Lee Smith from DS is well known for his vast range of experience, from IT operations and software engineering through to IT infrastructure management and data centre design. Smith's focus is mainly on data centre design, operations and management consulting and he now assists clients in obtaining Uptime and TIA certifications for their data centres. He was the first person in Africa to obtain the coveted CDCE accreditation, and he is a licensed trainer for a number of EPI's data centre-related courses. Smith also obtained his Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) certification from The Uptime Institute.
ITWeb events spoke to Smith about his experiences in South Africa and abroad and why he has chosen to speak at the ITWeb Data Centre Confex 2017 on 25 July, Focus Rooms, Sunninghill, on 'Formal Data Centre Certifications: Necessary or Not?'
Smith has assessed many data centres for clients and walked through and seen the internals of many more - both in South Africa and around the world. He notes that he has seen "the good, the bad and the downright nasty" as well as the "best of the best".
In his reports he has said that South Africa's data centres are mostly well-designed and built. However, there is sometimes a disconnect when it comes to having a clear understanding of the more detailed requirements of data centre design and redundancy levels.
We asked Smith if he believes that there is value in a formal data centre certification process and why? His response: "If you are a data centre service provider then it would be advisable to ensure that your data centre can actually deliver on your claims. This is relevant especially when you state publically that your data centre complies with, for example, an Uptime Institute Tier-III or a TIA-942 Rated-4 redundancy level."
He compares this to the NCAP rating of a car as these are published by an independent authority that has no direct involvement during the design or build of the vehicle and most definitely not the sales either. The NCAP has a good reputation and therefore we are more comfortable in referencing it when looking for a car. The same could be said for data centres that have been independently certified by those who derive no benefit from the actual outcome of the certification itself. He does note that "if the capability of your data centre has no material value to those who deploy equipment in it, then a formal certification process may be unnecessary". But investors may still want to ensure independently that they actually get what they pay for.
We then asked, in Smith's experience, has the process of certification worked in the past? And if not, why not?
Smith stated on record that he advises and consults to clients who conduct formal certification processes through either Uptime Institute or the data centre standard known as ANSI/TIA-942. He has however, done a couple of formal certification processes and is currently busy with one.
Smith is clear that certification only works when the process is completed in its entirety. This implies that the initial design of the data centre is certified and, upon build completion, the actual capability of the facility matches the certified design, has been independently tested, validated and physically proven on site as being compliant.
Those who have completed the entire process can rest assured that they've done what is required to prove the site's functional and redundant capability. The certification process fails when the site itself was never physically tested for compliance to the certified design or when the certified design has been changed afterwards without notifying the certification authority about it. For me this presents a problem. To quote Chris Crosby, CEO of Compass Datacenters, "If you're going to say it, then prove it."
A couple of times he has had the unenviable task of explaining to a company why their data centre is actually Tier-II, or even Tier-I and not a higher Tier level, as they thought, or were told.
Smith adds to this by saying that we can "rest assured that we have a few good data centre design, engineering and build skills locally of which we can be very proud. These professionals can hold themselves high in any international location or project as much as they do locally.
"Not everybody who talks data centre is experienced and understands what is required to design and build top-level mission-critical data centres - certified or not. Those who have had their data centres fully certified to the final facility certification can pat themselves on the back".
Many, however, claim that their data centre environments comply with a certain redundancy rating and believe this to be true even if not formally certified. In regard to this, he warns: ''one single point of failure along the distribution path, or a component that was not correctly sized according to the standards could drop what they believed to be a Tier-III data centre down to Tier-I. Just like following a recipe, and making sure you include all the necessary ingredients, does not guarantee that you will get it right the first time."
Lee Smith has a lot more knowledge to offer on the subject of the operational management and excellence within data centres locally and in Africa. He has been very vocal on this subject and in his view the levels of competence in this arena are, in general, below expectation and most definitely not up to the international norms of the US, Europe and some parts of Asia Pacific. He is, however, quick to add that he has witnessed pockets of operational excellence in data centres in South Africa but, regrettably, these are few and far between.
He states unequivocally that "our levels of site and operational documentation is sub-standard. Our ability to predictably respond to the basic emergency incidents or site failures is inconsistent and mostly unpredictable". Few of our data centres have adequate SOPs, ERPs, basic failure determination procedures, documented safety and security procedures and hardly anybody has what Smith refers to as "Reinstate to Normal" procedures, he says. He believes that this is where SA can improve - a lot.
Attend the annual ITWeb Data Centre Summit in July 2017 and find out more by listening to Smith's presentation and chatting to him during the numerous networking opportunities.
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