Imagine for a moment that you’ve got a large percentage of your mission-critical applications hosted offsite in what you believed was a secure data center. Then you get a call: The unthinkable has happened. Due to a fire at the facility, IT assets hosted by hundred of clients — you included — has been destroyed or seriously compromised by the conflagration and ensuing water damage.
This is only one nightmare scenario that can befall applications that aren’t adequately protected. There’s also the possibility of theft or damage from a break-in, or even severe impact from a natural disaster like a flood or hurricane. The caveat here is this: Your applications are only as secure as the safeguards instituted to keep it shielded from damage or vandalism. And disaster loss can be immensely expensive, potentially stopping a business in its tracks.
The sole purpose of hosting your applications in a data center is to keep your information safe from any of the above eventualities. Presently many companies opting to host their essential applications on the cloud are unaware that not all data is protected equally. Consider the impact of a flood or fire on applications that are hosted with Tier I safeguards. Tier I constitutes minimal data protection; while your data is protected to a degree, there is no redundancy and it is still vulnerable to intrusion and not fully shielded from catastrophes like fire or flood.
Today IT directors concerned about security, redundancy and connectivity are turning to heightened levels of safeguards for their vital applications — while striving to keep costs down. Tier III data centers have emerged as a more thorough and all-encompassing hosting solution and with less expense than you may think.
Tier III data centers are structured with enhanced efficiencies, while keeping budgets in check. These data centers offer built-in N+1 redundant UPS and backup power generators, as well as fully redundant cooling, along with fire detection and suppression. They also provide around-the-clock physical security in addition to state of the art technological safeguards.
A Tier III environment guarantees 99.982% access to data. At the same time it provides redundant telecom providers with 24/7 on-site presence of technical personnel who are dedicated to hardware monitoring and systems management. Tier III also ensures multiple independent distribution paths serving your IT equipment. All IT equipment is dual-powered and fully compatible with the topology of a site’s architecture. Plus, the environment is also fully compliant with the most stringent regulatory requirements.
View the requirements of data center tiers in this table:
| Tier I: |
|---|
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– Single non-redundant distribution path serving the IT equipment – Non-redundant capacity components – Basic site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.671% |
| Tier II: |
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– Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 requirements – Redundant site infrastructure capacity components with expected availability of 99.741% |
| Tier III: |
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– Meets or exceeds all Tier 2 requirements – Multiple independent distribution paths serving the IT equipment – All IT equipment must be dual-powered and fully compatible with the topology of a site’s architecture – Concurrently maintainable site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.982% |
Cloud services hosted in a Tier III data center will help prevent data loss or a security breach. Make sure your critical data is safe and secure. Contact Secure Infrastructure & Services today.