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Data Center Quality Working Group

Data Center Quality Working Group

Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

This document is intended to address common questions about the recently announced Data Center Quality initiative launched by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) in partnership with Google. The goals of this initiative are to establish a unified, certifiable quality standard initially for data center infrastructure equipment.

It is a new standards development effort administered by TIA, supported by Google, and other industry partners, to develop a common framework to improve quality in data center infrastructure. The standard will assess supplier performance through establishment of a requirements framework that promotes continuous improvement in product and service quality resulting in improved customer satisfaction and cost savings.

Global demand for data centers is expected to triple by 2030, requiring over $6.7 trillion in capital investment. The surge in AI, cloud, and digital services is creating unprecedented growth and stressing the supply chain. Without standardizing on the expectations of data center operators, the industry is subject to risks, inefficiencies, fragmentation, capacity constraints, vulnerabilities and higher supply chain costs. This initiative provides a trusted, unified framework to address these challenges.

The initial focus is on the suppliers of physical infrastructure equipment upon which modern data centers are built. The identified products and services will ultimately be determined by the working group, but it is expected to have an initial focus on electrical and mechanical infrastructure equipment. Additionally, services such as design, construction, project management and implementation are under consideration.

The initiative is underway with a goal of releasing the standard in 2026.

Organizations that will benefit by participating in this initiative include:

  • Data center owners and operators
  • Equipment manufacturers and suppliers
  • Consulting firms
  • Engineering, constructions and firms and infrastructure experts
  • Accreditation and Certification Bodies
  • Quality, compliance and auditing professionals

Benefits provided to participants include:

  • The opportunity to influence the development of this important new global standard
  • Extending and improving existing quality management systems
  • Reduction of duplicative audits in order to streamline supplier qualification
  • The ability to network and collaborate with leading industry players
  • Gaining insights into the roadmap for organizational planning

Participants in this effort required are offered a variety of participation levels and must join TIA QuEST Forum. Additional benefits are available including discounts and preferred pricing.

Contact the TIA Membership Team at membership@tiaonline.org for more information.

Yes, Omnex will develop and offer professional training courses. Omnex is a global provider of training, consultation and software. It specializes in quality management systems, sustainability, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, particularly for highly regulated industries including automotive, aerospace, medical devices, and semiconductors.

TIA QuEST Forum is an industry association and standards development organization that has been operating for almost 100 years with experience in having developed hundreds of standards for the communications industry. TIA has a full suite of existing standards that address data center design and implementation, as well as cyber and supply chain security. With over 20 years of experience in developing and maintaining the TL 9000 Quality Management System, TIA is ideally suited to oversee this effort.

Yes, TIA QuEST Forum developed the TL 9000 Quality Management System which has experienced broad adoption in the telecommunications vertical. There are other quality management systems developed for the specific needs of industry verticals such as aerospace and automotive. This standards activity will focus on the unique needs of modern data centers but pull from the extensive experiences TIA has gained in not only the TL 9000 standard, but other complementary standards addressing challenges in data center design, cyber and supply chain security.

AI is driving 6G, edge computing, autonomous systems, and national AI strategies. This QMS ensures that data centers—at the heart of all these technologies—are built on a foundation of quality, trust, and resilience.

  • Operators: Demonstrate a commitment to quality and reliability to customers and regulators, ease vendor qualification and improve customer satisfaction.
  • Suppliers: Create differentiation by demonstrating a commitment to quality, becoming a preferred supplier and growing trusted partnerships. Benefits are to be had through the efficiencies of a single industry standard adopted by both operators and suppliers.
  • Regulators: See a framework aligned with quality, sustainability, resilience, and national security goals.

The ultimate goal is savings and efficiencies for both suppliers and data centers.

The globally adopted ANSI/TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers is intended to provide requirements and guidelines for designing and installing a data center or computer room. The standard specifies the physical design of data centers for telecommunications infrastructure and computer rooms, including edge data centers, single tenant enterprise data centers, and multi-tenant data centers.


This new standard will provide requirements and guidelines for ensuring consistent performance, reliability, and lifecycle management across data center infrastructure equipment, with its distinct quality and maintenance needs. It is designed to support a unified approach to quality across diverse facility types, including hyperscale data centers, edge deployments, enterprise sites, and multi-tenant environments.

Yes. While the standard can be leveraged across all conformity assessment models, it will be designed as a process-based, certifiable standard to enable independent certification.


Approved Accreditation Bodies and accredited Certification Bodies will be announced at a later time.

Interested parties can join the working group by contacting TIA at membership@tiaonline.org.