Tier 2 Data Center: All Things Need To Know

What is the data center?

If you ever come across the term Tier 2 data center or if you come across a data center classified as Tier 2, it is because it has fulfilled certain requirements. It definitely provides something extra to what Tier 1 data centers generally do. Similarly, it fails to provide a few things that you will get from a Tier 3 or a Tier 4. So, let’s understand what this Tier 2 data provides or the characteristics that you can expect from them.

To fall under Tier 2, a data center must have: 

1. 99.741% uptime per annum: Uptime means the amount of time a machine (a computer or a server in this case) is in operation. That means you can expect a minimum of 99.741% uptime from Tier 2 service providers per year.
2. Maximum 22 hours of downtime per annum: Despite having a pretty significant uptime, you can certainly experience a maximum of 22 hours of downtime in a year. The downtimes maybe because of unplanned maintenances or some unexpected emergencies. Redundancy is one of the main reasons for this.
3. Multiple power redundancies and partial cooling: The power and cooling distribution are the two key aspects where the redundancy issues are less. These two are the mechanical structures that receive priority. But you can expect redundancies in other areas which can cause downtime. None of the parts of the Tier 2 data center infrastructure is fault-tolerant.

Who actually uses the Tier 2 data centers? It is the small to medium scale business clients that actually go for such services. It actually fits them well. These Tier 2 data centers don’t cost these businesses like the Tier 3 or the Tier 4 would have. Tier 2 is significantly cheaper and fulfill the necessary needs and requirements of such businesses.