Appliance Compliance and Certification

Platforms are generally pre-certified to meet standard US, Canadian, and European certification requirements. Modified or custom platforms generally need to be tested to assure certification standards are met. Various countries, industries or government entities may enforce unique standards or guidelines that require further testing, for example NEBS or FIPS compliance.

When a platform needs to be tested to meet specific certification standards, MBX can coordinate with the testing labs to obtain the certifications. Our goal is to handle the certification process efficiently to minimize the lag time for deploying your server appliances.

Standard Certifications

The most common certification requirements for the US, Canada, and Europe include UL/cUL, CE, FCC, CSA, and CB. With the exception of the CB scheme, these tests run in conjunction with one another. For the rest of the world, MBX maintains an updated list of country-specific certification requirements; contact an MBX account manager for the current list.

	UL / cUL Many organizations in the US and Canada have policies requiring all electrical products installed on their sites to carry certification from Underwriters Laboratories (UL / cUL) or another lab that carries out this certification.
	CE Mark The CE mark is a requirement for the European Union (EU) market and European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) countries. It is a self-declaration that your products comply with the following directives: Low Voltage Directive (LVD for safety), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC for emissions), Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Successful completion of these tests allows your systems to be marked with UL/cUL, CE, FCC, RoHS, and WEEE labels.
	RoHS Directive The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive bans the use of certain substances in most types of electrical and electronic products sold in the EU. The directive includes both components and materials.
	WEEE Directive Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations address the recovery and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment that ceases to be used and is designated as waste. MBX works with customers who participate in WEEE and can provide services to handle the process.
	CB Scheme Where the CE mark is a self-declaration of compliance, the CB Scheme is the proof of compliance for the CE mark and the directives it represents. To carry the CB mark you must provide a signed Declaration of Conformity and CB test data report for your products upon request.
	Country Certifications Specific countries enforce national standards that require different, non-standard certifications. In many cases the CB report is adequate data for the certification. Contact an MBX program manager for the current list of country certifications and requirements.
	NEBS Compliance Network Equipment Building Systems (NEBS) Compliance ensures that telecommunications-related appliances for federal computer systems in the U.S. meet specific reliability, safety and performance guidelines.
	FIPS Compliance FIPS Compliance certifies that your appliances meet the hardware standards and guidelines issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology as Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) for security and interoperability.