A1 Data Center Receives Prestigious Certification for Card Business Security

One year after its construction, the most modern Tier III data center in the region, A1 Croatia’s, has received a prestigious security certification – PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard). This is a globally accepted set of rules and procedures aimed at optimizing the security of credit and debit card transactions and protecting cardholders from the misuse of their personal data. PCI DSS was jointly created in 2004 by four major credit card companies: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, and now A1 Data Center in Zagreb has it as well.

Every company that processes or stores payment card data must adhere to strict PCI standard rules regardless of the volume or amount of transactions. Therefore, PCI DSS applies to all merchants, issuers, and companies that process payment transactions, meaning all those involved in card payment processing, whether they operate in the cloud or are users of colocation services (having their ICT equipment located in the A1 Data Center). In short, almost all financial institutions must comply with PCI DSS.

By obtaining this certification, A1 Data Center becomes a PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliant service provider. This means that other companies and financial institutions can securely process and store payment transactions of cardholders within it. The certification process was conducted by the London consulting company OBS Global, an internationally qualified auditor for PCI security standards. During the review, it was determined whether the security and protection of the equipment meet the highest standards and whether it is under constant and strict supervision (video surveillance, motion sensors, two-factor authentication, and numerous other security systems).

– The financial industry demands the highest security standards, and thanks to the new certification, A1 business users have access to services of the highest quality in this area. Along with existing services such as colocation, Virtual Infrastructure (IaaS), Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS), Backup as a Service (BaaS), and Exoscale, we are a reliable digital partner for all security challenges in the dynamic world of finance. This recognition means a lot to us as it involved a very detailed review of all business systems and infrastructure of the A1 Data Center, which during testing proved to meet the highest criteria – said Daniel Šimić, Chief Executive Officer for Business Customers at A1 Croatia.

At the end of 2020, the construction of the A1 Data Center in New Zagreb began, and it was completed a year later. It is the only one in Croatia built from the ground up according to Tier III criteria of the UpTime Institute, the world leader in standardizing the performance of digital infrastructure. The construction, covering an area of 2,122 square meters, used 220 tons of reinforcement and 5,500 tons of concrete and, in accordance with Tier III certification requirements, is capable of withstanding earthquakes of up to 9 on the Richter scale. The data center is equipped with its own transformer station powered by two independent energy branches with a maximum capacity of 2MW. There will be no operational difficulties even in the event of a failure of both energy branches, as the power supply for the equipment will be taken over by two diesel generators with a total power of 2MW and UPS systems. Approximately 5,000 km of optical fibers (50 km of optical cables) from three different, independent directions were used for connecting the data center. Within the facility itself, about 600 km of optical fibers (6 km of optical cables) were laid out. Business users are guaranteed annual maximum availability and operation of critical infrastructure such as connectivity, power supply, and system cooling.