Internap extends uptime SLA to CDN services

Internap today announced a service-level agreement for its content-delivery-network services that guarantees 100% uptime performance.

To deliver on its service-level guarantee, Internap will use its Managed Internet Route Optimizer (MIRO) software, which searches for latent traffic on Internet backbones and reroutes traffic along the best path. In addition, the company will provide third-party verification for its CDN SLA using Keynote Systems' Global Test and Measurement Network, which includes more than 2,400 measurement computers and mobile devices stationed around the world.

"Any signal flowing out of our CDN takes the best path to meet the end user," says Phil Kaplan, Internap's chief strategy officer. "Because of the sheer number of paths available on Internap's network infrastructure, we're able to guarantee reliability and quality."

Previously, Internap had offered 100% uptime SLA guarantees for several of its network services, including its data centers, managed servers and storage. But the company didn't have the infrastructure to offer a 100% uptime SLA for CDNs until it purchased VitalStream, a content-delivery service company specializing in audio- and video-streaming services and digital-media content-delivery services for business users.

"With the recent acquisition of VitalStream, we are in the same position to offer a 100% SLA for uptime performance for all of our CDN products," says Internap CEO Jim DeBlasio. "We’re going to stand by our CDN products the same way we've stood by our other products over the years."

While such companies as Sprint Nextel and the former MCI used to offer 100% SLAs for network availability, there has been some debate about whether offering a 100% SLA is realistic.

BT Americas Senior Product Manager Ian Bailey, for instance, said his company "used to guarantee 100% availability at one point, but any customer who puts the tiniest bit of thought into it will realize that that's not possible." Bailey went on to say that his company now offered "better than five nines of availability [99.999%]" for its best products.

But Sean Charnock, vice president of business development for SoftLayer Technologies, says that Internap's data centers have given his company 100% uptime so far, and he doesn't see that changing at all with their CDN services.

"We haven't had any issues with them yet," Charnock says. “If they're willing to put their SLA at 100%, they're standing behind a rock-solid product."