Under Uptime Institute certification, you can't just build a facility and have it accredited - well, you can, but before you get Construction Certification, you need Design Certification - validation that your plans and the system you're building meet the Uptime Institutes expectations, and as mentioned on their site (and the last line below), Design Certification is a prerequisite for Construction certification - it doesn't mean the facility isn't already up and running and meeting those standards, it doesn't even comment on that, it just means the plans have been approved as suitable and now they can look at taking the next step..
Tier Certification Benefits
Achieving a Tier rating signals to investors, customers, and the marketplace, that your facility meets the highest standards for infrastructure (Topology) functionality and capacity as demonstrated on the design documents. It validates that the system design is consistent with your uptime objectives. Tier Certification helps align the infrastructure design with the business mission, ensuring that your organization’s significant capital investment yields the desired result.
This comprehensive data center design certification demonstrates that your organization has a plan to minimize unplanned downtime and unnecessary spending in your data facility. It also assures all parties involved that your system strategy is well-defined and passes the most thorough assessments from outside industry experts.
All Tier Certification of Design Documents awards issued after 1 January 2014 will expire two years after the award date. This does not impact Tier Certification of Design Documents issued or contracted prior to that date.
