Cloud Ready Building Association

2022: First digital building certificate issued in Moscow

Moscow developers have submitted 4 applications for certification of digital buildings for compliance with the Russian standard Cloud Ready Building (CRB)^[1]. On July 28, 2022, President of the CRB Association Vladimir Elfimov announced this to TAdviser at the presentation of the first CRB certificate to the Golden Gate business center. The Golden Gate Business Center, located on Enthusiast Boulevard 2, has received a CRB level 2 certification. In total, the standard assumes three levels of digital buildings.

We recently announced that the standard is ready and have already received 4 official applications. Several more business centers are undergoing a negotiation process, including those that are under construction. The first certification took almost six months. In the future, the process should go much faster, - Vladimir Elfimov told TAdviser.

What will give certification to market participants

In his opinion, the standard of the digital building will simplify the interaction of developers and telecom operators. Moreover, all market participants are interested in certification today. Developers, because it increases the price of renting a property and the attractiveness of renting. Telecom operators and service providers, because the possibility of creating a modern ICT infrastructure will be laid at the design stage. Tenants, because at the stage of choosing real estate, the level of infrastructure development and the availability of information services will be clear.

As Vladimir Elfimov explained to TAdviser, even in class "A" business centers, one can encounter the fact that Internet access is limited or unreasonably expensive, that the width of the trunk channels is not enough to connect cloud services, or the channel does not have a reserve. To overcome these limitations, companies often have to resort to very sophisticated solutions. The CRB standard makes the rules of the game transparent.

According to the information on the association's website, during the certification process, the following is assessed:

• Construction readiness and communications;
• Structured cable system (SCS);
• External communication networks;
• Speed of connection and communication with the data center;
• Telecommunications infrastructure and IT services;
• Power supply and electrical distribution;
• Engineering systems of process rooms;
• Information security.

CRB Association offers expertise on digital buildings

As Vladimir Elfimov noted, the standard was developed by members of the CRB association. It is based on the principles of data center certification created by the Uptime Institute.

The CRB association includes: a network of 3Data data centers, the B2B operator Maraphon wires infrastructure, the DCs Kvadrat company specializing in data center certification and the iKS-Consulting consulting agency [1]

3Data CEO Ilya Hala told TAdviser that DCs Kvadrat specialists are engaged in certification of real estate objects. According to him, now certification takes several months and costs several million rubles, the final amount depends on the scale of the project.

According to Ilya Hala, CRB certification can become not only a competitive advantage, but also a guideline for developers, since the standard clearly spells out the criteria for a digital building.

According to the head of the 3Data, now there are more than 3.5 thousand commercial real estate objects in Moscow alone, and due to the departure of some tenants, the market has become very competitive.

In the current environment, an advanced IT infrastructure becomes an integral business requirement. So, now IT companies rent real estate more actively, but they are very demanding on the quality of communication channels and the availability of cloud services, "Ilya Hala explained to TAdviser.

According to Natalia Linnik, CEO of BC Golden Gate, representatives of the IT-Business rent space in the business center and they will be pleased to realize that they are in the first certified digital building in Russia. In addition, according to Natalia Linnik, the CRB certificate makes the Golden Gate BC more attractive to new tenants and may have a positive effect on office sales, which started in the summer of 2022.

BC Golden Gate is the first certified digital building in Russia. Photo - golden-gate-invest.ru

Denis Bida, head of the automation department of the federal developer Neometria, commented to TAdviser that the company is already building digital buildings, creating its own data centers and adhering to modern digital standards.

We are interested in certifying commercial properties according to the CRB digital building standard. Now the design is carried out according to the company's standards. We need certification to confirm the quality of construction, - Denis Bida told TAdviser.

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