SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
These are the service terms and Service Level Agreement for Global Voice and Data’s IPVPN and HSIP services (“The Service”) which apply to the Service in addition to the terms of any Master Services Agreement (“Agreement”) or Exhibit entered into by and between Global Voice and Data, Inc. (hereinafter “GVAD”), and Customer, as an integral part of that agreement.
SERVICE COMMITMENT
GVAD is committed to providing reliable, high-quality Provider Networks to support IPVPN, high-speed Internet and network services (Services). As part of this commitment, GVAD is pleased to offer eligible Customers the following guarantees on the Services:
• Installation Guarantee
• Network Availability and Notification Guarantee
• Network Latency Guarantee
• Packet Delivery Guarantee
If GVAD fails to meet any of these guarantees, it will provide eligible Customers with a Service Credit, as set forth below in this Service Level Agreement.
GUARANTEES.
A. INSTALLATION GUARANTEE.
For each of the Services listed below, GVAD guarantees connectivity for Customers will be installed within the corresponding timeframe, as measured from the date an order has been validated, entered into GVAD’s provisioning system by its Account Coordination team AND confirmed by the respective Carrier.
Buildinet: 10 Business Days On-Net/Colo: 30 Business Days Ethernet: 90 business days Gigabit Ethernet or Fiber: 120 Business Days or ICB
An order will not be validated until a signed Exhibit Form and Master Services Agreement and any other required documentation specified by GVAD, has been received, validated, approved and entered into GVAD’s provisioning system by its Account Coordination team, and confirmed by the respective Carrier. Additional required documentation may a completed questionnaire for IP Allocation as well as completed questionnaires for BGP, SMTP and DNS configurations when requested by the customer on the IP Allocation Questionnaire.
The Installation guarantee for GVAD colocation services does not apply to third-party data centers. For point-to-point connections, the port with the longest install time governs the entire order, e.g., if one port is On-Net and the other port requires an Ethernet Loop, the longer install time corresponding to the Ethernet Loop applies to both orders.
If GVAD fails to meet these commitments, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, one half (1/2) month MRC as a Service Credit. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month Service Credit for any given month. GVAD’s Installation Guarantee is subject to the following conditions:
• Customer or its representative must cooperate with GVAD in the installation process, which includes accurate completion of an Order Form containing detailed demarcation information and other onsite contact listings. Changes in an Order Form made by or on behalf of Customer or the occurrence of events outside the reasonable control of GVAD, such as Force Majeure (as defined in the Agreement), may result in delays for which GVAD is not responsible hereunder.
• Customer or its representative must be physically present at the time of installation and must provide access to the designated building’s phone closet(s) on the date(s) agreed to by GVAD’s Installation Coordination Department. Such building access and escort must also be provided to other necessary personnel to perform the installation of the connection.
• This Installation Guarantee applies to the interval between the original order date and original Installation Guarantee date. If Customer requests a change to an order date during implementation of Service, the Installation Guarantee date shall, at GVAD’s sole discretion, begin again upon change acceptance.
• The Service Credit for failure to meet the Installation Guarantee is not available to Customers for whom installation charges have been waived or reduced.
B. NETWORK AVAILABILITY GUARANTEE.
GVAD’s Provider networks are designed for 100% availability. If Customer experiences Network Unavailability for more than 15 consecutive minutes, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, 3.33% (that is, the equivalent of one [1] day) of the applicable MRC for the affected Customer port, for every two (2) hours, or any part thereof, of non-availability below the availability guarantee. Customer may obtain no more than 50% of one (1) month’s MRC Service Credit for any given month or any 30 day period. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month Service Credit for any given month or any given 30 day period.
Customer acknowledges that single outage events may cause multiple parameters to exceed the guarantees, and therefore any single outage event that causes multiple parameters to exceed the guarantee will be deemed a single Incident. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month Service Credit for any given month or any given 30 day period.
C. NETWORK LATENCY GUARANTEE.
The monthly average Network Latency for packets carried over the GVAD Provider Networks between Backbone Hubs for the following regions is as specified below:
Network Latency (or Round trip time) is defined as the average time taken for an IP packet to make a round trip between Backbone Hubs within the regions specified above on the GVAD Provider’s Network. GVAD monitors aggregate latency within the GVAD Provider’s Network by monitoring roundtrip times between a sample of Backbone Hubs on an ongoing basis.
After being notified by Customer of Network Latency in excess of the rates specified above, GVAD will use commercially reasonable efforts to determine the source of such excess Network Latency and to correct such problem with the Provider to the extent that the source of the problem is on the Provider’s Network.
If Provider fails to remedy such Network Latency within five (5) hours of being notified of any excess Network Latency, and average Network Latency for the preceding 30 days has exceeded the rates specified above, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, a Service Credit for the period from the time of notification by the Customer until the average Network Latency for the preceding 30 days is less than the rates specified above. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month Service Credit for any given month or any given 30 day period.
D. PACKET DELIVERY GUARANTEE.
The GVAD Provider’s Networks have an average monthly Packet Loss no greater than 0.1% (or successful delivery of 99.9% of packets). Packet Loss is defined as the percentage of packets that are dropped between Backbone Hubs on the GVAD Provider Networks. GVAD Providers monitor this aggregate packet loss on an ongoing basis, and compile the collected data into a monthly average packet loss measurement for the Provider Network.
The service level guarantee is noted in the table below:
After being notified by Customer of Packet Loss in excess of 0.1%, GVAD will use commercially reasonable efforts to determine the source of such excess Packet Loss and to correct such problem with Provider to the extent that the source of the problem is on the Provider’s Network.
If GVAD fails to remedy such excess Packet Loss within five (5) hours of being notified of any excess Packet Loss on the provider Network and average Packet Loss for the preceding 30 days exceeds 0.1%, Customer will receive, at Customer’s request, a Service Credit for the period from the time of notification by the Customer until the average Packet Loss for the preceding 30 days is less than 0.1%. Customer may obtain no more than one (1) month Service Credit for any given month or any 30 day period.
3. ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.
Dedicated Internet Access or Internet Transit refers to Provider’s Layer 3 service that provides customer’s access to the public Internet.
Backbone Hub means a major network facility owned, operated, or controlled by a single Provider Network which is directly connected to the Provider fiber backbone network and which contains at least one Gigabit Switch Router (GSR). In larger metropolitan markets containing more than one such facility, one facility in that market will be designated as a Backbone Hub for the purpose of calculating the monthly average Network Latency and Packet Loss statistics.
On-Net means buildings that are directly connected to the Provider Network and, as such, do not require Provider to lease a third-party local loop in order to provide connectivity.
Provider Network means the telecommunications/data communications network and network components owned, operated or controlled by Provider causing Service, including Provider’s national fiber backbone, its metropolitan fiber networks, any equipment connected to such fiber, and the software, data and know-how used by Provider in the provision of the Services. Where Provider provides Service to a building through its own facilities, the Provider Network includes those facilities. The Provider Network does not include customer premises equipment, customer-ordered telephony circuits, access circuits, and any networks or network equipment not operated and controlled by Provider.
Monthly Recurring Charge (MRC) means the fixed, recurring charge invoiced by GVAD to Customer on a monthly basis for the Service, exclusive of any variable charges based upon Customer usage.
Network Unavailability means the time that the Provider Network was not available to Customer, including the number of minutes that the Provider Network was not available associated with any nonScheduled Maintenance to the Provider Network. Network Unavailability will not include Scheduled Maintenance, or any unavailability resulting from: (a) problems with or maintenance on Customer’s applications equipment or facilities; (b) acts or omissions of Customer or an authorized user; (c) unavailability caused by companies other than Provider, except Provider-ordered telephony circuits; or (d) Force Majeure.
Scheduled Maintenance means any maintenance of the Provider Network (or portion thereof) to which Customer’s router is connected that is performed during a standard maintenance window. Customers will be notified via Email at least two (2) business days in advance of any scheduled maintenance that is likely to effect their service. In most cases, maintenance performed will not take the full duration window, however, GVAD will inform Customer as to anticipated duration in the maintenance notification E-mail.
Service Credit Means:
• One (1) day Service Credit = 1/30th of Customer’s Monthly Recurring Charges.
• One (1) month Service Credit = Full amount of Customer’s Monthly Recurring Charges.
If GVAD approves a claim for Service Credit for failure to comply with the Installation Guarantee, Service Credit shall mean GVAD’s charge for Customer’s first half month of the Service, not including installation charges or other start-up fees.
4. SERVICE CREDIT CLAIM PROCESS.
In order to initiate a claim for Service Credit, Customer must contact GVAD’s customer service group in writing (email accepted) within three (3) business days of the incident. The Service Credit request must provide: (a) the Customer name and contact information; (b) the date and beginning/end time of the claimed outage or failed metric; and (c) a brief description of the characteristics of the claimed outage or failed metric.
Customer will be notified via e-mail upon resolution of the request. If rejected, the notification will specify the basis for rejection. If approved, GVAD will issue Service Credit to Customer’s account, appearing on the next invoice issued. Multiple Service Credits will not be given for the same period of time, i.e., failure to meet multiple criteria during a period of time generates only a single Service Credit. The total number of all Service Credits for all failures to meet Guarantees occurring in a given month may not exceed the total Monthly Recurring charge actually paid by Customer for Service during that month. Service Credits will be credited against a Customer’s monthly payment for Monthly Recurring Charges and may not be received in the form of a refund.
The Guarantees and Service Credits provided for in this SLA assume compliance by Customer with the terms and conditions of its Agreement with GVAD, and the failure of Customer to comply with those terms and conditions may invalidate GVAD’s guarantees provided herein. No credit is available for a Customer (a) that is blocking Provider from monitoring Customer’s premises router; (b) that does not provide the necessary access to personnel and facilities at the Customer’s premises to enable Provider to perform comprehensive troubleshooting; or (c) whose account is not in good financial standing with GVAD. GVAD is not liable for failure to fulfill its obligations hereunder if such failure is due to Customer’s use of bandwidth in excess of the maximum amount specified in Customer’s Agreement, Customer’s tampering with any equipment, or acts beyond GVAD’s reasonable control, such as Force Majeure.