milliseconds
behind the competition.

When it comes to emerging 5G, IoT and IIoT technologies like self-driving vehicles,
smart traffic systems, virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence (AI),
machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, enhanced video streaming and online
gaming, latency is even more critical. For self-driving cars to be safe and gain
consumer confidence, they must be able to respond instantaneously to smart traffic
signals and road sensors. For M2M devices to deliver guaranteed response time, they
need real-time processing of data. For virtual and augmented reality to provide a
seamless user experience, there can be no jitter or perceived delays. These real-
time applications demand latencies as low as 5 milliseconds.
Latency varies based on the distance
the data needs to travel, the number
of switches along the route, and the
overall performance of the network
infrastructure. To handle increasing
amounts of data and minimize
latency, switching technology and
applications have evolved to support
high-speed transmission and data
center design has shifted to more
efficient architecture that limits the
number of switches data needs to
traverse. To support the level of
latency required for emerging real-
time IoT applications, computing
resources are also being hosted closer
to end users and devices versus
having data processed and stored in centralized data centers located in another city
or even another country thousands of miles from its source.

The result is rapid growth of geographically distributed resources with the

emergence of multiple decentralized multi-tenant data centers and smaller
purpose-built edge data centers in more locations. According to Gartner, 75% of
enterprise-generated data is expected to be created and processed outside of
traditional centralized data centers over the next five years, with nearly half of all IoT
data stored, processed and analyzed in edge data centers.

The Impact of Big Data Solutions

With 75 billion connected devices expected by 2025 as forecasted by Statista, data

centers need also to effectively handle an unprecedented amount of data. The
number of enterprise applications used worldwide has also increased nearly 70%
over the past four years and is expected to further increase as more IoT-based data-
driven applications emerge. To better manage increased workloads, improve
resource sharing, and save space and power, data centers have transformed to
consolidated virtualized environments and adopted mechanisms like software
defined networking, load balancing and intelligent monitoring. This transformation
increases complexity and requires more careful planning and design.

Unfortunately, many businesses are faced with limited capacity and aging on-
premises infrastructure that is unable to support the increasing data, compute and
performance requirements. This is accelerating the adoption of cloud service
strategies and multi-tenant data centers to support everyday business functions,
further driving the development of more data centers in more locations.

More Challenges and Competition

In every size and type of data center, reliability, resiliency and scalability are more
critical than ever for supporting emerging applications, maintaining business
continuity and increasing response time. Improving performance and lowering
latency amidst increasingly complex workloads, virtualization and higher densities
that demand more efficient power distribution and cooling, data center designers,
owners and operators are facing more challenges than ever before. Data centers also
need to comply with evolving regulatory requirements surrounding data security,
privacy and availability. Trending distributed computing strategies further
compound the challenges due to varying geophysical risks and location-based
operational and security requirements. In fact, a recent Propeller Insight survey
found that IT executives identified difficulty in managing applications across
multiple edge locations as one of the biggest concerns.

As businesses adopt emerging technologies and rely more heavily on cloud, multi-
tenant and edge data centers, the data center industry is also experiencing growing
competition. With smaller edge and multi-tenant data centers popping up in more
locations, and a growing number of cloud-based services, businesses now have more
choices when it comes to where and how they support their networking needs. As a
result, retail data centers need to differentiate themselves with facilities that allow
them to meet service level agreements (SLAs) for bandwidth, latency and response
times.

What exasperates all of these challenges is the fact that data centers are living
entities that must also constantly adapt and respond to an ever-evolving business
landscape, ongoing technology advancements, potential disaster and even global
challenges such as climate change and increasing cybersecurity risks. Data center
designers, owners and operators therefore need to strategically plan and design their
data center in way that considers all current, emerging and future needs.

THE INDUSTRY HAS A CONSISTENT,

OBJECTIVE AND TRANSPARENT DATA
CENTER FRAMEWORK
Planning and designing today’s more complex data
centers to ensure reliability, resiliency and scalability
requires an objective, transparent and living framework.
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
ANSI/TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure
Standard for Data Centers is that framework.

Why TIA-942?

Backed by TIA, the trusted industry association for the connected world and
accredited industry standards-making body, the TIA-942 standard is the only
globally-recognized data center standard that covers all aspects of data center
infrastructure and has been developed via consensus by expert individuals and
companies entrenched in the planning, design and deployment of data centers.

TIA-942 offers several advantages over other data center standards, including:

• Accredited by ANSI and developed and maintained by a non-profit entity

built upon a values-based culture of accountability and teamwork rather than
influenced by for-profit biases
• Publicly available and highly transparent via an open, consensus-based
development process using objective and industry-driven specifications
• Continually monitored and pro-actively updated to adjust to evolving data
center needs, design principles and technologies
• Standard nomenclature and flexible framework applicable to any size or type
of data center, including enterprise, cloud, multi-tenant and edge data
centers
• Multidisciplinary approach with a more extensive scope and international
specifications needed to design and build any data center
What Does it Cover?
Intended for use by data center designers, owners and operators, the TIA-942
standard specifies the minimum requirements and guidelines for the design and
installation of a data center or computer room. It covers all aspects of data center
infrastructure, including:
• Architecture and topology
• Environmental design
• Power systems and distribution
• Cooling systems and distribution
• Cabling systems
• Redundancy
• Pathways
• Safety
• Physical security
A key objective of the TIA-942 standard is to define
how a data center should be built and configured very
early in the design and construction phase to provide
the level of reliability required to support the
applications, resiliency to maintain operations, and
scalability to support growth and changes in the
application and systems that the data center is
designed to support. It defines the following four
resiliency ratings that provide an impartial and
consistent way for data center designers, owners and
operators to define and meet expectations
depending on the criticality of the applications, data
sets and service level agreements of their specific
data center.
• Rated-1: Basic Site Infrastructure—The data
center has single-capacity components; a
single, nonredundant distribution path for all
equipment; and limited protection against
physical events.
• Rated-2: Redundant Component Site
Infrastructure—The data center has
redundant capacity components, but
nonredundant distribution path that serves
the computer equipment.
• Rated-3: Concurrently Maintainable Site
Infrastructure—The data center has
redundant capacity components and
THE LIVING STANDARD
FOR THE LIVING DATA
CENTER
Because data centers are living entities
that must constantly adapt and respond
to evolving business needs and
technology, they require living
standards.
ANSI/TIA-942 is developed and
maintained by the TIA Engineering
Committee TR-42 who reviews the
standard for reaffirmation, revision or
withdrawal and consistently and
proactively updates the standard as
needed through addendum and
technical service bulletins. Since its
inception in 2005, TR-42 has updated
TIA-942 via the reaffirmation and
revision process, as well as the
development of several interim
addendums and technical service
bulletins, including guidelines for new
low-latency architectures and
addressing new applications and cabling
technologies.
Currently, TR-42 is developing an
addendum to the TIA-942 standard that
will cover the specific requirements of
edge data centers that are often pre-
fabricated, modular, smaller, unstaffed,
remotely monitored and controlled, and
located in all kinds of environments.
This addendum is expected to be
officially released in early 2021 and will
be incorporated into the next version of
the standard, along with any additional
changes required to adjust to evolving
data center needs, design principles and
technologies. The main ANSI/TIA-942
standard will be re-opened for updates
in 2021.
 redundant distribution paths that serve the computer equipment and
protect against most physical events. The site is concurrently maintainable so
each capacity component that is part of the distribution path can be serviced
on a planned basis without downtime for end users.

• Rated-4: Fault Tolerant Site Infrastructure—The data center has redundant

capacity components, active redundant distribution paths to serve the
computer equipment, and protection against almost all physical events. The
site allows concurrent maintainability and any single fault anywhere in the
installation will not be noticed by the end users.

Designing data centers with TIA-942 offers the advantages of a consistent approach
to ensuring fail-safe operations, robust protection, scalability and long-term
reliability across multiple data center locations, or multiple clusters of resources
within a single data center—regardless of the size, location and purpose—easing the
deployment of today’s virtualized environments and distributed resources.

PROVIDING AN ASSURANCE OF
QUALITY & CREDIBILITY
To help data centers differentiate themselves in the
increasingly competitive marketplace, the ANSI/TIA-
942 standard also serves as the foundation of the TIA-
942 Certification Program. This program enables data
center designs and facilities to be reviewed and
certified for conformity to the standard based on the
four ratings for resiliency, providing greater assurance
to customers and stakeholders.

TIA-942 Certification offers the following advantages:

• The only data center certification based on an globally-recognized and

accredited standard
• Evaluates design, whole facilities and modular (ready) data centers to TIA-942
resiliency levels with yearly audits and required recertification upon
expiration
• Performed by appropriate qualified and certified auditors of companies that
have been accredited as a Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) with regular
recertification, have no conflict of interest and follow ISO audit policies,
procedures and processes.
• Validates conformity to the standard via in-depth review of design and
comprehensive on-site audits upon completion of construction
• Includes detailed reporting indicating major and minor non-conformities and
suggestions for improvements prior to certification
 • Provides access to a highly qualified project team of data center experts
Unlike other data center certifications that deploy a for-profit model with a limited
scope, the industry recognizes the TIA-942 Certification as highly prestigious and
valuable, which boosts recognition and provides a significant competitive
advantage. TIA-942 Certification allows data centers to demonstrate third-party
qualification and provide greater assurance to their customers and stakeholders,
which is especially advantageous to multi-tenant data centers as they need to
differentiate themselves in a market that has increasing number of choices and
locations.

GET INVOLVED
All manners of our digital world—business, e-commerce, government, education
and consumer services—rely on data centers. And as data increases and technology
advances, data centers are on the cusp of becoming the most important foundation
of modern business and modern life, ultimately enabling the technology that may
one day help everyone succeed and prosper. Never before has the proper planning,
design and assurance of these critical facilities been more important to ensuring
reliability, resiliency and scalability to support growth and emerging technologies.

There is only one globally-recognized industry-driven standards and certification

program based on an objective, transparent and living data center design framework
that equips today’s data center designers, operators and owners with the strategic
guidance and credibility they need to succeed—TIA-942.

Backed by TIA, the trusted industry association for the connected world that brings
together more than 2,500 key players and thought leaders, TIA-942 will continue to
evolve and improve as a living standard for today’s and tomorrow’s data centers and
as the foundation for the de facto industry data center certification.

Get involved
Get involved in TIA-942
in the the TIA-942 Standard
Standard and and Certification
Certification Program as a
Program
member as a
of TIA, member of
Accredited TIA, Accredited
Auditing Company Auditing
or by certifying your
Company or by certifying your
data data center.
center.

Learnmore
Learn moreatatwww.tiaonline.org
www.tiaonline.orgor
orcontact
contactJacques
JacquesFluet
Fluetat
at jfluet@tiaonline.oEDCinfo@tiaonline.org

* Disclaimer: The information and views contained in this article are solely those of its authors and do not reflect the consensus opinion of TIA members, TIA or TIA Engineering
Committee TR-42. This article is for information purposes only and it is intended to generate opinion and feedback so that the authors and TIA members can learn, refine, and
update this article over time. The Telecommunications Industry Association does not endorse or promote any product, service, company or service provider. Photos and products
used as examples in this paper are solely for information purposes and do not constitute an endorsement by TIA.