Shared SMTP Service Level Agreement

This Shared SMTP Service Level Agreement ("SLA") forms part of the Layer 9 Solutions SMTP Service Terms of Use.

It applies only to the Shared SMTP Service unless Layer 9 Solutions expressly agrees otherwise in writing.

It does not automatically apply to Dedicated SMTP or White-Label Services.

1. Service Commitment

Layer 9 Solutions commits to a Monthly Uptime Percentage of at least 99.5% for the Shared SMTP Service.

This SLA covers availability of the core Shared SMTP submission service and any additional endpoint expressly designated by Layer 9 Solutions as SLA-covered.

It is an availability commitment, not a guarantee of email delivery or inbox placement.

2. Definitions

Availability

"Availability" means that the applicable core Shared SMTP Service is operational and capable of accepting properly authenticated and technically valid submissions from Customers.

Downtime

"Downtime" means a period during which the SLA-covered Shared SMTP Service is materially unavailable because of a failure affecting the Service.

Monthly Uptime Percentage

"Monthly Uptime Percentage" is calculated as:

(Eligible Service Minutes − Downtime Minutes) ÷ Eligible Service Minutes × 100

Scheduled Maintenance

"Scheduled Maintenance" means planned maintenance for which Layer 9 Solutions provides reasonable advance notice.

Emergency Maintenance

"Emergency Maintenance" means urgent work required to address a serious security, service, data-integrity, network, or infrastructure risk.

Service Credit

"Service Credit" means a credit applied against a future invoice in accordance with this SLA.

3. Measurement

Layer 9 Solutions will primarily use its own monitoring systems, platform logs, and infrastructure records to determine availability.

Availability may be monitored using regular service checks, including checks performed at approximately five-minute intervals.

Where Customer evidence reasonably indicates an outage not reflected by our primary monitoring, we will review available evidence in good faith.

4. Service Credits

Where Monthly Uptime Percentage falls below 99.5%, the affected Customer may qualify for:

The percentage applies only to the recurring fee attributable to the affected Shared SMTP Service for the affected month.

The maximum Service Credit for any month is 50% of that month's recurring fee for the affected Shared SMTP Service.

5. Charges Not Included in Credits

Service Credits do not apply to:

• taxes;
• additional usage;
• overage;
• one-off work;
• setup work;
• optional professional services;
• unrelated products or Services; or
• charges not attributable to the affected Shared SMTP Service.

6. Requesting a Service Credit

A claim must be submitted within 30 days after the end of the calendar month in which the outage occurred.

The claim should include:

• the affected Service;
• approximate date and time;
• duration where known;
• symptoms or error messages;
• business impact; and
• any relevant logs or evidence reasonably available.

Layer 9 Solutions may request additional information reasonably required to verify the claim.

7. Application of Credits

Approved Service Credits:

• are applied to a future invoice;
• have no cash value;
• are not transferable;
• cannot be exchanged for cash; and
• cannot create a cash balance owed to the Customer.

Service Credits are the Customer's sole contractual SLA remedy for failure to meet the availability commitment itself.

This does not limit liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or any separate right arising from matters other than the SLA availability commitment.

8. Scheduled Maintenance

Scheduled Maintenance is excluded from Downtime where reasonable advance notice is provided.

Layer 9 Solutions will normally aim to provide at least 24 hours' notice where planned work is expected to cause material interruption.

We will use reasonable efforts to minimise disruptive maintenance.

9. Emergency Maintenance

Emergency Maintenance is excluded from Downtime where urgent action is reasonably necessary to:

• address a critical vulnerability;
• contain an attack;
• prevent data loss;
• repair an imminent or actual infrastructure failure;
• prevent material service damage; or
• protect customers or network integrity.

Emergency Maintenance may occur without prior notice.

10. Customer-Caused Issues

The SLA does not apply to failures caused by:

• Customer applications;
• Customer devices;
• Customer networks;
• Customer firewalls;
• Customer DNS;
• invalid credentials;
• incorrect configuration;
• unsupported connection methods; or
• another system under the Customer's control.

11. Recipient and External Mail Systems

The SLA does not apply to:

• recipient-server rejection;
• recipient throttling;
• greylisting;
• spam filtering;
• junk-folder placement;
• destination-domain problems;
• mailbox-provider outages;
• recipient blocklists; or
• other events occurring after the Layer 9 Solutions Service has successfully processed the submission.

An email not reaching an intended inbox does not itself constitute Service Downtime.

12. General Internet Failures

Failures in the Customer's internet connection or in third-party networks that do not make the Layer 9 Solutions Shared SMTP Service itself unavailable are excluded.

A failure by a Layer 9 Solutions infrastructure supplier is not automatically excluded merely because the supplier is a third party.

If such a failure causes the covered Shared SMTP Service itself to be unavailable, it may count as Downtime unless another specific exclusion applies.

13. Abuse and Security Restrictions

The SLA does not apply to intentional restrictions imposed on an Account because of:

• spam;
• suspected spam;
• phishing;
• fraud;
• compromised credentials;
• abuse;
• excessive complaints;
• security incidents;
• prohibited sending; or
• material breach of the Terms or Anti-Spam Policy.

14. Usage Limits

The SLA does not apply to throttling or restriction resulting from the Customer reaching:

• its sending allowance;
• an authorised connection limit;
• an authorised throughput limit; or
• another specified Service limit.

15. Force Majeure

Downtime directly caused by a Force Majeure event under the Terms of Use is excluded.

16. Denial-of-Service and Malicious Attacks

A malicious attack may be excluded where:

• it is beyond Layer 9 Solutions' reasonable control;
• Layer 9 Solutions has taken reasonable measures appropriate to the Service to mitigate such risks; and
• the outage is not primarily caused by Layer 9 Solutions failing to maintain reasonable security controls.

17. Customer Responsibilities

To claim under this SLA, the Customer must:

• maintain an active Account;
• keep the Account reasonably current;
• use supported configurations;
• keep credentials secure;
• comply with the Terms and Anti-Spam Policy; and
• reasonably cooperate with investigation of the incident.

18. Dedicated and White-Label Services

This SLA does not automatically apply to:

• Dedicated SMTP Services;
• White-Label Services;
• reseller environments; or
• custom infrastructure.

Dedicated SMTP Services identified in the Order are governed by the Dedicated SMTP SLA.

White-Label and Reseller Services identified in the Order are governed by the White-Label SMTP SLA.

A reseller must not state or imply that its Downstream Customers receive this Layer 9 Solutions Shared SMTP SLA unless expressly authorised.

19. Changes to this SLA

Layer 9 Solutions may amend this SLA.

Material adverse changes applying to existing Customers will normally be notified at least 30 days in advance.

A change will not retrospectively reduce a valid Service Credit arising before the change became effective.

20. Contact

SLA claims should be submitted to:

Support: [email protected]

Layer 9 Solutions Ltd
Company No. 14857666
124 City Road
London, England
EC1V 2NX