Service Level Agreements
Northstar AI Labs provides enterprise-grade Service Level Agreements backed by measurable commitments and contractual accountability. Our SLAs define the quality standards we commit to delivering—and the remedies available when we fall short.
Commitment: We believe in accountability. Our SLAs are not marketing promises—they are contractually binding obligations with defined service credits and remedies. We measure what we promise and we publish what we measure.
1. Service Availability
Northstar commits to the following availability targets for managed infrastructure services:
| Service Tier | Monthly Uptime | Max Downtime/Month |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise | 99.9% | 43 minutes |
| Enterprise Plus | 99.95% | 22 minutes |
| Mission Critical | 99.99% | 4 minutes |
Uptime Calculation
- Uptime is calculated monthly based on total minutes minus unplanned downtime
- Scheduled maintenance windows are excluded from uptime calculations (with 7-day advance notice)
- Emergency maintenance for security patches requires 24-hour notice when possible
- Partial service degradation is calculated as proportional downtime based on affected functionality
2. Response Time Commitments
Incident response times are measured from initial ticket creation or automated alert to first meaningful response from Northstar engineering:
| Severity | Definition | Response Time | Update Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical (P1) | Complete service outage, data at risk | 15 minutes | Every 30 minutes |
| High (P2) | Major functionality impaired | 1 hour | Every 2 hours |
| Medium (P3) | Minor functionality impaired, workaround available | 4 hours | Daily |
| Low (P4) | Questions, minor issues, feature requests | 1 business day | Weekly |
3. Resolution Time Targets
While resolution times depend on issue complexity, we commit to the following targets:
- P1 Critical: Service restoration within 4 hours; root cause analysis within 5 business days
- P2 High: Resolution within 8 business hours
- P3 Medium: Resolution within 3 business days
- P4 Low: Resolution within 10 business days
4. Escalation Procedures
Northstar maintains a defined escalation path for all incidents:
Automatic Escalation
- P1 not resolved in 2 hours: Escalates to Engineering Director
- P1 not resolved in 4 hours: Escalates to CTO
- P2 not resolved in 8 hours: Escalates to Engineering Director
- Any SLA breach: Automatic notification to customer success and account management
Customer-Initiated Escalation
Customers may request escalation at any time through:
- Support portal escalation button
- Direct email to escalations@northstarsoftware.net
- Phone call to dedicated escalation line (provided to enterprise customers)
5. Service Credits
When we fail to meet our SLA commitments, customers receive service credits automatically:
| Monthly Uptime | Service Credit |
|---|---|
| 99.0% - 99.9% | 10% of monthly fee |
| 95.0% - 99.0% | 25% of monthly fee |
| Below 95.0% | 50% of monthly fee |
- Service credits are calculated and applied automatically
- Credits appear on the following month's invoice
- Maximum credit in any month: 50% of that month's service fees
- Credits do not accumulate across months or carry cash value
6. Performance Metrics
Beyond availability, Northstar commits to the following performance standards:
Inference Performance
- Latency P50: Under 100ms of average for standard inference requests
- Latency P99: Under 500ms of average for standard inference requests
- Throughput: Guaranteed tokens-per-second as specified in service agreement
System Performance
- GPU Utilization: Minimum 85% availability of contracted GPU resources
- Storage IOPS: As specified in service agreement, typically 100K+ IOPS
- Network Throughput: Full contracted bandwidth available 99.9% of time
7. Monitoring & Reporting
Northstar provides comprehensive monitoring and reporting:
- Monthly Reports: Detailed SLA performance reports delivered by the 5th of each month
- Incident Reports: Root cause analysis for all P1/P2 incidents within 5 business days
- Quarterly Reviews: SLA performance review meetings with account team
8. Exclusions
The following events are excluded from SLA calculations:
- Scheduled maintenance with proper advance notice
- Force majeure events (natural disasters, war, government actions)
- Customer-caused issues (misconfiguration, unauthorized changes)
- Third-party failures outside Northstar's control
- Connectivity issues in customer-provided network paths
- Customer's failure to implement recommended security patches within agreed timeframes
9. SLA Amendments
- SLA terms may be modified with 30-day written notice
- Changes that reduce service levels require customer consent
- Customers may terminate without penalty if SLA changes are unacceptable
- Custom SLA terms available for enterprise agreements
10. Contact & Support
To report an incident or discuss SLA terms:
Support Portal: support.northstarsoftware.net
Emergency Line: Provided to enterprise customers
Email: hello@northstarsoftware.net
Escalations: Customer to received dedicated escalation contacts
Legal Entity: North Star Software, LLC (DBA Northstar AI Labs)
Address: Minneapolis, MN