What are the Key Features of a Reliable Orange County Data Center?

As data centers are now core to business operations, it’s vital that they can be relied upon. With that in mind, here is a straightforward guide to the key features of a reliable Orange County data center.

What makes a data center reliable?

In the context of data centers, reliability is generally viewed as synonymous with uptime.

Uptime refers to the amount of time a system, service, or data center remains operational and available without interruptions. It is typically expressed as a percentage, with 99.999% (“five nines”) being the current industry standard (although some data centers go beyond this).

The higher the uptime a data center can guarantee, the more reliable it is. The more reliable it is, the safer it is for businesses to trust the data center with mission-critical work.

Reliability and the tier system

To give organizations an easy way to identify reliable data centers, the Uptime Institute developed a tier classification system to define data center reliability. It measures availability, redundancy, and fault tolerance and gives a tier rating based on its findings.

Tier I (Basic Capacity): This is the most basic level, with minimal redundancy. It has a single path for power and cooling, making it vulnerable to outages. Expected uptime: 99.671% (28.8 hours of downtime per year).

Tier II (Redundant Capacity): Adds some redundancy for power and cooling but still has a single path. This reduces downtime but does not provide full fault tolerance. Expected uptime: 99.749% (22 hours of downtime per year).

Tier III (Concurrently Maintainable): Offers multiple power and cooling paths, allowing maintenance without shutting down operations. However, it is not fully fault-tolerant. Expected uptime: 99.982% (1.6 hours of downtime per year).

Tier IV (Fault Tolerant): The highest level, featuring fully redundant systems that can withstand unplanned failures without disruption. Expected uptime: 99.995% (26.3 minutes of downtime per year).

Key features to look for in a data center

There are 7 key features to look for in a data center. Here is an overview of them.

Redundant power infrastructure: A reliable data center has multiple independent power sources, including dual power feeds, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and backup generators to prevent outages.

Robust cooling and climate control: Effective HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems maintain optimal temperature and humidity to prevent hardware failures due to overheating.

Fault-tolerant network architecture: A reliable data center employs multiple network providers, redundant fiber connections, and automated failover systems to ensure uninterrupted connectivity.

Disaster-proof infrastructure: Data centers should be built to withstand likely threats, particularly environmental threats (which vary by area). For example, in Orange County, there is very little threat of severe winds or flooding. Data centers do, however, need to have seismic protection, and all data centers need fire-prevention and suppression systems.

Physical and cybersecurity: Data centers should have multi-layered security, including biometric access controls, surveillance cameras, armed guards, and cybersecurity protocols like firewalls and encryption. They should also have disaster recovery (DR) solutions to protect against data loss due to natural disasters or cyberattacks.

Adherence to relevant standards: Industry-specific compliance certifications (e.g., PCI/DSS, HIPAA, and SOC 2), cross-industry standards such as ISO 27001 and Uptime Institute tier ratings are all strong indicators that a data center adheres to best practices for security and, hence, reliability.

24/7 monitoring and incident response: A Network Operations Center (NOC) with real-time monitoring, automated alerts, and on-site technical support ensures rapid response to potential failures.

How DataBank meets these features

​DataBank’s Orange County data centers, SNA1 and SNA2, both implement a range of features to ensure reliability. Here are five of the main ones.

Power infrastructure: SNA1 operates on an N+1 power design, while SNA2 features a 2N power design, ensuring redundancy through independent power sources. Both facilities have uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and backup generators to maintain continuous operation.

Cooling systems: Both SNA1 and SNA2 implement an N+1 cooling design, meaning they have more cooling capacity than required to handle failures or maintenance without impacting operations.

Network connectivity: Both data centers offer multiple fiber entrances, meet-me rooms, and blended IP services, ensuring strong connectivity and reducing the risk of network downtime by providing access to multiple carriers.

Security measures: Security is a priority at both sites. Physical security includes automated defenses such as physical barriers with access controls, along with continuous CCTV surveillance and 24/7 on-site staffing. This is combined with advanced network and cybersecurity, including firewalls, IDPSs, and encryption.

Compliance standards: SNA1 and SNA2 meet industry standards such as SSAE18, SOC1, SOC2, HIPAA, GLBA, and PCI-DSS, ensuring they adhere to strict security, operational, and compliance requirements.