aligned data centers, a division of aligned energy, announced that it has been awarded design and construction tier iii certifications from uptime institute for its next-generation, ultra-efficient data center in plano, texas.  

in addition, consulting engineering firm mtechnology, inc. (mtech) performed a reliability analysis of the electrical and cooling systems as recommended by ieee standard 3006.7, a framework for evaluating data center reliability, calculating the facility’s reliability equivalent to a mean time between failure (mtbf) of 400 years.

uptime institute’s tier rating is based on a proprietary system classifying design topology. it has been used for decades by data center clients to benchmark designs.  

the tier iii certification of design documents (tcdd) certifies that the facility meets tier iii prescriptions for concurrent maintainability.  it is based on a rigorous set of criteria covering mechanical, electrical, structural, and site elements. 

the tier iii certification of constructed facility (tccf) ensures that a data center has been constructed as designed without errors or unintended risks, and that it is built to perform as intended by the certified design.   

together, the tcdd and tccf recognize that aligned data centers’ design and construction of phase one will support any planned work on the site infrastructure while controlling risks of disrupting computer room power and cooling capacity.

“uptime standards continue to accelerate the adoption of new technologies and methods in all forms,” says lee kirby, president at uptime institute.  “i am delighted to award the tier iii certified constructed facility (tccf) for this phase of the plano site and look forward to the next step in certification as they proceed to the tier certified operational sustainability (tcos). 

“aligned data centers met the requirements of tier iii concurrent maintainability and employed key reliability-centered design techniques and tools to provide empirical data to help plan future maintenance activity.  this is the first instance that i am aware of where the client has deliberately planned and employed tier standards with reliability-centered engineering methods to assure clients of reliability, and the phase build approach minimizes capital expense without compromising reliability. 

“this use case is one more example of how the adoption of global standards propels innovation and reliability to new levels.”

aligned data centers’ commitment to evolving data-center design for improved reliability, efficiency and scalability is demonstrated by the rigorously high standards the company holds themselves to. to evaluate the reliability of both their electrical and cooling systems, mtechnology used fault tree analysis to calculate the reliability of both systems and the contributions to system failure from every component which required 12.4 million possible combinations.  this would allow the data center to achieve an availability of six 9’s (99.9999%).  no single points of failure were identified.

“most data centers achieve an mtbf between five and 50 years,” says stephen fairfax, president of mtechnology.  “aligned data centers has achieved one of the highest combined cooling and electrical reliabilities we have analyzed in our 20 years.  this reliability is so high and the probability of failure so low that there is no significant way to improve the design.” 

in addition to leveraging best-in-class approaches to establishing reliability, aligned data centers leverages its unique data collection platform to store and analyze over a million points from each data center.  every component has a continually analyzed data feedback loop that starts at commissioning and lasts throughout the facility’s entire lifecycle.       

“we strongly believe in a data-driven approach because reliability and availability is absolutely essential in delivering next-generation, highly evolved data centers,” says jakob carnemark, founder and ceo of aligned data centers.  “receiving third party validation and using recognized national standards is critical for us and our mission because our industry must establish greater transparency on levels of reliability backed by data.  securing both tier iii certifications from uptime and mtech’s reliability analysis demonstrates our commitment to delivering for clients hyper-scale mission critical facilities that are reliable, available, efficient and scalable.”

aligned data centers’ plano data center employs intelligent infrastructure capable of supporting mixed power densities up to 50kw per rack.   combined with its vertically integrated supply chain, customers can quickly scale their data center within their current space or expand when necessary. tenants benefit not only from significantly greater reliability but also substantial cost savings, including reduced operating costs associated with less water and energy consumption with a guaranteed industry-low 1.15 pue (power usage effectiveness).