American business insurer CNA said it would lower insurance premiums for data center operators that hold Tier I-IV certificates for design, construction and operational sustainability, after approving the Uptime Institute as an ‘Allied Vendor’.

CNA is the eighth largest commercial insurance writer in the US. It said certificates issued by the Uptime Institute serve as a testament that a customer is dedicated to maintaining high levels of reliability, and minimizing the risk of downtime.

“Data outages or interruptions can be catastrophic, and we are continuously looking at ways to help our customers reduce their risk exposures. Even simple incidents can cost millions in lost revenues and significantly impact customer satisfaction,” said Stephen Douglas, risk control consulting director at CNA.

“Uptime Institute helps CNA’s customers lower that risk through its Tier Certification of Operational Sustainability and M&O Stamp of Approval programs.”

CNA headquarters in Chicago
CNA headquarters in Chicago – CNA

Mimimizing risk

The Uptime Institute is an American organization owned by the 451 Group, responsible for the Tier certification scheme. Its standards evaluate redundancy and fault tolerance of data centers, and are administered by a network of critical infrastructure experts. Over the past 20 years, the Institute has awarded more than 1000 Tier certifications in over 80 countries.

Tier certificates serve two purposes: on one hand, they help data center owners and operators mitigate risk and improve the performance of business-critical infrastructure. On the other hand, they serves as an independent endorsement, helping data center customers evaluate the reliability of a facility at a glance.

CNA created the Allied Vendor program in 2007 to provide its customers with access to additional risk control initiatives that fall outside of its capabilities. It includes companies like Agility Recovery Solutions – specializing in disaster recovery – and Strategic BCP, a firm that helps design business continuity plans. This week, CNA added the Uptime Institute to its Allied Vendor list.

“CNA recognizes the importance of Uptime’s data center management process certification as one of the most significant ways to reduce the number of incidents and limit their severity, which results in reduced downtime and its expense,” said Lee Kirby, president of the Uptime Institute.

“Uptime is proud to join CNA’s Allied Vendor Program to bring these savings to a larger number of owners and operators. Membership in CNA’s Allied Vendor Program enables more owner-operators to take advantage of the operational excellence we have seen in 1,000 data centers across the globe, while reducing their overall insurance costs.