CloudScale365, Inc. Service Level Agreement
THIS SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT DEFINES THE SERVICE LEVELS PROVIDED TO CUSTOMER BY CLOUDSCALE365, INC.
I. Service Definition
CloudScale365, Inc will provide Hosted Exchange and other Application Services as defined by the plan or plans purchased by Customer from CloudScale365, Inc. (“Services”).
II. Technical Support
CloudScale365, Inc will provide Customer through authorized account contacts with technical support on setting up and configuring account, access to the Services, and other issues related to the Services. Only authorized account contacts may request information, changes or technical support pursuant to the Agreement. CloudScale365, Inc uses commercially reasonable efforts to maintain a standard response time to technical support issues. This response time will depend on the complexity of the inquiry and support request volume. The Technical Support Department assigns the highest priority to Customer inquiries related to server unavailability. The estimated time to respond does not apply to inquiries that require extensive research and testing.
III. Billing Disputes
CloudScale365, Inc must receive notice of billing disputes within sixty (60) days of the date Customer credit card was charged or Customer account was invoiced for the Services or Customer shall be deemed to have accepted such charges.
IV. Control Panels and Server Management
a. Account Management Tools. Account holders are provided with CloudScale365, Inc’s online account and server management tools, the administrative control panel and end-user control panel. These tools are designed to give Customer control over account and Services. Technical Support personnel can help Customer to become familiar with control panels; however, Technical Support shall not be expected to perform for Customer tasks that can be done through control panels.
b. Custom Configuration. Requests for modification to the standard configuration will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Approval of such modifications will be at CloudScale365, Inc’s sole discretion. CloudScale365, Inc does not guarantee any particular result from non-standard configurations nor can it be held liable in any way for Service performance changes or failures which result from non-standard configurations.
c. Additional Services. For the tasks that cannot be performed through the administrative control panel or for services that are not included in the plan or plans purchased by Customer, Customer may request CloudScale365, Inc perform professional services on a time and materials basis through the administrative control panel or Technical Support. The request shall include a detailed description of work and the authorized amount of time, in half hour increments, to perform the work. CloudScale365, Inc may evaluate and revise the request (including the estimated number of hours to perform the work) and reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to decline any request. The services shall be performed at CloudScale365, Inc’s standard published rates, provided that any emergency services that require commencement within 24 hours shall be charged at 1.5x CloudScale365, Inc’s standard published rate. CloudScale365, Inc will use commercially reasonable efforts to perform requested services. However, it does not guarantee any particular result from performance of services or make any representations or warranties regarding such services nor can it be held liable in any way (including for any credits) for Service performance changes or failures which result from performing tasks requested by Customer.
V. Maintenance
a. Scheduled Maintenance. To ensure optimal performance and security of the Services, CloudScale365, Inc. will routinely perform maintenance on a regularly scheduled basis within its published maintenance windows. This may require specific Services to be suspended during the maintenance period. CloudScale365, Inc. schedules maintenance windows according to its policies, which can be referred to in the administrative control panel. Service unavailability due to scheduled maintenance will be excluded from Customer uptime calculations for availability. CloudScale365, Inc. will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify Customer in advance of any scheduled maintenance that may adversely affect Customer’s Services.
b. Emergency Maintenance. Under certain circumstances CloudScale365, Inc. may need to perform emergency maintenance, such as security patch installation or hardware replacement. CloudScale365, Inc. will not be able to provide Customer with advanced notice in case of emergency maintenance. Service unavailability due to emergency maintenance will be excluded from the Customer uptime calculations.
c. Hardware Replacement. CloudScale365, Inc. will use industry standard practices to determine whether server hardware is functioning properly and will replace non-functioning hardware with similarly functioning hardware. CloudScale365, Inc. shall use commercially reasonable efforts to implement hardware replacement within four hours from the time the problem is identified. In the case where this time is exceeded, the excess downtime is counted against the Service Availability Credit.
VI. Service Availability
a. Service Availability. CloudScale365, Inc. shall provide at least 99.999% Service Availability, measured on a per calendar-month basis. Service Availability is defined as the ability of a user on Customer account to (a) access and retrieve information from his or her mailbox, and (b) send and receive messages via his or her mailbox using the Services (Outlook MAPI, OWA, IMAP or POP3), each on per mailbox basis, provided that Your account is active, in good standing and enabled. Unavailability caused by issues beyond CloudScale365, Inc.’s reasonable control, including denial of service or similar attacks, mail bombs, DNS resolution, Domain Name expiration, Internet availability, SYN attacks, and other events or any other Force Majeure event will be excluded from Service Availability calculations.
b. Service Availability Monitoring. CloudScale365, Inc. monitors its servers and the Services as a whole but does not monitor individual mailbox or mobile device availability. To verify Service Availability, CloudScale365, Inc. uses a combination of methods to validate availability, including but not limited to Exchange HTTP access availability and internal mail flow monitoring between Edge and Mailbox servers. These checks are run on predetermined intervals with specific failure thresholds with respect to the service being provided. CloudScale365, Inc. does not guarantee incoming and outgoing mail delivery time and thus it is not included in its calculations or considered an outage if mail flow is delayed. If a delay in mail flow is due to a complete Service, server, or network outage, Service Availability will be calculated related to those services only. CloudScale365, Inc. will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide reasonable times for incoming and outgoing mail flow.
VII. Credit for Service Availability Non-Compliance
If Service Availability for the first 30 day period (or any calendar month thereafter) is below 99.999%, CloudScale365, Inc.will issue a credit (“Service Availability Credit”) to Customer according to the following schedule:
| Service Availability* | Amount of the refund as a percentage of monthly fee for affected Service* |
| 99.0% to 99.998% | 3% of monthly fee credited |
| 98.0% to 98.99% | 5% of monthly fee credited |
| 95.0% to 97.99% | 10% of monthly fee credited |
| 90.0% to 94.9% | 25% of monthly fee credited |
| 89.9% or below | 2.5% credited for every 1% of lost availability up to the maximum total penalty limit |
To receive a Service Availability Credit, (a) Customer account must be in good standing with CloudScale365, (b) You must open a Technical Support Ticket reporting the service interruption within 72 hours of the event, and (c) You must send an email or written Service Availability Credit request to the Billing Department in the month immediately following the month for which Customer is seeking a Service Availability Credit. Credit requests must include account username (account number) and the dates and specific times that the Service availability was below the prescribed levels.
The Billing Department will compare information provided by Customer to the monitoring data CloudScale365, Inc. maintains. A Service Availability Credit is issued only if CloudScale365, Inc. confirms from the monitoring data warranting the Service Availability Credit.
*CloudScale365, Inc. will calculate the Service Availability Credit based on the type of particular Service for which Service Availability was below the prescribed level, the fees for the particular Service and the percentage of overall individual mailboxes or other units adversely affected. For example, if the Service Availability Credit pertains to the Service Availability of two mailboxes of 200 mailboxes, the Service Availability Credit would be calculated as 1% x the monthly fee for the mailboxes x the % of monthly fee credited.
The limits and sole remedies regarding Service Availability and Service Availability Credits are set forth in Section XIII of this Service Level Agreement.
VIII. Server Software
a. Software Configuration. CloudScale365, Inc.will exercise industry standard practices to ensure that all preinstalled software is correctly configured.
b. Patches, Updates and Service Packs. CloudScale365, Inc. will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly install security patches, updates, and service packs. Software updates may change system behavior and functionality and as such may negatively affect the Services purchased by Customer. CloudScale365, Inc. cannot foresee nor can it be responsible for service disruption or changes in functionality or performance due to implementation of software patches and upgrades. If such disruption or changes occur, CloudScale365, Inc. will use commercially reasonable efforts to remedy the situation as soon as possible after being notified of the problem by Customer.
c. Required Upgrades. CloudScale365, Inc. may be required by its software licensors to upgrade to the latest versions of the software. Licensor required upgrades will be performed free of charge and upon reasonable notice to Customer. Software upgrades on CloudScale365, Inc.’s servers will occur at CloudScale365, Inc.’s discretion upon reasonable notice to Customer.
d. Incompatibilities. CloudScale365, Inc. is not responsible for problems that may arise from incompatibilities between new versions of the software and Customer content, regardless of whether it was a requested, required or a discretionary upgrade. Nevertheless, CloudScale365, Inc. will use commercially reasonable efforts to assist Customer in finding a solution.
IX. Storage Capacity
Data Transfer; Server Resources. Each account is allotted storage capacity and data transfer amounts on CloudScale365, Inc.’s servers according to the plan and options selected by You. This storage size and data transfer allotments can be increased through the administrative control panel for an additional charge up to the maximum amount allowed for each plan or service. The servers may stop accepting, processing, or delivering data when the purchased limit is reached thus causing Service unavailability or data loss. CloudScale365, Inc. shall not be responsible for such unavailability or data losses. Server resources are shared among all customers hosted on the same server(s). CloudScale365, Inc. configures servers, Services and storage in such a way that Customer is separated from other customers. However, due to its nature, for shared resources, server and service performance levels cannot be guaranteed.
X. Hosted Exchange Limitations
a. Mailbox and Public Folder Storage Capacity. Each mailbox and public folder has their own storage limits. When the storage limit is reached on an individual mailbox or folder, the Exchange servers will stop sending and/or receiving messages or data leading to possible Service unavailability or data loss. To prevent such occurrences, Customer can manage each mailbox and public folder storage limit, using the administrative control panel. CloudScale365, Inc. is not responsible for unavailability or data losses caused by any mailbox or folder exceeding its storage limit. Customer can obtain a detailed disk usage report from the administrative control panel at any time.
b. Log Files. CloudScale365, Inc. adheres to a daily log maintenance and clean-up schedule in order to optimize disc space for our Services.
c. Top Level Folders and Sub-Folders. The Exchange server itself retains ownership of the three top layers of the public folder hierarchy, “Public Folders”, and under that folder, the “All Public Folders”. This is set by the Exchange server architecture and cannot be modified. The administrative control panel allows Customer to create and manage Top-Level public folders. Only Top-Level public folders can be made visible in the Global Address List.
d. Address Lists. CloudScale365, Inc. provides one Global Address List and one Offline Address List for Your account. The Global Address List and Offline Address List are available to all users within Your account. The Global Address List contains all mailboxes, contacts and distribution lists for Your account, unless Customer explicitly choose to hide any of these objects from Your Global Address List. Your Offline Address List is a replica of Global Address List. Your Offline Address List is used when Customer is working offline or, in MS Outlook 2003 or above, in the activated cache mode.
e. Anti-Virus Checking. CloudScale365, Inc. uses third-party, anti-virus software. This software is configured to check all inbound messages. The virus-detecting heuristics of the software are regularly updated. Messages sent between mailboxes on the server are not scanned. If a virus is detected or if a message attachment cannot be scanned (for example, when it is encrypted or corrupted), the message and its attachments may be permanently deleted. CloudScale365, Inc. advises Customer to use up-to-date, local antivirus software. CloudScale365, Inc. is not responsible for any damages due to viruses, including infection of end-user devices or lost or corrupted messages.
f. Anti-Spam Message Filter. CloudScale365, Inc. uses third-party, anti-SPAM software. This software is configured to check all incoming messages according to the SPAM-detecting heuristics provided with the software. As a part of the anti-SPAM software service, the SPAM-detecting heuristics are regularly updated. CloudScale365 is not responsible for any damages due to anti-SPAM filtering, including lost or corrupted messages.
g. Wireless Exchange Server Access. As an add-on service, CloudScale365, Inc. provides wireless access to the Exchange server through the use of third-party software. Limited customer control of wireless Exchange server access and configuration is available via the administrative control panel. Success in configuration and set up of wireless Exchange server access is highly dependent upon the device and the wireless access provider chosen by Customer. Therefore CloudScale365, Inc. can only assure that it will make commercially reasonable efforts to assist Customer in configuring and supporting Customer wireless Exchange server access for the portions of the access not under CloudScale365, Inc.’s control.
XI. Privacy and Confidentiality
CloudScale365, Inc. is committed to protect Customer privacy and the confidentiality of Customer data to the maximum extent permitted by law and/or accepted by industry standards. We will not access, view or review any of Customer private data accessible to us (including but not limited to that contained in Your web server files, e-mail messages, calendars, notes, contacts, memos or public folders) unless:
- either Customer or a government agency or regulatory body specifically requests us to do so;
- when performing routine backup and restore operations, virus scan and virus removal, spam and content filtering; or
- if such access, view or review is urgent and necessary to protect personal safety, perform
troubleshooting, restore systems operation in the event of a server failure, remove illegal or offending (e.g. pornographic, violating our policies, etc.) content or prevent a server failure, Service outage or other damage.
Under no other circumstances will CloudScale365, Inc. access Customer private data or share Customer confidential data with any third parties without Customer prior permission, except to the extent required by law or governmental or regulatory body or necessary to render our services to Customer.
XII. Total Credit Limits; Sole and Exclusive Remedies
a. Total Service Availability Credits. The total Service Availability Credit due to Customer for any account may not exceed 50% of the monthly fees charged to that account during the month for which the Service Availability Credit is to be issued, unless the amount to be credited is less than $1.00 in which case the credit amount will be $1.00. Only one Service Availability Credit and credit level is available in any given calendar month. Notwithstanding anything set forth in the Agreement or this Service Level Agreement, the Service Availability Credit described in Section VII shall be Customer sole and exclusive remedy in connection with any service unavailability as described in section VI of this Service Level Agreement or breach by CloudScale365, Inc. of the Agreement or this Service Level Agreement.
b. Data Protection Credits. The total Data Protection Credit due to Customer for any account may not exceed 100% of the monthly fees charged to that account during the month for which the Data Protection Credit is to be issued. Only one Data Protection Credit and credit level is available in any given month. Notwithstanding anything set forth in the Agreement or this Service Level Agreement, the Data Protection Credit described in Section XII shall be Customer sole and exclusive remedy for any losses arising from any data protection event as described in Section XII of this Service Level Agreement.
c. Total Credit Limit. The total credits that Customer may be issued with respect to any calendar month, including the aggregate of Service Availability Credits and Data Protection Credits, shall not exceed 150% of the monthly fees charged to the account during the month for which all such credits are issued.
XIII. Data Restoration from Back-Up Request
Data restore requests initiated by the client can be initiated by opening a support ticket as an extended service request, subject to availability of the back-up data. CloudScale365, Inc. performs routine server backups for disaster recovery purposes only. Server backup scope and scheduling is at CloudScale365, Inc.’s sole discretion.
Note: CloudScale365, Inc. does not (i) maintain historical back-up copies for the purpose of point in time data recovery or (ii) guarantee that backups will be made. We strongly urge Customer to back-up their Data (including all mailbox and public folder data) or to arrange for third-party backup services.
XIV. Data Retention
While Customer account is active, CloudScale365, Inc. shall retain Customer data, including but not limited to the content of private mailboxes and public folders within the database information store, active directory, log files and backup copies. CloudScale365, Inc. shall not be responsible for retaining any Customer data after account termination. All Customer data is deleted from the servers after Customer account is terminated and from backups during normal scheduled backup rotation. CloudScale365, Inc. shall not restore, provide on any storage media or send out any Customer data pertaining to terminated accounts, unless specifically noted in a customized service agreement.
XV. Customer Responsibilities
To access CloudScale365, Inc. services Customer must provide at the very minimum:
- an Internet connection with sufficient bandwidth and quality to allow trouble-free browsing, data uploading and downloading and that does not constrain Microsoft® Exchange functionality;
- Windows XP or later to access the Exchange server using Microsoft ® Outlook RPC/HTTP;
- a fully functional Internet browser to access the control panel and Exchange server using OWA; and
- a fully functional POP/IMAP/SMTP e-mail program (client) such as Microsoft® Outlook Express.
XVI. Acceptable Usage and No-Spam Policies
CloudScale365, Inc. adheres to Acceptable Usage and No-Spam policies. Please refer to CloudScale365, Inc.’s Terms of Service for Acceptable Usage Policy and No-Spam policy at https://cloudscale365.com/terms-of-service-hosted-exchange/ for further information.
XVII. Agreement Changes From time to time, CloudScale365, Inc will update this agreement. Current updated document will be posted and maintained at https://cloudscale365.com/service-level-agreement/
