f                Frame Relay Services

 

I.3.3     Frame Relay Service Level Guarantee

 

I.  Overview

 

Unless otherwise specified, this Frame Relay Service Level Guarantee (“SLG”) applies to Frame Relay Service ordered by Customers prior to November 1, 2001, and provides Service Performance standards (“Performance Standards”) that the Company is required to meet or exceed. The Service Level Guarantees guarantee Network Availability, Frame Delivery Ratio, Mean Time to Repair, Data Delivery Ratio and Network Transit Delay provided that certain requirements are satisfied.

 

II.                   Definitions

 

1.         Data Delivery Ratio (DDR)

Data Delivery Ratio is the percentage of “payload frames”, i.e., frames without the address field or frame check sequence, successfully received at the ingress User Network Interface (UNI) and sent through to the egress UNI.  Data Delivery Ratio applies to one direction of a single PVC.  For Enterprise Digital Subscriber Line (EDSL) core network circuits, DDR is measured from the Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) through to the egress UNI.

 

2.         Frame Delivery Ratio (FDR)

Frame Delivery Ratio is the percentage of frames which are successfully delivered over the Company network during a monthly billing period, excluding frames which are not delivered due, in whole or in part, to factors unrelated to Company network.  For EDSL Core Network circuits, FDR is measured from the DSLAM through the egress UNI.

 

3.         Mean Time To Repair

MTTR is the period of time commencing with the date and time the Customer first informs Company of a Service Outage (i.e., opens a “Trouble Ticket”) and ending on the date and time that service has been restored (i.e., closes a “Trouble Ticket”).

 

4.         Network Service Configuration

Core Network circuits are those which comprise the internal Company network infrastructure.  These circuits do not include local access; Enterprise Digital Subscriber Line (EDSL) Core Network circuits are defined as the network infrastructure located beginning at the Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) and ending at the network infrastructure ingress port. EDSL Core Network circuits do not include local access and Customer Premise Equipment (CPE).

 

Type 1 circuits are those for which local access is furnished wholly via Company facilities;

 

Type 2 circuits are those for which local access is furnished in part via Company facilities; and,

 

Type 3 circuits are those for which local access is not furnished via Company facilities.

 

5.         Network Transit Delay

Transit Delay is the period of time commencing with the one way transmission of the “ping” packet from an origination port and ending with the receipt of the “ping” packet at the destination port.

 

6.  Definition of Network Outage

A Network Outage is defined as an unscheduled period in which the service is interrupted and unavailable for use by the Customer for sixty (60) or more Unavailable Seconds (UAS) within a 15-minute period measured by Company. UAS is the American National Standards Institute standard (ANSI)T1.231.  The Customer must open a Trouble Ticket to qualify for the credits issued for any Network

Outage.

 

7.  Definition of Trouble Ticket

A Trouble Ticket is defined as the official method used by the Customer to advise Company of a perceived Network Outage. If the Customer does not initiate a Trouble Ticket with Company in accordance with Section III, or does not release the circuit to Company for testing, Company will not be obligated to issue, and the Customer will not be entitled to receive, credits for the Network Outage.

 

8.  Service Installation Period

Service Installation Period is defined as the period of time beginning on the date Company accepts a completed service order from the Customer for installation of new Frame Relay service located within the U.S. Mainland and ending on the date Company completes the installation of the service, so that the service becomes available for the Customer’s use.

 

III.  Availability/Qualifications

SLGs can be offered in conjunction with the following Frame Relay services:

 

·         Domestic Frame Relay including High-Speed access types

·         Domestic Metro Frame Relay

·      International Frame Relay

 

Selected SLGs are also extended to Enterprise DSL access connecting to the Frame Relay service. Unless otherwise noted SLGs for Enterprise DSL access adhere to the same terms and conditions that apply to the Frame Relay SLGs. SLGs for Enterprise DSL access apply to Domestic U.S. locations only.

 

For the SLGs in this document, Domestic U.S. locations are defined as the 48 U.S. Mainland, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, unless otherwise noted. Frame Relay service in Alaska is offered by an NNI partner and is therefore excluded from all SLGs in this document.

 

These Frame Relay SLGs are offered in conjunction with both Company Domestic and International Frame Relay services that are sold by the Company sales channel to new acquisition and existing Customers.  To qualify for the Frame Relay SLGs, the Customer must enroll in at least one year of Frame Relay services and have five or more Frame Relay nodes.  Customers can seek non-compliance credits based on the restrictions set forth in the tariffs listed in Section 1.

 

Enhanced International (Enterprise Assurance) Frame Relay SLGs are available to the United Kingdom and Europe I where Company owns and operates a comprehensive national network.  Standard International Frame Relay SLGs are offered to the other non-U.S. non-Enhanced International locations (excluding VPOP and NNI Partner programs).  Enhanced International Frame Relay SLGs apply to the following countries:

 

Belgium

France

Germany

Ireland

Italy

Monaco

Netherlands

Switzerland

United Kingdom

 

When the Customer experiences a Network Outage, the Customer must notify the appropriate Customer Service Center and open a Trouble Ticket.   In order to receive a credit on a SLG (other than the Service Installation SLG), the Customer must do the following: a) report the Network Outage within 72 hours of the occurrence and, b) make a request in writing for a credit from Company within five (5) days of opening the Trouble Ticket.  The Customer must document the following information when requesting the credit: the Trouble Ticket number, the time the Trouble Ticket was opened and closed, and the IDs for each of the ports and Permanent Virtual Circuits (PVCs) that experienced the Network Outage.

 

To receive a credit on the Service Installation SLG, Customer must report the delay in service installation to the Company account team and make a request in writing for a credit from Company within five (5) days of the date Company completes installation of the circuit(s).  The Customer must document the following information when requesting the credit: the date on which the Service Installation Period began, the date specified for installation in the Customer order; the date installation was completed, and the port and access circuit ID numbers for the installed service.

 

IV.  Performance standards for Domestic and International Frame Relay

 

NOTE:   If the PVC originates on a Type 1 (on-net) access facility and terminates on a Type 2 or 3 (off-net) access facility (or vise versa), the off-net metrics will apply.

 

Service Level Guarantee *

 

Domestic

U.S.

Standard

International

(NON- UK & Europe 1 Locations)

Enhanced International

(UK and Europe 1)

End-to-End Network Availability Standard  (on-net)

100%

100%

100%

End-to-End Network Availability Standard  (off-net)

99.8%

Not Available

99.8%

End-to-End Network Availability Standard 

(off-net, with Dual Network Service)

100%

Not Available

Not Available

Frame Relay Core Network Availability

100%

100%

100%

Enterprise DSL Access Core Network Availability

99.9%

Not Available

Not Available

End-to-End Network MTTR (on-net)

2 Hours

4.5 Hours

4.5 Hours

End-to-End Network MTTR (off-net)

4 Hours

Not Available

5 Hours

Enterprise DSL Access Core Network MTTR

4 Hours

Not Available

Not Available

Frame Relay Core Network MTTR

2 Hours

3 Hours

3 Hours

Frame Delivery within CIR

99.99%

99.9%

99.9%

Data Delivery within CIR

99.99%

99.9%

99.9%

Service Installation

( T1 & sub-rate service)

45 Business Days

Not Available

Not Available

Enhanced Proactive Notification

30 Minutes

Not Available

Not Available

Network Transit Delay

120 ms

Round Trip

See Matrix at bottom of document

See Matrix at bottom

 

* the PVC points of origination and termination determines the SLG to be applied. The SLG will be as follows:

 

PVC Origination

PVC Termination

Service Level Guarantee Applied

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Domestic U.S.

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Europe 1/U.K.

Enhanced International

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Standard International

Europe 1/U.K.

Europe 1/U.K.

Enhanced International

Europe 1/U.K.

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Standard International

Europe 1/U.K.

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Enhanced International

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Standard International

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Europe 1/U.K.

Standard International

Rest of World

(non-U.S./Europe 1/U.K.)

Domestic U.S.

(U.S. Mainland only)

Standard International

 

1.      End-to-End Network Availability:

 

Definition

End-to-End Network Availability is defined as the total number of minutes in a billing month during which a specific PVC route and local access are available to exchange data between the two Customer end points, divided by the total number of minutes in a billing month.    

 

Objective

Company's End‑to‑End Network Availability SLG, which also covers Type 1 (on-net) access is 100%.  Company's End‑to‑End Network Availability SLG covering Type 2 or 3 (off‑net) access is 99.8% (except for Standard International locations). For Customer PVCs that originate and terminate using Company’s Dual Network Service (available in the Domestic U.S. only), the End‑to‑End Network Availability SLG covering Type 2 or 3 (off‑net) access is 100%. Each SLG applies to networks with five (5) or more Customer nodes and does not apply to Enterprise DSL access.

 

Calculation

End-to-End Network Availability is calculated after the Customer opens a Trouble Ticket with Company and will be calculated on the availability for the Frame Relay service monthly billing period in which the Customer opens the Trouble Ticket.  Network Outages do not include periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

End-to-End Network Availability is calculated as follows:

 

Monthly End-to-End Network Availability (%) =

 

 

(   1 Minus

Total minutes of PVC Network Outage per month    )

Days in month x 24 hours x 60 minutes

 

x 100

 

2.  Frame Relay Core Network Availability:

 

Definition

Frame Relay Core Network Availability is defined as the availability of a specific PVC route including the Frame Relay network infrastructure ingress port to infrastructure egress port, excluding the customer premises equipment (CPE) and local access lines. CPE refers to the telecommunications hardware located at the Customer site supplied by either Company or the Customer. Enterprise DSL access is not included in the Frame Relay Core Network.

 

Objective

Company's Frame Relay Core Network Availability SLG is 100% for Domestic Frame Relay, and 100% for Standard and Enhanced International Frame Relay service.

 

Calculation

Frame Relay Core Network Availability is calculated after the Customer opens a Trouble Ticket with Company and will be calculated on the availability for the Company Frame Relay service monthly billing period in which the Customer opens the Trouble Ticket.  A Network Outage does not include periods of service degradation such as slow data transmission.

 

Frame Relay Core Network Availability is calculated as the total number of minutes in a billing month during which a specific core network PVC route and associated ports are available to exchange data between two network infrastructure node end points, divided by the total number of minutes in a billing month.

 

Monthly Frame Relay Core Network Availability (%) =

 

(   1 Minus

Total minutes of PVC Network Outage per month    )

Days in month x 24 hours x 60 minutes

 

x 100

 

3.  Enterprise DSL Access Core Network Availability:

 

Definition

Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability is defined as the availability of the Enterprise DSL access PVC between the Enterprise DSL access Digital Subscriber Line Access Mulitplexer (DSLAM) in the LEC Central Office and the Company Frame relay network infrastructure ingress port, excluding Enterprise DSL access Local Access Loop service components and customer terminating equipment (CTE), if any. CTE refers to the telecommunications hardware located at the Customer site supplied by either Company or the Customer.

 

Objective

Company's Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability SLG is 99.9% for Domestic Frame Relay, and is not offered for Standard or Enhanced International service.

 

Calculation

Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability is calculated after the Customer opens a Trouble Ticket with Company and will be calculated on the availability for the Company Enterprise DSL access monthly billing period in which the Customer opens the Trouble Ticket.  A Network Outage does not include periods of service degradation such as slow data transmission.

 

Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability is calculated as the total number of minutes in a billing month during which a specific Enterprise DSL access PVC is available to exchange data between the LEC Central Office DSLAM and the Company Frame Relay network infrastructure ingress port, divided by the total number of minutes in a billing month.

 

Monthly Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability (%) =

 

 

(  1 Minus

Total minutes of Enterprise DSL access PVC Network Outage per month   )

Days in month x 24 hours x 60 minutes

 

x 100

 

4.  Mean Time To Repair (MTTR):

 

Definition

Mean Time To Repair is defined as the average time to restore service during a Network Outage.

 

Objective

For Domestic Frame Relay, the End-to-End Customer network Type 1 Access MTTR is 2 hours.  The End-to-End Customer network Type 2 or 3 Access MTTR is 4 hours.  The End-to-End Customer network MTTR excludes performance issues related to CPE and Enterprise DSL access. In addition, a Core Network MTTR SLG of 2 hours is offered for Domestic Frame Relay service.

 

For Standard & Enhanced International Frame Relay Company’s SLG for a Type 1 Network End-to-End MTTR is 4.5 hours. Company also offers a Type 2 or 3 End-to-End MTTR SLG of 5 hours for Enhanced International Frame Relay service.  Off-net MTTR is not currently available for Standard International Frame Relay service. In addition, a Core Network MTTR SLG of 3 hours is offered for both Standard and Enhanced International Frame Relay service.

 

Calculation

MTTR is a monthly average of the time taken to repair all Trouble Tickets on a specific PVC, with the same severity level, during a Network Outage.  The length of each Network Outage on a specific PVC is totaled at the end of each billing month and divided by the corresponding number of Network Outages for that PVC. This is calculated from Trouble Tickets opened during that billing month.  MTTR per billing month is calculated for each PVC as follows:

 

Monthly Mean Time To Repair (Hrs.) =

 

             Cumulative length of Network Outage(s) per PVC                     

Total number of Trouble Tickets per billing month per each PVC

 

5.   Enterprise DSL Access Core Network Mean Time To Repair:

 

Definition

Enterprise DSL access Core Mean Time To Repair is defined as the average time to restore service within the Enterprise DSL access Core Network during a Network Outage.

 

Objective

The Enterprise DSL access Core Network MTTR is 4 hours. This excludes performance issues related to CPE and Enterprise DSL access Local Access Loop.

 

Calculation

Enterprise DSL access Core MTTR is a monthly average of the time taken to repair all Trouble Tickets on a specific Enterprise DSL access PVC, with the same severity level, during a Network Outage.  The length of each Network Outage on a specific Enterprise DSL access PVC is totaled at the end of each billing month and divided by the corresponding number of Network Outages for that PVC. This is calculated from Trouble Tickets opened during that billing month.  Enterprise DSL access Core MTTR per billing month is calculated for each Enterprise DSL access PVC as follows:

 

Monthly Enterprise DSL access Core Mean Time To Repair (Hrs.) =

 

             Cumulative length of Network Outage(s) per Enterprise DSL access PVC                  

Total number of Trouble Tickets per billing month per each Enterprise DSL access PVC

 

6.   Frame Delivery Ratio (FDR):

 

Definition

Frame Delivery Ratio is defined as the average ratio of frames which are successfully delivered over Company’s network in the billing month, excluding frames which are not delivered due in whole or in part to factors unrelated to Company’s network.

 

The FDR reports the network’s effectiveness in transporting an offered Frame Relay load in one direction of a single PVC.  The FDR is a ratio of successful frame receptions to attempted frame transmissions.

 

Objective

Company’s SLG for FDR is 99.99% for all frames within the Committed Information Rate (CIR) including those from Enterprise DSL access.  End-to-end CIR packet delivery only applies to frames not marked discard eligible.

 

Company’s SLG for FDR is 99.9% for Standard & Enhanced International Frame Relay of all frames within the CIR (non-discard eligible).

 

Calculation

CIR Frame Delivery is calculated as the number of all frames within the CIR that are successfully delivered divided by the total number of all frames sent and marked within the CIR by the Company Frame Relay network.

 

This measurement domain is Edge-to-Edge Egress Queue. FDR per billing month is calculated as follows:

 

FDRc         FDR for load consisting of frames within the CIR:

 

On the Domestic Option 2 Frame Relay network the calculation is based upon the frame delivery statistics stated in the Company Event Monitor reports for the Company Frame Relay monthly billing period.  For the Domestic Option 1 Frame Relay service, Enterprise DSL access and International Frame Relay service, the calculation is based upon a Trouble Ticket being opened by the Customer for the Network Outage. 

 
7.   Data Delivery Ratio (DDR):

 

Definition

Data Delivery Ratio is defined as the percentage of payload frames, without the address field or frame check sequence, successfully received at the Ingress User Network Interface (UNI) through to the Egress UNI.  DDR applies to one direction of a single PVC.

 

DDR reports the network’s effectiveness in transporting offered data (payload without address field or Frame Check Sequence (FCS) – error checking information) in one direction of a single PVC.  The DDR is a ratio of successful payload octets received at the ingress user network interface (UNI) to attempted payload octets transmitted through the egress UNI.

 

Objective

Company’s Domestic SLG for DDR is 99.99%, including all frames within the CIR and those from Enterprise DSL access. Frames marked discard eligible are excluded.

 

Company’s Standard & Enhanced International SLG for DDR is 99.9%, including all frames within the CIR (non-discard eligible).

 

Calculation

DDR is calculated as the number of all data payload octets within CIR that are successfully delivered divided by the total number of all data payload octets sent and marked within the CIR by the Company Frame Relay network.   This measurement domain is Edge-to-Edge Egress Queue.  DDR per billing month is calculated as follows:

 

DDRc        DDR for load consisting of frames within the CIR rate:

 

 

On the Domestic Option 2 Frame Relay network the calculation is based upon the frame delivery statistics stated in the Company Event Monitor reports for the Company Frame Relay monthly billing period.  The Domestic Option 1 Frame Relay service, Enterprise DSL access and International Frame Relay DDR is calculated based upon a Trouble Ticket being opened by the Customer for the Network Outage. 

 

8.   Network Transit Delay (NTD):

 

Definition

Network Transit Delay is defined as the round trip delay between the origination and destination infrastructure ports.  It is the period of time that elapses between (i) the transmission of the “ping” packet from the origination infrastructure port and (ii) the receipt of the “ping” packet by the destination infrastructure port, in both directions of a PVC.

 

NTD reports the time required to transport frame relay data in both directions of a PVC through the Company Frame Relay network, and does not include Enterprise DSL access.  The frame transfer delay SLG is the difference in milliseconds between the time a frame exits a source and the time the same frame enters the destination in both directions of a PVC. In each direction, the delay is measured edge-to-edge egress queue per PVC. For the edge-to-edge egress queue measurement domain the destination arrival time is recorded when the frame arrives at the egress queue function servicing the destination interface.

 

Objective

For frame packet sizes less than or equal to 200 bytes (including protocol overhead), Company’s SLG for the NTD is 120 milliseconds or less for the Domestic U.S. Frame Relay network. External factors such as access serialization delay and access link congestion, which may cause delay, are excluded from the measurement.

 

For frame sizes of less than or equal to 200 bytes, the SLG is 281 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Belgium; 288 milliseconds for service between the US mainland and France; 304 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Germany; 271 milliseconds for service between the US m

Mainland and Ireland; 284 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Italy; 303 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Monaco; 273 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Netherlands; 296 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and Switzerland; and 270 milliseconds for service between the US Mainland and locations in the United Kingdom WFRS Zone. 

 

Calculation

NTD is calculated by summing the elapsed time in milliseconds measured from the origination and destination infrastructure ports in each direction of the PVC. Since the inbound and outbound network paths may vary, NTD must be measured separately in each direction and then aggregated.

 

The formal NTD calculation is:

 

NTD = (Point A to Point B NTD = t2 – t1) + (Point B to Point A NTD = t2 – t1)

Where:

Point A is the Company origination infrastructure port

Point B is the Company destination infrastructure port

t1 is the time in milliseconds when a frame leaves the Ingress Reference Point (i.e., frame exit event)

t2 is the time in milliseconds when a frame arrives at the Egress Queue Output Reference Point  (i.e., frame entry event.)

 

On the Domestic Option 2 network, the statistics counters on the Frame Relay switches are polled by the statistics server every fifteen minutes.  The accumulated statistics will be summarized and published monthly.   For Domestic Option 1 Frame Relay and International Frame Relay networks, the calculation is based upon a Trouble Ticket being opened by the Customer for the Network Outage.

 

Once Company confirms that a specific PVC does not comply with this SLG, Company will have thirty (30) calendar days to address the non-compliance and close the applicable Trouble Ticket without penalty. If the PVC continues to not meet this SLG after the 30-day period, the Customer may qualify for credits as specified in Section V. - Credit Structure.

 

9.      Service Installation:

 

Definition

Service Installation is defined as the period of time beginning on the date Company accepts a completed service order from the Customer for installation of new Frame Relay service located within the U.S. Mainland and ending on the date Company completes the installation of the service, so that the service is ready for the Customer’s use. To qualify for the guarantee, the access circuit and port must be ordered by Company and be physically located within the U.S. Mainland, with a speed less than or equal to a DS1/T1(1.536Mbps). Additionally, installation charges for the access circuit, port and PVCs must be paid by the Customer. Utilizing promotional offerings on installation charges will disqualify the Customer from this SLG.

 

Objective

For new Frame Relay service with access circuits of less than or equal to T1/DS1 bandwidth, the SLG for the installation interval is forty-five (45) business days.

 

Calculation

The SLG is calculated from the date Company accepts the Customer’s completed order for new Frame Relay Service through the date on which the service has been installed and the service is ready for Customer’s use.

 

10.  Enhanced Proactive Notification (EPN):

 

Definition

Enhanced Proactive Notification (EPN) is a Company service that provides the Customer with notification of a circuit outage. For the EPN SLG, the circuit outage will be defined as the lack of visibility to the circuit Link Management Indicator (LMI). After ten (10) consecutive minutes of circuit LMI loss, Company Operations will receive an alarm and will begin to attempt to resolve the outage and will notify the Customer within thirty (30) minutes of the alarm report.

 

In order to receive this EPN SLG, the Customer must subscribe to the Frame Relay Gold Service. The Frame Relay Gold Service and the Enhanced Proactive Notification SLG are not tariffed. Customers can sign-up by submitting a signed enrollment form for each circuit to be covered by the EPN SLG. EPN will only be provided on circuits enrolled in the Frame Relay Gold Service.  This EPN SLG applies to DS0 and T1/DS1 circuits in the U.S. Mainland.

 

Circuits not covered by the Frame Relay Gold Service will receive Standard Proactive Notification (SPN) which is a service objective only and not an SLG. Company does not provide any warranty protection to Customers who have products and services with SPN’s. Under the SPN objective, Company will notify the Customer within sixty (60) minutes following loss of LMI for ten (10) consecutive minutes. SPN is not backed by an SLG.

 

Objective

Access circuits enrolled in Frame Relay Gold Service will be closely monitored for loss of LMI. Once circuit LMI has been lost for ten (10) consecutive minutes, an alarm will notify Company Operations to attempt to resolve the issue and notify the Customer. Following the alarm, Company will have thirty (30) minutes to notify the Customer that their circuit is experiencing a Circuit outage (“Notification Period”).

 

Company will not be obligated to pay non-compliance credits when Company is unable to reach the Customer point of contact. See Section VI for a full list of exclusions.

 

Calculation

The Enhanced Proactive Notification SLG is calculated as follows: Once the ten (10) consecutive minute LMI loss alarm is reported, the Notification Period will begin and Company will have thirty (30) minutes to notify the Customer. Company Operations will notify the Customer point of contact as indicated on the Enhanced Proactive Notification enrollment form.

 

Should the Customer contact Company within the Notification Period and before Company has initiated a call to the Customer, Company will be deemed in compliance with the EPN SLG.

 

To request a non-compliance credit, the Customer must contact their Company account team within five (5) days of the circuit outage. The Customer must provide written documentation containing the following information when requesting the credit: the date the circuit outage occurred; the time the circuit outage began and ended; and the circuit ID(s) for each circuit(s) that did not receive notification within the EPN SLG time frame.

 

V.                  Credit Structure for Domestic and International Frame Relay

 

The non-compliance credit structure is based on monthly billing calculations. For any billing month in which Company fails to meet any one of the SLGs stated in this document (except for the Service Installation and Enhanced Proactive Notification SLGs), the following credit structure will be applied to the net Monthly Recurring Charges (MRC) across the Customer’s Frame Relay or Enterprise DSL access PVC(s) affected by the Network Outage(s). In addition to the PVC credit, when failure to meet any one of the PVC SLGs in this document is due to a Network Outage of the Customer port, that specific port will also qualify for a MRC credit. Port and PVC credits will follow the same credit structure as detailed below.

 

If Company fails to meet the Service Installation SLG, the Customer will receive a credit equal to 300% of one-time charges for installation of the access circuit, port and PVC, when these charges are assessed and paid. This credit will only apply to the specific access circuit and port in non-compliance.

 

If Company fails to meet the Enhanced Proactive Notification SLG, the Customer will receive a credit equal to three hundred per cent (300)% of the monthly recurring Frame Relay Gold Service charge on the applicable access circuit. This credit will only apply to the specific Frame Relay Gold Service access circuit in non-compliance. There is a limit of one credit per circuit in non-compliance per month. Company, in its sole discretion, shall determine whether it complied with any and all SLG’s and whether or not a credit is due Customer.

 

All credits will be provided at the Billing Account Number (BAN) level in one lump sum, as opposed to each individual circuit or all circuits under multiple BANs. Credits do not apply to local access or backhaul charges.

 

When requesting SLG calculations, the Customer may elect to receive verification on all of the SLGs offered in conjunction with their Frame Relay or Enterprise DSL access network.

 

Credit Limitation: If the Customer experiences network or service performance for Company Frame Relay at levels below those stated in the tariff for two or more SLGs (DDR, FDR, MTTR, Network Availability, NTD, Enterprise DSL access Core Network Availability, or Enterprise DSL access Core Network MTTR) in the same month, the Customer is entitled to receive credits pursuant to one of the applicable credit sections only.  In addition, Company will not issue credits pursuant to the SLG for more than six months in any 12-month period.

 

Consecutive Month(s) of Non-Compliance

Credit Structure

(% of affected Port and/or PVC MRCs)

The Customer will only receive credits for ONE Service Level Guarantee in a billing month.

 1st

25%

 2nd

50%

 3rd

100%

After 3rd month

100% or the Customer may terminate PVC without penalty

 

In the event that Company is unable to satisfy any one of the SLGs for one month, Company will provide a credit equal to 25% of the fixed rate for the monthly recurring port and/or PVC charge (for that specific port and/or PVC), after the application of discounts.  If Company does not meet the same SLG, Company will provide a 50% credit for the second consecutive month and a 100% credit for the third consecutive month. 

 

After the third consecutive month and any consecutive month thereafter of failure to meet the SLG, the Customer may elect to continue service for that port and/or PVC inclusive of the credit, or may discontinue the port and/or PVC without liability except for charges incurred prior to discontinuance of Service. In order to cancel the port and/or PVC, the Customer must submit a written disconnect notice to the Customer’s Company Account team within 30 days following the end of the third or subsequent consecutive month of failure to meet the SLG. After the third consecutive month, Company may terminate its performance obligations under this SLG.

 

Because MTTR and End-to-End Network Availability are two different ways of measuring the same interruption, Company will issue credit for the method which results in a greater rebate.  Company will only issue a credit for one SLG on the affected port and/or PVC within the same month.

 

The appropriate amount will be credited to the Customer’s account, appearing as a line item on a bill delivered within the two complete billing cycles following Company’s confirmation of non-compliance with the SLG.  When Company meets the SLG not met in the previous month(s), application of the credit structure will be reset.

 

VI. Events Beyond Control of Company

 

General Exclusions

The following exclusions apply to all SLGs contained in this document:

 

·         Any act or omission on the part of the Customer, its contractors or vendors, or any other entity over which the Customer exercises control or has the right to exercise control;

·         Labor strikes;

·         Natural disasters;

·         Scheduled maintenance on the part of the Customer, customer contractors or customer vendors;

·         Scheduled maintenance on the part of Company which are within Company’s maintenance windows;

·         Lapses of service associated with new installations (i.e. before new service acceptances by Customer);

·         Lapses of service that are not associated with Company provided service;

·         Lapses of service or performance issues related to Customer Premises Equipment (CPE); or

·         Force majeure events beyond the reasonable control of Company (including, but not limited to, acts of God, government regulation, and national emergency).

 

Enterprise DSL Access Exclusions

SLGs for Enterprise DSL access do not include the following:

 

·         Enterprise DSL access originating from any Standard or Enhanced International locations;

·         Enterprise DSL access Local Access Loop; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

Network Availability Exclusions

Network Availability measurements do not include periods of Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes: 

 

·         Enterprise DSL access Local Access Loop;

·         For Core Network Availability circuits, any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to any local access provider;

·         For End-to-End Network Availability (on-net) circuits, any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to any local access provider;

·         For End-to-End Network Availability (off-net) circuits, any act or omission on the part of any third party other than a local access provider; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

Mean Time To Repair Exclusions

The MTTR objective applies only in those cases in which the Customer informs Company of a Network Outage (i.e., opens a Trouble Ticket) and subsequently allows necessary access to its premises and facilities for testing.  MTTR measurements do not include the following:

 

·         Enterprise DSL access Local Access Loop;

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party, other than a local access provider;

·         Customer inquiry for circuit monitoring purposes only; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

Network Transit Delay Exclusions

 

·         Frames consisting of more than 200 bytes are not considered in calculating the NTD;

·         The NTD objective is suspended during periods in which a major network component (e.g., backbone link or gateway switch) is not functioning and the network is in an emergency reroute configuration;

·         Frames to or from Puerto Rico or Hawaii;

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to, any local access provider; or

·         Enterprise DSL access.

 

Data Delivery Ratio Exclusions

DDR measurements do not include any Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes:   

 

·         Frames dropped at infrastructure egress due to improper Customer specifications of Customer port speeds;

·         Frames which are not delivered due to problems unrelated to Company’s network including, but not limited to, local access;

·         Frames to or from Puerto Rico or Hawaii;

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to, any local access provider; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

Frame Delivery Ratio Exclusions

Frame Delivery Ratio measurements do not include any Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes:  

 

·         Frames dropped at infrastructure egress due to improper Customer specifications of Customer port speeds;

·         Frames which are not delivered due to problems unrelated to Company’s network including, but not limited to, local access;

·         Frames to or from Puerto Rico or Hawaii;

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to, any local access provider; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

Service Installation Exclusions

Service Installation measurements do not include the following:

 

·         Installations associated with the Enterprise DSL service;

·         Delays resulting from changes to a previously accepted service order by Customer, its agents or vendors;

·         Any promotional offerings on any installation fees for port, PVC or access;

·         A Customer-ordered installation date that is within the Service Installation Period;

·         Unavailability of Customer’s premises, equipment, or facilities required to install the service;

·         Delays attributed to extending the access circuit demarcation point;

·         Installations outside of the U.S. Mainland;

·         Delays due to causes beyond Company’s control;

·         Delays resulting from an order suspension due to credit issues involving the customer;

·         Delays resulting from inaccurate or incorrect order information from Customer.

 

Enhanced Proactive Notification SLG Exclusions

The SLG for Enhanced Proactive Notification does not include the following:

 

·         Circuits that are not enrolled in the Frame Relay Gold Service;

·         Service interruptions originating from the Customer’s premise that do not trigger loss of LMI;

·         Loss of LMI due to router failure;

·         Access circuits outside of the U.S. Mainland;

·         Service interworking circuits for Frame to IP and FRASI;

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission;

·         Catastrophic or Major events such as fiber cuts or network switch outages that effect multiple Customers;

·         Customer point of contact unavailable to receive notification;

·         Customer point of contact information (telephone, pager etc) incorrect or not operable.

 

Additional International Exclusions

Company further excludes SLGs for International Frame Relay service based on any Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes:

 

·         Virtual Points of Presence (VPOPs)

·         Network to Network Interface (NNI) Partners

·         Concert Frame Relay Service

Global Frame Relay Service Level Guarantee (SLG):

 

Global Frame Relay Service Level Guarantees (SLG) provide financial credits to customers in cases where the Company network fails to meet performance commitments. Unless otherwise specified, the Global Frame Relay SLG applies to Frame Relay Service located or originating in the U.S. Mainland, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam ordered by Customers on or after November 1, 2001, who: (i) commit to a service term of at least one year, and (ii) install service in at least five locations with their initial service order. 

 

The Global Frame Relay SLG also applies to customers who ordered services covering transport either within or originating in the U.S. prior to November 1, 2001 if their active contract references the Company tariff.

 

 Definitions of Terms

Terms used in this document are defined at the point of use and/or in the Terms and Definitions table at the end of the SLG document.

 

Coverage Categories:

The Company Service Level Guarantee commitments vary by access type, geographic location and outage type. These are defined as follows:

 

1.         Access Types

Type 1 Access:  

Circuits for which local access is furnished wholly via Company or Company-affiliate facilities or which are collocated with Company facilities.

 

Type 2 Access:

Circuits for which local access is furnished in part via Company or Company-affiliate facilities.

 

Type 3 Access:

Circuits for which local access is not furnished via Company or Company-affiliate facilities.  Economy Frame Relay circuits are considered Type 3 Access. 

 

2.         Geographic Location

The countries covered under the Global Frame Relay SLG are divided into four categories. The categories are as follows:

1.         US

Includes the U.S. Mainland and Hawaii. The state of Alaska is covered through a Frame Relay Extension agreement and excluded from the Global Frame Relay SLG.

2.         US Domestic

Restricted to the U.S. Mainland.

3.         Global Tier A

Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom

4.         Global Tier B

All of the Company On Net countries that are not covered in the US, US Domestic and Global Tier A categories.

 

Exclusions:

Hawaii and Puerto Rico are excluded from a sub-set of Service Level Guarantees.  Economy Frame Relay Service is also excluded from a sub-set of Service Level Guarantees. These are detailed in the Inclusions and Exclusions section of this document.

 

3.         Outage Types

a.         Hard Outage

A Hard Outage is defined as a service disruption or degradation that prohibits use of the service. The service level guarantees for End to End Network Availability and Mean Time to Repair apply to Hard Outages.

 

b.         Soft Outage

A Soft Outage is defined as a degradation of service where the customer can still use the service. The service level guarantee for Network Transit Delay is in the Soft Outage category.

 

Service Level Guarantees Defined:

There are two types of SLGs: Standard and Enhanced. The Standard SLGs are offered as a standard part of the frame relay product without charge. The Enhanced SLGs have to be purchased by the customer and have separate fees.

 

I.          The Standard SLGs Defined:

2.                  End to End Network Availability

 

Definition

End-to-End Network Availability is defined as the total number of minutes in a billing month during which a specific PVC route and local access are available to exchange data between the two Customer end points, divided by the total number of minutes in a billing month. The measure is calculated as the percentage of total time that the PVC is available within a month. The credit payment is determined by the minutes of down time.

 

Offering

SLG for U.S. and Global Tier Categories

Parameter

Access Type

U.S.

Global Tier A

Global Tier B

Economy FR

End-to-End Network Availability

Type 1

100%

100%

100%

NA

End-to-End Network Availability

Type 2 or 3

99.8%

99.8%

99.8%

99.7%

 

Calculation

End to End Network Availability is the percentage of time that the PVC is available within a given calendar month. End to End Network availability only applies to Hard Outages.

 

Monthly End-to-End Network Availability (%) =

 

(   1 Minus

Total minutes of PVC Network Outage per month    )

Days in month x 24 hours x 60 minutes

 

x 100

 

Credit Structure:

The credit is based on the number of minutes of down time. Sites with Type 1 access qualify for service credits at anything above zero minutes of down time within a calendar month. Sites with Type 2 and 3 access qualify for credits at 87 minutes of down time in a calendar month. The Company is within the 99.8% Network Availability commitment at up to 86 minutes of downtime for a 30-day month. Economy Frame Relay sites qualify for credits at 130 minutes of down time in a calendar month.  The Company is within the 99.7% Network Availability commitment at up to 129 minute of downtime for a 30 day month. 

 

2.         Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)

 

Definition

Mean Time To Repair is defined as the average time to restore service during a Network Outage. Mean Time to Repair only applies to Hard Outages.

 

Offering

Parameter

Access Type

U.S.

Global Tier A

Global Tier B

Economy FR

End-to-End Network MTTR

Type 1

2 Hours

4 Hours

4 Hours

NA

End-to-End Network MTTR

Type 2 or 3

4 Hours

5 Hours

8 Hours

6 Hours

 

Calculation

MTTR is a monthly average of the time taken to repair all Trouble Tickets on a specific service during a Network Outage. The length of each Network Outage on a specific service is totaled at the end of each billing month and divided by the corresponding number of Network Outages for that service. This is calculated from Trouble Tickets opened during that billing month.  MTTR per billing month is calculated for the service as follows:

 

Monthly Mean Time To Repair (Hrs.) =

 

             Cumulative length of Network Outage(s) per service                

Total number of Trouble Tickets per billing month per service

 

Credit Structure

The credit calculation is based on the average repair times for all network outages within a calendar month. Credits for Type 1 access sites start when the average MTTR equals 2 hours. Credits for Type 2 & 3 access sites start when the average MTTR reaches four hours.  Credits for Economy Frame Relay sites start with the average MTTR reaches six hours.

 

3.         Network Transit Delay (NTD)

 

Definition

Network Transit Delay is defined as the round trip delay between the origination and destination infrastructure ports. It is the period of time that elapses between (i) the transmission of the “ping” packet from the origination infrastructure port and (ii) the receipt of the “ping” packet by the destination infrastructure port, in both directions of a PVC. The Company NTD SLG matrix does not include the access loop in the calculations.

 

Offering

For frame packet sizes less than or equal to 200 bytes, including protocol overhead, The Company's SLG for the NTD is 120 milliseconds or less for the Domestic U.S. Frame Relay network. Sites outside of the U.S. Mainland are covered with specific country to country round trip transit delay measures. The NTD measures for transport between U.S. and Non U.S. locations are posted in the Network Transit Delay Matrix of this document.

 

External factors that may cause delay, such as access serialization delay and access link congestion are excluded from the measurement.

 

Customers are expected to open Trouble Tickets when the NTD issue first surfaces. The Company will work with the customer to confirm the network transit times, repair problems and insure the customer's applications are functioning. The NTD SLG gives the Company thirty (30) calendar days to repair the NTD issue prior to the customer qualifying for credits.

 

Calculation

 

The Company's network ping test calculate NTD by summing the elapsed time in milliseconds measured as a round trip from the origination and destination infrastructure ports in each direction of the PVC.

 

Customers can complete ping test prior to opening a trouble ticket. The Company may opt to use the customer's ping test as a benchmark for the repair actions.

 

The formal NTD calculation is:

 

NTD = (Point A to Point B NTD = t2 – t1) + (Point B to Point A NTD = t2 – t1)

 

Where:

                                    Point A is the Company origination infrastructure port

Point B is the Company destination infrastructure port

t1 is the time in milliseconds when a frame leaves the Ingress Reference Point (i.e., frame exit event)

t2 is the time in milliseconds when a frame arrives at the Egress Queue Output Reference Point  (i.e., frame entry event.)

 

Credit Structure

The Company will confirm that specific PVC does or does not comply with the NTD expectation. In cases of non-compliance, the Company has thirty (30) calendar days to address the non-compliance and close the applicable Trouble Ticket without penalty. If the PVC continues to not meet this SLG after the 30-day period, the Customer may qualify for credits.

 

Enhanced Service Level Guarantees Defined

 

1.         U.S. Domestic Service Installation Guarantee

 

Definition

Service Installation is the period of time between the date the Company accepts a complete installation order from the Customer for a new frame relay service located within the U.S. Mainland and the date the Company completes the installation of the service. A complete installation is defined as the point in the implementation where the customer can use the service. To qualify for the guarantee, the access circuit and port must be ordered by the Company and be physically located within the U.S. Mainland with a speed less than or equal to a DS1/T1 (1.536Mbps). The originating and terminating ports must be within the U.S. Mainland. The Customer must pay the installation charges for the access circuit, port and PVC. Utilization of promotional offerings on installation charges will disqualify the Customer from this SLG.

 

Offering

The SLG for Service Installation is forty-five days for new frame relay services with access circuits of less than or equal to T1/DS1 bandwidth.

 

Calculation

The SLG is calculated from the date the Company accepts the Customer’s order as complete for new frame relay service through the date on which the service has been installed and is ready for Customer’s use.

 

Credit Structure

The customer will receive a three hundred percent (300%) refund of their installation fees if the Company fails to install a circuit within 45 business days. Delays in installation related to customer actions, moves or scheduling difficulties are excluded from the installation interval calculation.

 

2.         Frame Gold Enhanced Proactive Notification (EPN)

 

Definition

Frame Gold Enhanced Proactive Notification (EPN) is a Company service that provides the Customer with notification of a circuit outage. For the EPN SLG, the circuit outage will be defined as the lack of visibility to the circuit Link Management Indicator (LMI). After ten (10) consecutive minutes of circuit LMI loss, the Company Operations Service and Support Proactive Notification (OSS-PN) Group will receive an alarm and will begin to attempt to resolve the outage and will notify the Customer within thirty (30) minutes of the alarm report.

 

Offering

The Customer must subscribe to the Frame Relay Gold Service in order to receive the EPN SLG. Customers can sign-up by submitting a signed enrollment form for each circuit to be covered by the EPN SLG. EPN will only be provided on circuits enrolled in the Frame Relay Gold Service. This EPN SLG applies to DS0 and T1/DS1 circuits in the U.S. Mainland.

 

e                                              Access circuits enrolled in the Frame Relay Gold Service will be closely monitored for loss of LMI. Once circuit LMI has been lost for ten (10) consecutive minutes, an alarm will notify the Company OSS-PN group to attempt to resolve the issue and notify the Customer. Following the alarm, the OSS-PN group will have thirty (30) minutes to notify the Customer that their circuit is experiencing a Circuit outage (“Notification Period”).

 

The Company will not be obligated to pay non-compliance credits when the OSS-PN group is unable to reach the Customer point of contact.

 

Calculation

The Notification Period begins after the ten (10) consecutive minute LMI loss alarm is reported. The Company has thirty (30) minutes to notify the customer from the start point of the Notification Period. The Company OSS-PN group will notify the Customer point of contact as indicated on the Enhanced Proactive Notification enrollment form.

 

Should the Customer contact the OSS-PN group within the Notification Period and before the OSS-PN group has initiated a call to the Customer, the Company will be deemed in compliance with the EPN SLG.

 

Credit Structure

The customer will receive a credit equal to three hundred percent (300%) of the monthly recurring (MRR) Frame Gold Service charge on the applicable access circuit. There is a limit of one credit per circuit in non-compliance per month.

 

Qualifications:

Credit Application Structure

The SLG credits are taken against the monthly recurring charges (MRR) for the port and/or PVC(s). The credits can be applied against PVC and/or Port charges as dictated by the outage type, either Hard or Soft. The credits are not cumulative month to month meaning the same schedule applies for each consecutive month should the outage exceed 30 days. The total credits within any one-month for the Standard SLGs is limited to a maximum of 40% of the MRR for Port and PVC(s).  The Enhanced SLGs have unique credit maximums.

 

Customers are required to open a Trouble Ticket with the Company Customer Service Center at the time the service difficulty develops in order for the outage to qualify for an SLG credit. The Company, in its sole discretion, shall determine whether it complied with any and all SLGs and whether or not a credit is due to the customer. The Company commits to crediting the customer's account within 90 days following confirmation of non-compliance with the SLG.

 

Trouble Ticket and Credit Request by Service Level Guarantee

a.         End To End Network Availability

Customer opens a Trouble Ticket within 72 hours of the outage.

Customer submits SLG credit request to the Company account team in writing within 15 days of opening the Trouble Ticket.

The written request must contain the following information:

-  The date the outage occurred.

-  The time the outage began and ended.

-  The Circuit ID(s) for each circuit(s) that was impacted.

 

b.         Mean Time to Repair

Customer opens Trouble Ticket within 72 hours of the outage.

Customer submits SLG credit request to the Company account team in writing within 15 days of opening the Trouble Ticket.

The written request must contain the following information:

-  The date the outage occurred.

-  The time the outage began and ended.

-  The Circuit ID(s) for each circuit(s) that was impacted.

 

c.         Network Transit Delay

Customer opens Trouble Ticket within 72 hours of the time the NTD issue impacts the customer

Customer submits the SLG credit request to the Company account team in writing within 15 days of the end of the repair period.

The written request must contain the following information:

-  The date the outage occurred.

-  The time the outage began and ended.

-  The Circuit ID(s) for each circuit(s) that was impacted.

 

d.         US Domestic Service Installation

Customer must report the delay in service installation to the appropriate customer service center when the target date is missed.

Customer then needs to make a request in writing (e-mail or fax) for a credit from the Company account team within fifteen (15) days of the date that the Company completes the installation of the circuit. 

The customer must document the following information when requesting the credit:

-        The circuit identifier

-        The date the circuit should have been installed

-        The date the circuit was installed

-        The date that the service installation period began

-        The date specified for installation by the customer

-        The customer contact information. 

 

e.         Frame Gold Enhanced Proactive Notification (EPN)

The customer must request the service level guarantee credit in writing from the Company account team within 15 days of the service outage.

The written documentation must contain the following:

-     The date the circuit outage occurred

-     The time the circuit outage began and ended

-     The circuit ID(s) for each circuit(s) that did not receive notification within the EPN SLG time frame.

 

Credits

A.         Credit Tables by Outage Type

The credits vary by location, access type and length of outage.

 

1.         Hard Outage Tables

 

Network Availability

Credit as a % of MRR

 

 

Network Down Time

U.S, Global Tier A& B

U.S., Global Tier A

Global Tier B

From  Minutes

To Minutes

Type 1

Type 2 or 3

Type 2 or 3

0

86

10%

0%

0%

87

120

15%

10%

5%

121

240

20%

10%

5%

241

360

25%

15%

10%

361

640

30%

20%

10%

641

720

30%

20%

10%

> 720

 

30%

20%

10%

 

Mean Time to Repair

Credit as a % of MRR

Network Outage to Repair Time

U.S, Global Tier A& B

U.S.,            Global Tier A

Global Tier B

From                   Hour:Min: Sec

To             Hour:Min:Sec

Type 1

Type 2 or 3

Type 2 or 3

2:00:00

3:59:59

4%

0%

0%

4:00:00

4:59:59

4%

0%

0%

5:00:00

7:59:59

10%

4%

0%

8:00:00

11:59:59

10%

4%

4%

12 Plus

 

10%

4%

4%

 

 

2.         Soft Outage Table

Soft Outage

 

For violations of:

Credit as a % of MRR

Latency

20%

 

Determining the PVC Metric by Access Type

The combination of the origination and termination point of the PVC determines the access type category. PVCs that originate from a Type 1 facility and terminate on either a Type 2 or Type 3 facility are classified as Type 2 or 3 access and qualify for the associated Type 2 or 3 SLG metrics. 

 

Inclusions and Exclusions

 

I.          Inclusions

The Global Frame Relay SLG covers the following Company Frame Relay services:

a.         Domestic Frame Relay for all standard speeds.

b.         Domestic Metro Frame Relay

c.         International Frame Relay defined as frame relay services that originate in the U.S. and terminate outside of the U.S.

 

The Global Frame Relay SLG includes the following products and regions:

a.         Frame relay services with origination and termination within the U.S. Mainland and Hawaii.

b.         Frame relay transport that originates within the U.S. Mainland and Hawaii and terminates outside of the U.S.

c.         Access Types 1, 2 and 3 for Frame Relay.

d.         Frame relay transport performance for Frame Relay Managed Services customers.

 

II.          Exclusions

1.         Product and Region Exclusions

a.         FRASI: Frame Relay to ATM Interworking between or within On Net countries is excluded. 

b.         Frame Relay Extension (FRE): Frame Relay sites supported through network to network interface partnerships are excluded. The SLG and best effort measures for the FRE sites are covered under a separate document.

c.         Managed Services for Frame Relay and/or ATM are excluded from this document but captured in the Managed Services SLG.        

d.         ISDN access within the United States.

e.         DSL and ISDN access outside of the United States.

f.          Customer-Provided Access: Access lines purchased by the customer through a provider other than Company and billed directly to the customer are excluded from this SLG. 

g.         Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) associated with the Frame Relay service that is not part of a Managed Services contract.

 

2.         General Exclusions

The following exclusions apply to all Service Level Guarantees contained in this document:

·         Any act or omission on the part of the Customer, its contractors or vendors, or any other entity over which the Customer exercises control or has the right to exercise control;

·         Labor strikes;

·         Natural disasters;

·         Scheduled maintenance on the part of the Customer, customer contractors or customer vendors;

·         Scheduled maintenance on the part of the Company which are within the Company's maintenance windows;

·         Lapses of service associated with new installations (i.e. before new service acceptances by Customer);

·         Lapses of service that are not associated with the Company provided service;

·         Lapses of service or performance issues related to Customer Premises Equipment (CPE); or

·         Force majeure events beyond the reasonable control of the Company (including, but not limited to, acts of God, government regulation, acts of domestic and/or international terrorism, and national emergency).

 

3.         Network Availability Exclusions

Network Availability measurements do not include periods of Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes: 

·         For End-to-End Network Availability for Type 1 access circuits, any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to any local access provider;

·         For End-to-End Network Availability for Type 2 or 3 circuits, any act or omission on the part of any third party other than a local access provider; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

4.         Mean Time To Repair Exclusions

The MTTR objective applies only in those cases in which the Customer informs the Company of a Network Outage (i.e., opens a Trouble Ticket) and subsequently allows necessary access to its premises and facilities for testing.  MTTR measurements do not include the following:

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party, other than a local access provider;

·         Customer inquiry for circuit monitoring purposes only; or

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission.

 

5.         Network Transit Delay Exclusions

·         Frames consisting of more than 200 bytes are not considered in calculating the NTD;

·         Frames originating or terminating on an Economy Frame Relay port;

·         The NTD objective is suspended during periods in which a major network component (e.g., backbone link or gateway switch) is not functioning and the network is in an emergency reroute configuration;

·         Frames to or from Puerto Rico or Hawaii;

·         Any act or omission on the part of any third party including, but not limited to, any local access provider.

 

6.         Domestic Service Installation Exclusions

Service Installation measurements do not include the following:

·         Delays resulting from changes to a previously accepted service order by Customer, its agents or vendors;

·         Any promotional offerings on any installation fees for port, PVC or access;

·         A Customer-ordered installation date that is within the Service Installation Period;

·         Unavailability of Customer’s premises, equipment, or facilities required to install the service;

·         Delays attributed to extending the access circuit demarcation point;

·         Installations outside of the U.S. Mainland;

·         Delays due to causes beyond the Company's control;

·         Delays resulting from an order suspension due to credit issues involving the customer;

·         Delays resulting from inaccurate or incorrect order information from Customer; 

·         Economy Frame Relay Ports and Economy PVCs.

 

7.         Frame Gold Enhanced Proactive Notification SLG Exclusions

The SLG for Enhanced Proactive Notification does not include the following:

·         Circuits that are not enrolled in the Frame Relay Gold Service;

·         Circuits that originate or terminate on Economy Frame Relay ports;

·         Service interruptions originating from the Customer’s premise that do not trigger loss of LMI;

·         Loss of LMI due to router failure;

·         Access circuits outside of the U.S. Mainland;

·         Service interworking circuits for Frame to IP and FRASI;

·         Periods of service degradation, such as slow data transmission;

·         Catastrophic or Major events such as fiber cuts or network switch outages that effect multiple Customers.

·          Customer point of contact unavailable to receive notification;

·         Customer point of contact information (telephone, pager etc) incorrect or not operable.

 

8.         Additional International Exclusions

The Company further excludes SLGs for International Frame Relay service based on any Network Outage resulting in whole or in part from one or more of the following causes:

·         Virtual Points of Presence (VPOPs)

·         Network to Network Interface (NNI) Partners

·         Concert Frame Relay Service

 

 Network Transit Delay Matrix for U.S. and U.S. to Non U.S. Transport:

 

Process for Determining the Round Trip Network Transit Delay:

The NTD SLGs is based on the geographic distance between existing trunk end points and a distance per mile packet measure.

 

For example, the NTD from the United States to Germany is based on the miles between a central trunk in the US and a central trunk in Germany. It is not based on the shortest distance between the U.S. and Germany. The transit delay measures in this matrix are expected to be worst case delays. External factors such as access serialization delay and access link congestion, which may cause delay, are excluded from the measurement.

 

Round Trip Network Transit Delay Matrix for U.S. to Non U.S. Locations

 

Country

 

Argentina                           314

Australia                            362

Austria                               304

Belgium                             281

Brazil                                 299

Canada                             230

Chile                                  296

Colombia                           203

Czech Republic                305

Denmark                           287

France                               288

Germany                           304

Greece                              337

Hong Kong                        294

Hungary                             312

Indonesia                           340

Ireland                               271

Israel                                 358

Italy                                    284

Japan                                257

Korea, Republic of            263

Malaysia                            331

Mexico                               170

Monaco                             303

Netherlands                       273

New Zealand                     377

Peru                                  232

Philippines                         313

Puerto Rico                       202

Russia                               334

Singapore                          338                                   

Spain                                 291

Sweden                             308

Switzerland                       296

Taiwan                              352

United Kingdom                270

United States                    120

Venezuela                         203

 

Terms and Definitions Table

 

Terms and Definitions

Definition

Access Link Congestion

Congestion on the local access link, which runs between the customer's premises and the Company's POP.

Access Serialization Delay

Delays in the local tail component of the transport related to the process of changing the transmission from parallel-by-byte to serial-by-bit.

Access Type 1

Circuits for which local access is furnished wholly via Company or Company-affiliate facilities or which are collocated with Company facilities.

Access Type 2

Circuits for which local access is furnished in part via Company or Company-affiliate facilities.

Access Type 3

Circuits for which local access is not furnished via Company or Company-affiliate facilities.

Business Days

Monday through Friday in normal working hours which are usually 8AM to 5PM in any time zone.

Calendar Month

The days in any month from the first day to the last day. Varies from 28 days to 31 days depending on the month.

Circuit Ids

The code (numbers and letters) used to identify the circuits in the system. These are contained on the customer's invoice along with the circuit charges.

Credit Request

Written request for a service level guarantee credit sent by the customer to the Company account team either through fax or e-mail

Customer Provided Access

Local access line that the customer arranges for with a local provider. The local provider bills the customer directly.

Customer Service Center

Service centers where customers call in to report service issues.

Egress queue

The order in which the frame packets exit the Company's network.

End to End Network Availability

The total number of minutes within a billing month during which a specific PVC route and local access are available to exchange data between two customer end points divided by the total number of minutes in a billing month.

Enhanced Proactive Notification

Part of the Frame Gold product where the Company will notify the customer of a loss of Link Management Indicator (LMI) within an established time period.

Enhanced Service Level Guarantees

Service Level Guarantees that the customer can purchase for additional service fees.

EPN

Enhanced Proactive Notification

Financial Credits

These are the monetary credits the customer receives when the Company fails to meet the service level guarantee performance commitment. The credits are deducted from the customer's invoice in dollars.

Frame Relay Extension

Frame relay services through sites where the Company partners with another regional provider. The Company does not own these geographic points of presence.

Frame Relay Gold

Network management product offered by the Company.

Global Tier A

One of the four categories of countries defined by a unique set of service commitments.

Global Tier B

One of the four categories of countries defined by a unique set of service commitments.

Hard Outage

Complete loss of service where the customer can not use the service and is prepared to release it for immediate testing.

International Frame Relay

Frame relay service sites outside of the United States.

Link Management Indicator

 

LMI

Link Management Indicator

Mean Time to Repair

The time required to repair the service difficulty from the point the service desk is notified until the point where the service is restored. Mean Time to Repair is measure in Hours, minutes and seconds.

Metro Frame Relay

 

Monthly Recurring Rate (charges)

This is the monthly charge per service component.

MRR

Monthly Recurring Rate or Monthly Recurring Charges.

Network Outage

Service disruption or degradation. Network Outages are classified as either hard or soft outages.

Network Transit Delay

The time required for a single frame packet set up as a ping text to travel round trip between an origination point to a destination point and return to the origination point.

On Net

Frame relay service on the Company geographic points of presence where Company has full ownership.

OSS-PN

Operations Service and Support Proactive Notification Group.

Operations Service and Support Proactive Notification Group

Company group responsible for notifying Frame Gold customers about outages.

Option 1 Frame Relay

Frame relay service on the U.S. Lucent_ Ascend service with or without services on the Company international network.

Option 2 Frame Relay

Frame relay service on the U.S. Bay-Lucent (Ascend) network with or without the Company international network.

Permanent Virtual Circuit(s)

A virtual circuit that provides the equivalent of a dedicated private line service over a packet switching network between two DTEs (Data Terminal Equipment) The path between the two users is fixed.

Port

An entrance to and/or exit from a network.

Protocol overhead

Information such as control, routing and error-checking characters, that is in addition to the user-transmitted data.

PVC(s)

Permanent Virtual Circuit(s)

Round Trip

Transit measurements across a network link that starts and the origination point, extends to a termination point and then comes back to the origination point.

Service

The term service refers to the access line, port and PVC components of the Frame Relay service.

Service Installation Guarantee

Service performance commitments made by the Company to the Customer which carry credits in cases where the network transport does not meet the commitment levels.

Service Installation Period

The time from when the Company accepts an order for new service as complete to the time the circuit is ready for the customer's use.

Service Level Guarantee

A series of performance commitments made by the Company to the Customer.

SLG

Service Level Guarantee

Soft Outage

A degradation of service where the customer is able to use the service and is not prepared to release the service for immediate testing.

Standard Service Level Guarantees

End to End Network Availability, Mean Time To Repair and Network Transit Delay.

Trouble Ticket

The result of reporting by a Customer to Company of either a perceived service outage or service degradation.

U.S. Domestic

U.S. Mainland

U.S. Domestic Service Installation

A service level guarantee that commits the Company to a set number of days for completing the installation of a circuit in the U.S. Mainland.