Until now, organizations delivering data center services focus on building highly resilient facilities by designing redundancy at various levels typically in accordance with standards such as ANSI/TIA-942, ANSI/BICSI-002, and others. However, many organizations have come to realize that without having adequate processes and maintenance programs, the availability levels would be seriously impacted and “erode” the investment made in the data center facility.

The DCOS^® (Data Centre Operations Standard) has been written to provide organizations with a structured and progressive approach to improve data center operations management ensuring that the investment in the data center is safeguarded. Implementing DCOS^® will enable the organization to deliver services that are well defined and have a consistent level of quality. This standard is the first and only standard available in the market addressing all data center operations and maintenance requirements.

There are a number of benchmark criteria used in the data centre industry.  These include generic standards such as ITIL^®, ISO-9000, ISO-14001, ISO-20000, ISO-22301, ISO-27001 and others. However, none of them serves as a good a fit to data centre operations as to the DCOS^®.

These are 9 key advantages which differentiate the DCOS^®:

1. Complete standard
   DCOS^® is the first and only complete standard addressing all aspects of the data centre operations, governance and maintenance. Some of the other best practices or standards in the market only address a limited scope of the overall data centre operations.
2. Practical and focused on tangible results
   The standard is written with a direct approach which is practical and easy to use. It describes an appropriate level of detail and relates directly to measurable business results.
3. Based on an overarching IT and data centre framework
   DCOS^® is based on the world renowned and well accepted EPI IT & Data Centre Framework^® which ensures that all critical disciplines are included to create a fully managed IT and data centre environment.
4. Written by hands-on practitioners
   DCOS^® is written by individuals and companies involved in both the development of standards and operations of data centres. Other operations standards in the market are written by commercial companies and are not part of any standard writing/issuing body.
5. Follows stringent standards development process
   The DCOS^® development goes through the strict ISO/ANSI cycle of writing; committee ballot-comment-resolution-reballot; industry ballot-comment-resolution-reballot; default ballot-comment-resolution-reballot; then final publishing.
6. Open standard
   DCOS® is an open standard. The specifications/requirements of the standard are public. The advantage is that once you are certified, your customers will have great confidence as they know what you have done to protect their critical business support systems.
7. Five maturity benchmark levels
   DCOS^® has maturity benchmark levels aligned with recognized benchmarks used by standards such as ISO/IEC 33004. It is not self-invented levels like
   Silver/Gold/Class-1/Class-A/Tier-4 etc. This makes it easier for the organization to apply for other standards and certifications later.
8. Progressive approach
   DCOS^® allows for a progressive maturity improvement in selected disciplines or all 11 disciplines. Organizations have the flexibility to focus on the discipline(s) deemed most important to them first.
9. Auditable standard
   The audit criteria defined in the standard are written with business value in mind and are defined such that they are auditable by authorized Certification Bodies.