The General Manager of the MainOne Data Center subsidiary, MDX-I, Mr. Gbenga Adegbiji has responded to a news report published in The Guardian that it was difficult for banks or telecommunications operators in Nigeria to attain Tier III standards for their Data Centers. While speaking to journalists at MainOne’s Corporate Office in Lagos yesterday, Adegbiji shed light on the mandate by the Central Bank of Nigeria for banks in the country to adopt Tier III Data Centers, and the perception by some industry experts that it was impossible for operators to build such facilities.

According to him, it was difficult to build a Tier III Data Center, but not impossible. He stressed that the Uptime Institute’s Tier Certification is a performance based evaluation of a data center’s specific infrastructure, and said that MainOne and a few other operators had already been able to attain the rigorous Tier III certification for their data center facilities.

“The Tier III certification implies that the Data Center is concurrently maintainable, which means the facility requires no shutdowns for equipment replacement and maintenance. A redundant delivery path for power and cooling is added to the redundant critical components of Tier I and II; dedicated site infrastructure, IT space, interruptible power and cooling. Data center infrastructure costs and operational complexities increase with the Tier Level which is why some people say it is difficult for banks and telecoms companies to operate. While I admit that it is difficult and near impossible for a renovated and ad-hoc Data rooms to obtain this certification, a well-designed and purpose-built Data Centre is expected to have operational sustainability embedded in it and so should not have difficulties going through the rigorous certification exercise. The MDX-I Lekki Data Centre was designed and built in line with the TIA-942 standards (which is the international specifications to which global Data Centers are designed). Our operational processes are developed with good knowledge of our operating environment and benchmarked with international standards. This is why we did not just attain the Uptime Tier III certification, we also obtained the ISO 27001 and the PCIDSS certifications”.

Mr. Adegbiji maintained that Data Center construction and management are better handled by experts who are well trained in its operations and the maintenance of its complex infrastructure. “Enterprises, including banks and manufacturing companies should focus on their core competencies and allow providers such as MainOne to provide the enabling infrastructure for business development and growth”, he said.