Datacenter United is a leading provider of carrier-neutral colocation data center services in Belgium. It operates a high-quality, well-connected network of six state-of-the-art data centers across the country, and also offers a wide range of specialized data center support and business continuity services. Founded in 2010, Datacenter United has grown rapidly over the past decade and with the recent addition of three new data centers, now operates facilities in Antwerp, Brussels and other key regions throughout Belgium.

The company prides itself on its commitment to quality, simplicity and transparency, extensive digital transformation experience, as well as the unparalleled value and reliability it offers to its customer base of local SMEs, cloud providers, telecom companies, governments and more.

In May of 2022, Datacenter United launched its new facility in Antwerp, featuring industry-leading technical capabilities from unparalleled data redundancy and advanced information security system to its emergency power facilities, cutting-edge cooling and fire protection and more. Ideal as a primary data center or backup location for organizations in surrounding countries, the new Antwerp site has raised the bar for digital infrastructure quality and reliability in Belgium, and shattered longstanding misconceptions around the country’s limits for data center excellence in the process.

Businesses across Belgium and beyond have undergone a massive digital transformation in recent years, and have never been more reliant on critical infrastructure. Datacenter United’s customers require optimal data redundancy and demand reliability guarantees at the infrastructure level. These guarantees are especially vital for larger cloud and telecom providers, but also for companies with high market visibility, such as e-commerce platforms or organizations that deal with high-value data networks (e.g., governments, healthcare providers, banks and financial services firms, military departments, etc.).

Uptime Institute’s Tier IV TCCF Certification provides data center owners, operators and end users with verification that their facility offers not only basic capacity, redundancy and concurrent maintainability, but is also supported by completely fault-tolerant infrastructure. Sites with Tier IV Certification can demonstrably prevent individual equipment downtime, distribution path interruptions and other catastrophic infrastructure failures from impacting critical IT and business operations.

Although this level of assurance is in high demand among 24x7 digital-first organizations, many in Belgium believed the fact that there is only one national grid operator in the country meant achieving a Tier IV-Certified data center would be impossible.

So to separate itself from competitors, demonstrate its continued innovation and prove its ability to meet these critical customer demands, Datacenter United set out to do the “impossible” and earn a Tier IV Certification of Constructed Facility (TCCF) for its Antwerp Datacenter.

Datacenter United’s team worked closely with Uptime throughout the entire project to bring Belgium its first and only Tier IV data center. From the earliest stages of the Antwerp Datacenter Tier Certification of Design Documents, Datacenter United took the time to understand the criteria involved in achieving Tier IV fault tolerance and worked diligently to make it a reality.

In July of 2021, the team began pursuing the Antwerp Datacenter Tier IV TCCF in earnest and prepared with countless tests and dry runs in the months leading up to the Certification evaluations. The official demonstrations took place between December of 2021 and early 2022.

Along the way, Uptime’s personnel were available to answer questions and provide direction for the Datacenter United team. The teams worked together through challenges such as delays with the completion of a cooling unit, small infrastructure adjustments with significant repercussions, and more. The Datacenter United team attributes its ability to overcome unforeseen challenges throughout the Certification process to constant communication, collaboration, creativity and flexibility from both sides.

The company’s Accredited Tier Specialists (ATS) and Accredited Operations Specialist (AOS) were heavily involved, applying extensive digital infrastructure design, management and operations expertise from Uptime training courses throughout the process. Datacenter United’s final facility demonstrations were a resounding success and Uptime Institute awarded the official Tier IV TCCF in February of 2022.

Datacenter United started this process to differentiate itself from competing data centers, demonstrate its commitment to digital infrastructure excellence, and to inspire confidence and interest among current and future customers. Now operating Belgium’s first and only facility – and one of a select group in Europe – to earn Uptime Institute’s Tier IV TCCF, the company has achieved those goals.

The Certification, as well as the work required to accomplish it, are already paying dividends. Both current and prospective customers have taken notice, and Datacenter United’s sales and marketing teams are using its new Tier IV Certification as a unique differentiator to expand its visibility across Europe and abroad. The Certification journey has been a highly educational and transformative process for the operations and service delivery professionals involved, and for the company itself. As a result, the team gained valuable expertise, tremendous confidence in its facility, and a clear understanding of how its infrastructure will fair under a broad range of operating conditions, including worst-case scenarios.

Datacenter United sees the value of Tier Certification as undeniable and intends to work with Uptime on future projects as it continues to strengthen its position as a leading provider of high-quality, reliable proximity data center services in Belgium and beyond.

Belgium Datacenter II, ADC2 – Antwerp, Belgium

• Tier IV Certification of Design Documents
• Tier IV Certification of Constructed Facility