AVANTA USER GUIDE and SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT- Internet Bandwidth

Service Definition - Variable Internet Bandwidth

Avanta (Centre Name) [“Avanta”] provides our building licensees [“Licensees”] with access to the internet in capacity allocations of 1Mbps. This is the Variable Internet Bandwidth Service [“The Service”] The Service is provided by utilising an SDH connection to a central Internet delivery service at Telehouse. The SDH service is provided by Colt Telecom, with internet access provided by Viatel and MCI Worldcom.

Licensee Pre-requisites

Equipment
In order to utilise internet bandwidth provided by Principal IT, Licensees will have to have equipment with a Ethernet networking facilities and be running an operating system that supports TCP/IP. Avanta do not provide automatically allocated IP addresses (DHCP). Licensees will need to purchase equipment that provides DHCP, or request additional setup and config support from Avanta.

Security
Avanta provides the bandwidth without any security monitoring or restrictions therefore responsibility for the security of a Licensee’s network and devices attached to it lies solely with the Licensee.

Know-How
Avanta can arrange for the supply additional set up support including equipment purchase and configuration at attractive rates through our Partner iHotdesk. It should be noted that ihotdsek generally requires 72 hours notice for any services required, due to ordering of equipment and possible commitments to other Licensees.

Presentation of the service

Avanta provides 1X RJ45 switchport for the DATA connection from one of our Cisco switches placed in the building comms room. There may be more than one comms room, but we will generally provide the service to a switch in the room that can connect with the floor ports in your offices. Typically, the Licensee will install their distribution equipment in this comms room.

Installation
Avanta will endeavour to have Bandwidth services presented to the Licensee within 72 hours from the receipt of a signed order form. Times set out for upgrades to existing services are subject to the increased speed being available on the existing service type. If the faster service has to be delivered over a different medium longer upgrade lead times may apply. An installation charge will apply for all up or downgrades to the service. Note that this installation charge does not cover any configuration of Licencee Equipment or network, but does include any patching of services from the comms room to the Licensee Accommodation

Support
Should a Licensee encounter problems with their service, they should contact the Business Centre for a fault resolution. Avanta support the service during Business Hours (0830-1800, Mon-Fri), and will use all reasonable endeavours to have any service problems addressed..

For all Licensee internal network or hardward support, Avanta offer a range of support packages availabale through our partner iHotdesk.

Service Level Agreement

Availability

Avanta offer Service Level Agreements for the Service based on uptime of 99.5%. The uptime is measured at monthly measurement periods from the 1st to the end of each month. Any periods of downtime reported by a Licensee that continue in excess of 20 minutes from the time logged with the Business Centre constitute downtime. Should a Licensee encounter either 4 or more periods of downtime or an aggregate total uptime of less than 99.5% within any measurement period they are entitled to claim for the Service Credits set out below at whatever is the lesser performance criteria.

Service Availability Credits

The Licensee may claim service availability credits of the following amounts in the following circumstances:

The credits may only be used as a credit against charges for further Services to be provided by Avanta. They may not be redeemed for money or exchanged for anything else. On termination or expiry of the agreement, any unused credit allowance may be credited against charges for Services provided in the calendar month immediately preceding termination. Any credit allowance which remains unused thereafter will be lost.

Without affecting the Credit Process described below, if the Licensee wishes to raise any problems or issues with the Services with Avanta, either party may escalate those problems or issues up through the personnel named in the Escalation Procedure section of the Cover Sheet.
means the charges attributable to the provision of the particular Services at the particular Accommodation in respect of which the outages in question have been experienced.

Service Availability

"Service Availability" is defined as the ability of the Licensee to exchange IP packets with the Network Services Supplier`s designated gateway switch via the provided switch port. Service Availability is measured by sending ICMP "echo" requests from the Network Service Provider`s designated gateway switch to the switch at regular intervals and there shall be an "outage" if this measure fails. The response to the ping burst confirms that the connection is still in place and the service is still available.

Service interruptions caused by:

• failure of Licensee Equipment;
• scheduled downtime for maintenance and upgrade purposes, which Avanta will use reasonable endeavours to ensure is kept to a minimum;
• network maintenance activities by the Network Services Supplier;
  

do not constitute outages of Service Availability for the purposes of calculating service availability credits.

Credit Process

Service availability claims must be submitted to Avanta within one week of the end of the calendar month in which the outage in question occurs.

The claim must contain the following information:

• Licensee name and Avanta Business Centre name at which the outages have occurred;
• date and beginning/end time of outage;
• brief description of the characteristics of the outage
• identification of the Services in respect of which the claim is being made and whether such Services are Dedicated Leased Line Services or Shared Internet Access Services.
  

Claims must be submitted by e-mail to support@avanta.co.uk Avanta will apply approved service availability credits to the Licensee`s invoice during the billing cycle following the claim approval.

Policy Change

Avanta will notify the Licensee of any changes to this Service Availability Schedule which Avanta may make in its absolute discretion from time to time provided that Avanta shall for the term of this agreement provide a service comparable to the service outlined in the initial Service Availability Schedule.

*Allocation of RIPE/Pubic addresses is subject to official approval of the requirement which must be made by means of an IP Address Allocation Justification Form.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Service Presented?
Avanta provides 1X RJ45 switchport for the DATA connection from one of our Cisco switches placed in the building comms room. There may be more than one comms room, but we will generally provide the service to a switch in the room that can connect with the floor ports in your offices.

How do I get the connection to my Office?
The data connection can be pathed directly to your office, but if you are using more that 1 PC, we advise you to connect the service to a hub or switch in the Comms Room, unless you plan to use a wireless router in the office. The ports on the hub are then connected to the ports in the comms room that connect to the floor ports I your office.

What is a RIPE/Public Address?
A RIPE/Public Address is a globally unique number that identifies a device on the Internet. If you want someone on the Internet to connect to you or one of you’re servers, then you must tell them your public address. Also known as your “real” or “external” address. If you request a public/RIPE address, you need install a piece of equipment that performs
NAT. Most Routers and Firewalls today can provide NAT for you. If in the event you require more than one public/RIPE address you will need to fill in a IP address allocation justification form (provide link to form online)

Do I need a Firewall?
Yes, you are advised to buy a hardware firewall or configure a software firewall on all your connected Pc’s. None of our internet connections are protected by firewalls.

Do I need an ADSL modem?
None of our internet connections requires an ASDL modem. They are ADSL/SDSL in name only to represent their contended nature.

Do you provide servers to relay email (SMTP servers) ?
Yes, we offer two SMTP servers. smtp.pitcore.com and post.viatel.net
You can utilize any of the two.

Will an internal IP address be automatically assigned?
None of our data ports can provide DHCP at present, though this is planned for the near future. This will mean either configuring all of your PCs to use a static address that we provide, or (better), please purchase a Router or Switch that can provide DHCP to all connected devices. We can recommend the following devices, that can be bought from our preferred supplier
Misco/iHotdesk at a discounted rate:

Up to 4 Users:
Wired – LINKSYS Firewall/router + 4 port switch
Wireless - Linksys Wireless-G Router/Firewall

Up to 10 Users:
Wired – LINKSYS Firewall/router + 4 port switch AND 3COM OFFICECONNECT 16 port SWITCH
Wireless - Linksys Wireless-G Router/Firewall

10 user and more: Please email support@avanta.co.uk to discuss IT requirements

Jargon Buster

ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line)
A way of moving data over a standard phone line. It is much quicker than a regular modem. The Asynchronous means it has different speeds for both upload and download.

Bandwidth
The amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period (usually a second). This kind of bandwidth is usually expressed in bits (of data) per second bps. The higher the bandwidth the faster your connection will be.

E1
European Standard meaning a Leased Line that has a capacity of up to 2mb.

E3
European Standard meaning a Leased Line has a capacity of up to 34mb

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
Permits the transfer of files over the Internet from one machine to another.

Firewall
Secures access to the LAN and all network resources from both internal and external intrusions

Handset
Desktop apparatus used to make and receive telephone calls.

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
The most common Internet protocol used for displaying Internet pages.

Internet
Derived from the words “Interconnected Networks”. Made up of multiple networks all interconnected at the peering points situated around the world to create one worldwide entity called the Internet.

IP Address
A unique numerical identifier in 4 blocks separated by full stops to allow access to the Internet (Example IP Address: 123.200.199.1)

IPSEC
Encrypts data over a private or public network to make sure any transmissions remain secure.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network)
A digital phones standard that allows video, data and voice connections simultaneously over standard copper wire pair. It is generally a minimum of twice as fast as a standard modem connection.

ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A company that provides access to the Internet.

LAN (Local Area Network)
A network of computers that are local to an area (same office, same floor, etc)

Leased Line
It is a fixed digital connection to the digital data network (Internet). It is permanently “On” which means no dialup is required and there are no call charges.

Mail relay
Often referred to as an e-mail server, a device and/or program that routes an e-mail to the correct destination.

Modem
A piece of kit connected to your computer that allows a dialup connection using your existing phone line.

NAT (Network Address Translation)
Is the translation of an IP address between differing networks. E.g. Your private IP address on your LAN will translate to something completely different when you are on the Internet and in this way it is a security feature.

PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange)
See PBX

PBX (Private Branch Exchange)
A PBX is a telephony switching system (or exchange) generally used within an office. It takes one or more incoming ISDN lines and provides these to many internal `extensions`. These extensions can be ordinary phones, digital phones, modems/fax machines or Data Routers

POP (Point of Presence)
A location where the ISP provides local access to the Internet

POP-3 (Post Office Protocol)
POP3 is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for you by your Internet server. Periodically, you (or your client e-mail receiver) check your mail-box on the server and download any mail, probably using POP3

PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)
The PSTN is the collection of interconnected systems operated by the various telephone companies and administrations around the world to route all calls to the location you have dialled.

Private IP Address
An internal IP address that cannot be seen outside the Internal Network

Public IP Address
An IP address that can be seen outside the Internal Network (e.g. Internet)

Reverse DNS
Reverse DNS (rDNS) is a method of resolving an IP address into a domain name, just as the domain name system (DNS) resolves domain names into associated IP addresses. One of the applications of reverse DNS is as a spam filter.

Router
Interrogates data packets and finds the best route between the sender and receiver.

SDSL (Synchronous Digital Subscriber Line)
A way of moving data over a regular phone line. It is much quicker than a regular modem. The Synchronous means it has the same speeds for both upload and download.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)
See Mail Relay

SLA (Service Level Agreement)
Linked with the T& C’s. Defines the level of service a customer should expect. Failure to do so will meet with a penalty incurred by AVANTA.

Static IP Address
A term to describe a publicly seen IP address that does not change as opposed to a dynamic IP address which changes each time you are on the Internet.

Telnet
Telnet is a user command and a tool for accessing remote computers..

“U” Rack Space
A standard to describe the use of cabinet rack space. Each “U” is equivalent to 4.4cm (1.76”)

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
A unique Internet address identifier to locate the page you are looking for E.g. http://www.Avantaex.com

VPN (Virtual Private Network)
Refers to a network in which some parts are connected remotely using the public Internet. The data however is encrypted so the network is “virtually” private.

WAN (Wide Area Network)
A WAN connects multiple LAN’s together using a service provider to create a single network.

WWW (World Wide Web)
See Internet

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