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Data center consultants, designers, builders and auditors all play a critical role is designing, deploying and certifying data centers that conform to the ANSI/TIA-942 standard. Data center owners/operators need confidence and validation that the companies providing these services have the competencies, are stable and well established with a high success rate and holds the right certifications.

Auditors and Auditing Companies

Auditing is required for data centers to achieve TIA-942 certification within the TIA-942 Certification program.  For the certification to be displayed on the TIA website, the audit must be conducted by a TIA-licensed Certification Body (CB) organization.   A TIA-licensed CB helps demonstrate the following benefits:

  • Periodic review prior to receipt of a license from TIA
  • The organizations are aligned with the ISO audit policies, procedures and processes,
  • Organizations attest that the employ competent and qualified auditors with appropriate experience and knowledge of the ANSI/TIA-942 standard and ISO requirements
  • The license requires participation in TIA Engineering committee to help ensure the CB is up-to-date with the industry developments and the ANSI/TIA-942 standard

Note that auditors cannot operate as individuals and must be affiliated and operating under a TIA-942 Licensed CB to provide TIA-942 validation and certification services.

The TIA-942 Licensed CB are:

If you have questions about the certification and/or certification bodies in your region, please contact TIA at DataCenterInfo@tiaonline.org.

ANSI/TIA-942 Audit and Certification Training

Individuals who are interested in consulting and auditing data centers on the ANSI/TIA-942 standard must contact TIA for a complete list of the requirements.  Here is a list of TIA-recognized training and professional certification programs that will give you a solid foundation:

From BICSI:

  • Data Center Design Consultant (DCDC)

From Capitoline:

  • Data Center Designer (DCD)
  • Data Center Auditor Facility (DCAF)
  • Certified TIA942 Data Center Designer (TDCD)
  • Certified Lead Auditor TIA942 (CLAT)
  • Certified TIA942 MasterClass (CTM)

From EPI:

  • Certified Data Centre Professional (CDCP)
  • Certified TIA-942 Design Consultant (CTDC)
  • Certified TIA-942 Internal Auditor (CTIA)
  • Certified TIA-942 Lead Auditor (CTLA)

Consultants/Consulting Companies

When seeking conformity to ANSI/TIA-942, success relies greatly on the competence of consultants and designers and their level of knowledge and experience with the standard. There are many data center design and build companies, as well as organizations and individuals providing consultancy services, and data center owners/operators should avoid individuals providing these services as a “private” person and work with companies that are well-established entities with and have the staff, financial backbone, legal structure and insurance requirements in place. 

Data center owners and operators should adhere to three primary recommendations when evaluating potential consultants and consulting companies:

Validate the Expertise
Standards are living documents and the consultant and/or designer must be familiar with the current version of the ANSI/TIA-942 standard and hold a valid CTDC (Certified TIA-942 Design Consultant) or TDCD (Certified TIA942 Data Center Designer) certificate aligned with the current version. 

Verify Qualifications
Check certificates and/or license based on the requirements of the project and your region. Designing a data center requires a team of experts, and it should never be a single person. Designing electrical subsystems for a computer room is very different than designing an incoming high-voltage distribution system, and two may require separate licenses.

Confirm Experience
Ensure that the consultant’s experience is relevant to the project under scope and can be validated by checking on past projects and proving claims of certified data centers. You can validate ANSI/TIA-942 certified data centers at the link below. 

tiastandard

The ANSI/TIA-942 Standard

Specifies the minimum requirements for telecommunications infrastructure of data centers and computer rooms, covering all aspects, including infrastructure, site location, architectural, electrical, mechanical, safety and security. The topology specified in this document is intended to be applicable to any size data center.

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