MITA-01 Data Centre awarded Tier III classification

MITA Chairman Godwin Grima today announced that the MITA-01 Data Centre in Santa Venera has achieved the Tier III classification after intensive auditing and testing by the Uptime Institute.

“ICT has become an indispensable backbone within the public sector and has changed the manner in which public services are delivered to citizens and businesses.  As a result MITA has changed too from an IT provider to public administration to an Agency with a wider remit to invest and promote ICT to reach the best possible levels in the Maltese society and economy." 

The progress in technology has spurred an increased demand for a facility in which computer systems are kept and maintained in a specifically built environment and maintained by staff with the necessary training and skills. 

MITA-01, an investment of €7 million, was executed with the aim of strengthening and adding the necessary hosting space required for Government’s ICT projects for the coming 15 years. 

"Today's announcement once again proves that public officers are able to deliver high quality results which are certified by international reputable entities to have reached outstanding levels," Grima said.

Communications Minister Austin Gatt said this could not have been achieved without the vision and investment of the government and all stakeholders involved.

“This accreditation means that MITA-01 is now one of only 33 data centres worldwide which have been certified to reach this level of sophistication. The state of the ICT industry today is the result of the government's ambition when back in 1999 it allocated ministerial responsibility to ICT which has served as a tangible stimulus for this sector,” Gatt said.

Gatt said it was no coincidence that Tecom Investments chose Malta for their SmartCity project. “They chose our country because they could observe the maturity of the entire ICT industry and Government's projections of having a sustainable ICT-trained workforce."

MITA's Facilities Management and Infrastructure Department Manager Wayne Valentine explained that the Uptime Institute has awarded 149 certifications in 30 countries around the world.

“The Tier III certification has been based on the design and the constructed facility and has placed MITA-01 on the global map as concurrently maintainable which means All IT equipment is dual-powered and installed properly to be compatible with the topology of the site’s architecture. Our next step is to achieve operational sustainability which would mean result in a Tier IV classification,” Valentine explained.

The Data Centre Tier classification system is an industry standard approach for identifying different data centre site infrastructure topologies, based on four levels (which are called tiers). 

Tier 1 is the lowest and is commonly used for small scale server room whilst Tier 4 is the most stringent level, which is designed to host mission critical computer systems.

Being certified as Tier 3 facility means that each and every component within MITA-01 can be maintained, replaced or upgraded without disrupting any service. 

Whilst the centre is still susceptible to fault, the site infrastructure in place will permit a speedy recovery.  MITA-01 was built to achieve a Tier 3 standard which provides a balance between cost, resource capacity and flexibility. When combined with Government’s other data centre at Mater Dei, this offers a combined availability suitable for the most stringent requirements