South Africa's data centre services provider Business Connexion (BCX) has become the only African IT company with two Tier IV certifications.

This was after it was awarded its second Tier IV Data certification for its New Road Data Centre 2 (NDC2) in Midrand, Johannesburg.

The Tier IV certification is the highest-level rating in data centre industry body’s Uptime Institute ranking system.

This means that NDC2 has the capability to detect and isolate a fault within a facility's critical systems while sustaining the critical load, and without any impact to the delivery of power and cooling, according to a statement.

With this certification BCX plans to ensure that the Midrand New Road Data Centres (NDC’s) keep critical systems operating in the event of planned or unplanned site infrastructure outages, the statement continues.

Jacques Loubser, general manager for cloud infrastructure services at BCX, explained that the the Tier IV facility certification is emblematic of the increased interest in consistently and rigorously building new data centres that meet the tier design specifications set by the Uptime Institute.

“The conversation around the ‘next generation’ of data centres has not diminished, but these will have to be designed differently as demand continues to increase for operational efficiencies, sustainability and cost competitiveness. We are proud to be setting the design standards for commercial data centres across Africa,” said Loubser.

Commenting on the Tier IV certification, BCX chief executive officer Benjamin Mopathlane said, "Data protection and the security of our client's data is our number one priority and the Tier IV certification is a firm affirmation of our continued efforts in ensuring we provide the highest possible standards when delivering solutions for our clients."

BCX owns seven data centres and manages 52 centres on behalf of its clients across the African continent.