Baidu’s M1 data center, which uses modules from Schneider Electric, has got the Uptime Institute’s Management and Operations (M&O) stamp of approval by Uptime Institute.

The first data center in China to get Uptime M&O certification, it is also the second facility in North Asia to get the honor, and joins only 29 other centers worldwide. In North Asia, only Morgan Stanley’s data center is M&O certified.

Uptime’s M&O stamp validates facilities management and operational practices of an existing data center, including staffing and organization, training and professional development assessment, preventative maintenance, operating conditions and housekeeping, planning management and coordination practices and resources. M&O Stamps are valid for 2 years.

Full Marks
Baidu’s M1 Data Center got full marks for training internal staff and external suppliers, and good scores for systematic and detail-oriented document management, and flexible staff arrangements.

“The operation and maintenance level manifested in the certification of Baidu’s M1 data centre leads us to a new perception of the development of China’s data centre industry,” said an Uptime spokesperson. “Baidu’s M1 data center got 91 percent in the M&O certification, higher than the average 80.4 percent obtained by our previous customers.”

Zhang Binghua, the senior technical manager of the system department of Baidu said: “With this certification, we hope we can validate whether Baidu’s data centre operation and maintenance level are up to international standards, and enhance our data center’s availability, performance and efficiency, ultimately getting better commercial returns.”

Zhang said Baidu will follow Uptime Institute’s advice to improve the operation, maintenance and management of its data centres on a continuous basis, and promote its M1 data centre’s M&O certification experience to more projects.

The M1 centre is designed by S.YC., an engineering company under the China Electronics Engineering Design Institute. It uses prefabricated shipping container-sized units provided by Schneider Electric.

This April, Baidu’s M1 data centre had a better Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) score than large data centers at Alibaba and Tencent, according to a list published by Cloud Computing Development and Policy Forum, a government-supported body which aims to promote the development of the cloud and enable better communication between government bodies and the cloud industry.