Jan, 2002 : Worldport Poses SLA Challenge to UK Hosts
📅 - UK businesses are being let down by their outsourced Web hosting and managed services suppliers, with Service Level Agreementsfailing to offer the protection and compensation they deserve, Worldport(wrdp.com) said in a statement yesterday.
More than ever, in the present economic climate, firms need assurance thattheir outsourced Internet presence is safe, secure and stable. Yet accordingto recent research published in The Yankee Group's Global Network StrategiesSurvey, only a few companies are very satisfied with their current managedhosting service SLA.
To combat this, Worldport, a UK managed Internet applications provider,today launched a "quality mark" dedicated to ensuring customer peace of mindand challenged competitors to match up to its promise.
Worldport's new "Hostmark" will be offered from today to clients as proof totheir customers of the reliability of their offering. It will provide acommitment that the site is protected against what the company calls the"CSD virus" - the threat of excessive Cost, failed Security and Downtime -and will be backed by a money back guarantee to the customer if Worldportfails to deliver. The Hostmark also ensures transparency in the agreement,as Worldport will openly tell its customers when there is an issue overtheir site, rather than respond only when the customer complains.
Nicholas Jeffery, COO at Worldport, said, "By offering the Hostmarkguarantee, we are differentiating our customers' sites in the eyes ofconsumers - they will have confidence in using a site backed by the mark.And we are offering our customers a simple proposition - the service levelyou expect, or we pay."
Worldport's confidence in delivering on its SLA is based on the operation ofits IDC in Slough. Since it was opened in Jan. 2001, it performed with 100percent network, bandwidth, and mechanical and electrical infrastructureavailability.
The following areas are covered by the Worldport SLA:
Time to Install - During the bid process, all customers will receivea guaranteed estimate of the number of business days that Worldport willrequire to complete the installation of their solution. In the event thatWorldport does not meet this installation deadline, Worldport will creditthe customer with a sum equal to 50% of the total installation charge.Power Availability - For managed services customers whose equipmenthas dual power supplies, any power outage of up to 10 consecutive minuteswill result in Worldport providing the customer with a credit equal to threedays worth of the total monthly charges for their solution. For poweroutages of over 10 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit the customerwith seven days worth of monthly charges. For those Worldport managedservices customers who have only a single power supply, Worldport offers theequivalent of three days worth of charges for power outages of between 30minutes and 3 consecutive hours, and seven days worth of charges for poweroutages greater than 3 consecutive hours.Network Availability - In the event of a network outage of up to and5 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit customers with dual networkconnectivity with an amount equal to three days worth of charges. Fornetwork outages of more than 5 consecutive minutes, Worldport will creditthe customer with the equivalent of seven days worth of charges for theirsolution. In the event of a network outage of between 5 and 20 consecutiveminutes, Worldport will credit customers with single network connectivitywith an amount equal to three days worth of charges. For network outages ofmore than 20 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit the customer withseven days worth of charges.Network Latency - The average monthly delay for Internet packetsoriginating in any Worldport data centre should not exceed 70ms for around-trip to any other European point of presence and 120ms onTrans-Atlantic routes. In the event that Worldport does not achieve theseaverage delay figures for a particular month, Worldport will credit thecustomer with an amount equal to seven days worth of charges.Incident Management - Customers will be notified by telephone as afirst point of contact, and by e-mail as a secondary point of contact,within thirty minutes of a Severity Level 1 or Severity Level 2 issue beingidentified by Worldport. Once the issue is logged, the Worldport CustomerTechnical Services team will respond within two hours to describe the natureof the problem and an estimate time to repair. In the event that theWorldport Customer Technical Services team fail to notify the customer of aSeverity Level 1 or Severity Level 2 issue within thirty minutes of theproblem being detected, Worldport will credit the customer with an amountequal to the value of one day worth of charges. If the customer determinesthat Worldport Customer Technical Services did not follow up with a SeverityLevel 1 or Severity Level 2 issue for more than two consecutive hours duringany calendar month, Worldport will credit the customer with an amount equalto two days worth of charges for their solution.Hardware Availability - Worldport offers guaranteed levels ofavailability for all supported hardware, guaranteeing to repair or replaceany faulty hardware within 3.5 hours. In the event that Worldport does notrepair or replace the hardware device within that time, Worldport willcredit the customer with an amount equal to three days worth of charges fortheir solution. If that hardware device remains unavailable for more than 7consecutive hours during any calendar month, Worldport will credit thecustomer with an amount equal to seven days worth of charges for theirsolution.
More than ever, in the present economic climate, firms need assurance thattheir outsourced Internet presence is safe, secure and stable. Yet accordingto recent research published in The Yankee Group's Global Network StrategiesSurvey, only a few companies are very satisfied with their current managedhosting service SLA.
To combat this, Worldport, a UK managed Internet applications provider,today launched a "quality mark" dedicated to ensuring customer peace of mindand challenged competitors to match up to its promise.
Worldport's new "Hostmark" will be offered from today to clients as proof totheir customers of the reliability of their offering. It will provide acommitment that the site is protected against what the company calls the"CSD virus" - the threat of excessive Cost, failed Security and Downtime -and will be backed by a money back guarantee to the customer if Worldportfails to deliver. The Hostmark also ensures transparency in the agreement,as Worldport will openly tell its customers when there is an issue overtheir site, rather than respond only when the customer complains.
Nicholas Jeffery, COO at Worldport, said, "By offering the Hostmarkguarantee, we are differentiating our customers' sites in the eyes ofconsumers - they will have confidence in using a site backed by the mark.And we are offering our customers a simple proposition - the service levelyou expect, or we pay."
Worldport's confidence in delivering on its SLA is based on the operation ofits IDC in Slough. Since it was opened in Jan. 2001, it performed with 100percent network, bandwidth, and mechanical and electrical infrastructureavailability.
The following areas are covered by the Worldport SLA:
Time to Install - During the bid process, all customers will receivea guaranteed estimate of the number of business days that Worldport willrequire to complete the installation of their solution. In the event thatWorldport does not meet this installation deadline, Worldport will creditthe customer with a sum equal to 50% of the total installation charge.Power Availability - For managed services customers whose equipmenthas dual power supplies, any power outage of up to 10 consecutive minuteswill result in Worldport providing the customer with a credit equal to threedays worth of the total monthly charges for their solution. For poweroutages of over 10 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit the customerwith seven days worth of monthly charges. For those Worldport managedservices customers who have only a single power supply, Worldport offers theequivalent of three days worth of charges for power outages of between 30minutes and 3 consecutive hours, and seven days worth of charges for poweroutages greater than 3 consecutive hours.Network Availability - In the event of a network outage of up to and5 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit customers with dual networkconnectivity with an amount equal to three days worth of charges. Fornetwork outages of more than 5 consecutive minutes, Worldport will creditthe customer with the equivalent of seven days worth of charges for theirsolution. In the event of a network outage of between 5 and 20 consecutiveminutes, Worldport will credit customers with single network connectivitywith an amount equal to three days worth of charges. For network outages ofmore than 20 consecutive minutes, Worldport will credit the customer withseven days worth of charges.Network Latency - The average monthly delay for Internet packetsoriginating in any Worldport data centre should not exceed 70ms for around-trip to any other European point of presence and 120ms onTrans-Atlantic routes. In the event that Worldport does not achieve theseaverage delay figures for a particular month, Worldport will credit thecustomer with an amount equal to seven days worth of charges.Incident Management - Customers will be notified by telephone as afirst point of contact, and by e-mail as a secondary point of contact,within thirty minutes of a Severity Level 1 or Severity Level 2 issue beingidentified by Worldport. Once the issue is logged, the Worldport CustomerTechnical Services team will respond within two hours to describe the natureof the problem and an estimate time to repair. In the event that theWorldport Customer Technical Services team fail to notify the customer of aSeverity Level 1 or Severity Level 2 issue within thirty minutes of theproblem being detected, Worldport will credit the customer with an amountequal to the value of one day worth of charges. If the customer determinesthat Worldport Customer Technical Services did not follow up with a SeverityLevel 1 or Severity Level 2 issue for more than two consecutive hours duringany calendar month, Worldport will credit the customer with an amount equalto two days worth of charges for their solution.Hardware Availability - Worldport offers guaranteed levels ofavailability for all supported hardware, guaranteeing to repair or replaceany faulty hardware within 3.5 hours. In the event that Worldport does notrepair or replace the hardware device within that time, Worldport willcredit the customer with an amount equal to three days worth of charges fortheir solution. If that hardware device remains unavailable for more than 7consecutive hours during any calendar month, Worldport will credit thecustomer with an amount equal to seven days worth of charges for theirsolution.
Reads: 1361 | Category: General | Source: TheWHIR : Web Host Industry Reviews
URL source: http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/uk012902.cfm
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