Effective Date: June 2009
Host.net Backbone Network Service Level Agreement
1) Application of Host.net Backbone SLA
This Host.net (Host) Backbone Service Level Agreements (SLA) is governed by the customer service agreement. Maintenance of the local circuit (local loop) shall be the responsibility of the local carrier, however; Host.net will provide the following SLA with certain rights and remedies regarding the performance of the Host.net Backbone (as defined below) to customers with term commitments of one or more years. This SLA applies only to Customers receiving the following services from Host.net:
(i) Point-to-Point services
(ii) Frame Relay (all access speeds),
(iii) OCx
(iv) Metro Ethernet, On-Net, or IBE
(v) Colocation or Virtualization services
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Host.net SLA does not apply to Host.net customers for services such as, Web & Email hosting, xDSL, ISDN or Dial-up access services.
2) Definitions
For purposes of this SLA, the following terms have the meanings set forth below:
"Host.net Backbone" means Host.net owned and operated Internet Protocol (IP) routing infrastructure consisting solely of selected Host.net points of presence (POP) at which Host.net has installed measurement devices ("Selected POPs") (i) within the United States and the connections between them in the forty-eight continental United States (the "North American Network"), (ii) within Europe and the United States and the Trans-Atlantic connections between such Selected POPs (the "Trans-Atlantic Network") and (iii) within Asia and the United States and the Trans-Pacific connections between such Selected POPs (the "Trans-Pacific Network").
"Local Loop" is a leased circuit provided by a third party, which Host.net uses to connect a customer to the nearest Host.net POP. The local loop is provided by local Telco provider within the customer area. Host.net will extend the Local Carriers local loop SLA’s. Local Carrier SLA’s may be furnished to customer upon request.
“On-Net” means facilities/buildings that are directly connected to the Host.net Network and does not require Host.net a third-party local loop.
“IBE” means facilities/buildings that are connected to the Host.net Network that Host.net a third-party local loop.
"Scheduled Maintenance" refers to any upgrades or modifications to the Host.net Backbone (or portion thereof) Scheduled maintenances may temporarily degrade the quality of service or include interruptions of service. Host.net will attempt to ensure that any interruption of service is kept to a minimum and performed between the hours of 12:00am & 5:00am (local time of the Host.net POP to which Customer is connected). Except in the case of an emergency, Host.net will attempt to provide the Customer with at least five (5) Days notice of any maintenance of service. Host.net may undertake Emergency Network Maintenance at any time deemed necessary.
"Network Outage" means an instance in which no traffic can pass in or out of the Selected POP through which Customer connects to the Host.net Backbone for more than 15 consecutive minutes. Network Outage will not include Scheduled Maintenances, or any unavailability resulting from a) problems with Customer’s applications, equipment or facilities; (b) negligence of Customer; (c) unavailability caused by companies other than Host.net, except Host.net-ordered local circuits where the local carriers SLA will be extended; or (d) Acts of God.
"Latency" means the average time required for round-trip packet transfers between Selected Point-Of-Presence (POP) is on the selected portions of the Host.net Backbone during a calendar month, as measured by Host.net.
"Packet Loss" means the average percentage of IP packets transmitted between Selected POPs during a calendar month that are not successfully delivered, as measured by Host.net.
"Base Fee" consists solely of the base monthly fee paid by Customer for the affected Host.net service and excludes all other fees which might be charged to Customer, including, by way of example and not limitation, set-up fees, fees for local loop, space rental fees, charges for additional services such as managed services, incremental bandwidth usage, electricity, extra IP addresses, RAM, or hard drives beyond that which is available without additional charge under Host.net's standard rates, hourly support charges, and other types of optional additional services.
3) Summary of Host.net Backbone SLAs
As described in more detail below, these Host.net Backbone SLAs provide commitments based upon goals in three key areas:
(i) The Host.net Backbone available to Customer free of Network Outages 99.999% of the time.
(ii) Latency of the Host.net Backbone of (i) 75 milliseconds or less for North America, (ii) 120 milliseconds or less for Trans-Atlantic and (iii) 170 milliseconds or less for Trans-Pacific.
(iii) Packet Loss of the Host.net Backbone of 0.6% or less.
4) Host.net Backbone Availability
Host.net's goal is to make the Host.net Backbone available to Customers free of Network Outages 99.999% of the time.
Subject to Sections 6 and 7 below, upon Customer's request, Host.net will issue a credit to Customer for Network Outages in an amount equal to one day's worth of the Base Fee paid by Customer, multiplied by each hour of the cumulative duration of such Network Outages during a particular month.
5) Host.net Backbone Latency
Host.net's goal is to keep Latency on the Host.net Backbone to (i) 75 milliseconds or less for North America, (ii) 120 milliseconds or less for Trans-Atlantic Network and (iii) 170 milliseconds or less for Trans-Pacific.
Subject to Sections 6 and 7 below, if Latency on the North American Network, the Trans-Atlantic Network or the Trans-Pacific Network, as applicable, for a calendar month exceeds the time frame set forth above for the applicable portion of the Host.net Backbone, Host.net will issue a credit to Customer equal to one day's worth of the Base Fee paid by Customer for such month.
The terms of this Host.net Backbone SLA related to Latency will take effect the first full calendar month after Customer's first use of the Host.net Backbone.
Host.net's goal is to keep Packet Loss on the Host.net Backbone to 0.6% or less. If Packet Loss on the Host.net Backbone exceeds 0.6% during a calendar month, Host.net will issue a credit to Customer equal to one day's worth of the Base Fee paid by Customer for such month.
The terms of this Host.net Backbone SLA relating to Packet Loss will take effect the first full calendar month after Customer's first use of the Host.net Backbone.
6) Measurement
Host.net will periodically (on average every 15 minutes) measure the Host.net Backbone at selected POPs using software and hardware components capable of measuring traffic and responses at such POPs. Customer acknowledges that not every POP may be covered by such measurements, that such measurements may not measure the exact path traversed by Customer's packets, and that such measurements constitute measurements across the Host.net Backbone but not other networks to which Customer may connect. Host.net reserves the right to periodically change the measurement points and methodologies it uses without notice to Customer.
7) Exceptions
Customer shall not receive any credits under the SLA in connection with any failure or deficiency of the Host.net Backbone caused by or associated with:
Circumstances beyond Host.net's reasonable control, including, without limitation, acts of any governmental body, war, insurrection, sabotage, embargo, fire, flood, strike or other labor disturbance, interruption of or delay in transportation, unavailability of or interruption or delay in telecommunications or third party services, failure of third party software or inability to obtain raw materials, supplies, or power used in or equipment needed for provision of the Host.net Backbone SLAs; failure of access circuits to the Host.net Backbone, unless such failure is caused solely by Host.net; scheduled maintenance and emergency maintenance and upgrades; DNS issues outside the direct control of Host.net; false SLA breaches reported as a result of outages or errors of any Host.net measurement system; or Customer's acts or omissions (or act or omissions of others engaged or authorized by Customer), including without limitation, any negligence, willful misconduct, or use of the Host.net Backbone or Host.net services in breach of Host.net's Terms and Conditions of Service or Host.net's Acceptable Use Policy.
8) Credit Request and Payment Procedures
Credit will be granted upon customer request only. Credit requests must be provided to Host.net in writing. Verbal requests will not be honored. Each request in connection with a Network Outage must be received by Host.net within seven days of the Network Outage and must be confirmed by Host.net's measurements of the Host.net Backbone. Host.net must receive each request in connection with Latency or Packet Loss in a calendar month within seven days after the end of such month.
Each valid credit will be applied to Customer’s invoice within two billing cycles after Host.net's receipt of Customer's request. Credits are exclusive of any applicable taxes charged to Customer or collected by Host.net.
Notwithstanding anything in this Host.net Backbone SLA to the contrary, the total amount credited to a Customer in connection with Network Outages, Latency and Packet Loss in any calendar month will not exceed the Base Fee paid by Customer for such month.