ISM guarantees that in the event of a dedicated server hardware failure, the faulty hardware will be replaced within 4 hours of identifying the problem. In the event that this guarantee is not met, ISM will issue credit in the amount of 5 times the amount of actual downtime. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This guarantee does not include the time it requires to perform additional software related maintenance, including rebuilding web accounts from backups, cloning hard drives, reloading the operating system, reloading and configuring applications, or rebuilding RAID arrays.

ISM guarantees network uptime to be 99.9%. This guarantee assures that all major routing devices within our network are reachable from the global internet 99.9% of the time.

Many possible situations are completely beyond the control of ISM, and therefore are not in the scope of this SLA. These situations include:

• Scheduled Network Maintenance – occasionally network maintenance will be required. ISM will do everything possible to minimize and avoid downtime during this maintenance. You will receive prior notification of upcoming maintenance at the e-mail address we have on file. Scheduled maintenance periods are not eligible for SLA credits. Notification will be sent within 5 business days prior to scheduled maintenance being performed.
• Hardware Maintenance – on rare occasions, the hardware in your Server may need maintenance or replacement. ISM will do everything possible to minimize any downtime in these situations per our hardware replacement SLA. Any downtime incurred as a result of this maintenance will not be counted towards our network SLA.
• Software Maintenance – an important part of managing a dedicated server is keeping the software up to date. If you choose to have ISM manage your server, occasional software updates will be required to address security or performance issues. Usually you will experience little or no downtime in these situations, but we cannot guarantee a specific amount of time in all situations.
• Malicious Attacks – if a third party not associated with ISM initiates a “Denial of Service” or other form of disabling attack against your Dedicated Server or major portions of our network, ISM will do everything in its power to stop the attack, but cannot guarantee a resolution time.
• Legal Actions – In the case that a legal action is taken against a customer of ISM and ISM is required to act in accordance with the order, ISM shall not be responsible for any SLA damages.

In the event that ISM does not meet this SLA, Dedicated Hosting clients will become eligible to request compensation for downtime reported by service monitoring logs. If ISM is or is not directly responsible for causing the downtime, the customer will receive a credit for 5 times ( 500% ) the actual amount of downtime. This means that if your server is unreachable for 1 hour (beyond the 0.5% allowed), you will receive 5 hours of credit.

All requests for compensation must be received within 5 business days of the incident in question. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This SLA does not apply for any month that the customer has been in breach of ISM Terms of Service or if the account is in default of payment.

ISM’s core-managed customers are covered by three types of initial response time guarantees:

• Help Desk Initial Response Time Guarantee: 45 minutes
• Phone Answer Time Guarantee: Monday – Friday, 8 AM – 5 PM PT, 90 Seconds
• Email Help Desk Response Time: 15 Minutes

The Help Desk Initial Response Time Guarantee (45 Minutes)

That means that when you submit a trouble ticket via our help desk system you are guaranteed a response from a Super Support® technician within forty-five minutes or sooner. If ISM fails to respond within forty-five minutes, you will be credited 5 times the amount of time exceeding our SLA commitment. That means that if your ticket goes 1 hour past our stated initial response time guarantee, your account will receive a 5-hour hosting credit.

Phone Answer Time Guarantee (90 Seconds) Monday – Friday, 8 AM – 5 PM PT

We guarantee that an ISM Agent will answer your phone call within 90 seconds from the time you select the department you wish to speak with. If ISM fails to respond within ninety (90) seconds, you will be credited 5 times the amount of time exceeding our SLA commitment. That means that if your phone call goes 12 minutes past our stated initial response time guarantee, your account will receive a 1-hour hosting credit.

All requests for compensation must be received within 5 business days of the incident in question. The amount of compensation may not exceed the customer’s monthly recurring charge. This SLA does not apply for any month that the customer has been in breach of ISM Terms of Service or if the account is in default of payment. Duplication of SLA compensation is not allowed. Only one SLA credit may be given per incident. For example: if a network outage SLA event and a phone SLA event happen simultaneously. SLA compensation will only be given for one of the events.

ISM utilizes some third party services to provide responses to customers. These include, but are not limited to, our LiveChat system. If a third-party system’s failure prevents ISM from honoring the Response Time SLA requirements the SLA event will be ineligible for compensation.

ISM technicians are available 24 hours a day.

There are a number of ways to reach us, including toll free phone support and e-mail.

• Phone – 877-496-5350 (503-496-5350 International)
• E-mail – support@myismcloud.com