Service level agreement (SLA)
LEGAL BASIS
- Civil Code 2015 (Articles 385 and 419 on contract performance and contractual liability);
- the Law on Telecommunications 2023 (Luật Viễn thông 2023, Law No. 24/2023/QH15) and Circular 28/2026/TT-BKHCN (Thông tư 28/2026/TT-BKHCN) on the list of telecommunications services subject to mandatory quality management (effective 15 July 2026); the relevant national technical regulations (QCVN) on service quality;
- Law on Cybersecurity 2025 (Law No. 116/2025/QH15, effective 01/7/2026);
- Law on Protection of Consumer Rights 2023;
- Decree 147/2024/NĐ-CP on standards and responsibilities in providing internet services;
- Decision No. 4567/QD-VBPL dated 01/06/2026 issuing the company's Legal Compliance Framework.
PART I – SCOPE AND EFFECTIVE DATE
Article 1. Scope of application
1.1. This Service Level Agreement (SLA) sets out the minimum performance metrics, the incident handling process, the compensation regime where the SLA is not met, and the exclusions that apply, across all services provided by HiTechCloud.
1.2. The SLA is a binding contractual commitment and an annex to the Terms of Service (giving specific effect to Articles 18 and 21 of the Terms). In the event of conflict, the SLA prevails on matters of service level and technical compensation.
1.3. For services on the list of telecommunications services subject to mandatory quality management, HiTechCloud manages, publishes and reports service quality in accordance with the Law on Telecommunications 2023 (Luật Viễn thông 2023), Circular 28/2026/TT-BKHCN (Thông tư 28/2026/TT-BKHCN) and the applicable QCVN.
PART II – UPTIME AND PERFORMANCE METRICS
Article 2. Uptime commitments by service
2.1. Monthly uptime commitment (as a percentage of operating time in a calendar month):
| Services | Committed uptime | Maximum downtime/month | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | 99,5% | ~3 hours 39 minutes | Shared resources |
| WordPress Hosting | 99,5% | ~3 hours 39 minutes | WordPress-optimized environment |
| Business Hosting | 99,8% | ~1 hour 27 minutes | Advanced resources |
| Cloud Hosting | 99,9% | ~43 minutes | Cloud infrastructure |
| Cloud Server / VPS | 99,95% | ~22 minutes | Dedicated VPS |
| Email Hosting | 99,9% | ~43 minutes | Business Email |
| SSL Certificate | 99,99% | ~5 minutes | Digital certificates |
| Cloud AI / MaaS API | 99,5% | ~3 hours 39 minutes | Dependency on AI providers |
| DNS / domains | 99,99% | ~5 minutes | Domain resolution |
Article 3. Definition of downtime and how it is calculated
3.1. “Downtime” means a period during which the service is unreachable or not operating normally, as confirmed both by HiTechCloud's monitoring system and by the Customer's report.
3.2. Downtime no including:
(a) Scheduled maintenance windows (announced at least 48 hours in advance by email and on the service status page);
(b) Emergency maintenance for security reasons: up to 4 hours per occurrence and no more than 8 hours per month;
(c) Interruption due to a force majeure event (Article 12);
(d) Disruption caused by the Customer's own actions (resource overuse, AUP breach, misconfiguration);
(e) Outages on third-party infrastructure outside HiTechCloud's direct control (ISPs, third-party CDNs, upstream DNS);
(f) Periods of suspension, restriction or removal of services/content in order to comply with lawful requests from competent authorities under the Law on Cybersecurity 2025 (Luật An ninh mạng 2025) and related legislation.
3.3. How monthly uptime is calculated:
Uptime (%) = [(total minutes in the month − countable downtime) ÷ total minutes in the month] × 100
Total minutes in the month = days in the month × 24 × 60 (for example, a 30-day month = 43,200 minutes).
Article 4. Additional performance metrics
| Metric | Commitment | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| DNS response time | < 50 ms (P95) | All domains |
| Time to first byte (TTFB) | < 200 ms (P95) | Hosting SSD NVMe |
| Minimum network bandwidth | 100 Mbps symmetric | Cloud Server/VPS |
| Minimum disk I/O | 500 IOPS (SSD) | Cloud Hosting, VPS |
| Successful email delivery rate | > 99% | Email Hosting |
| Maximum email processing time | < 5 minutes (P99) | Email Hosting |
PART III - INCIDENT CLASSIFICATION AND RESOLUTION TIMES
Article 5. Severity classification
| Level | Definition | Response | Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 – Critical | Complete service outage; 100% of customers affected (server down, connectivity lost, large-scale DDoS) | 15 minutes | 4 hours |
| P2 – Major | Severe degradation; more than 50% of functionality affected (performance down 70%+, email failing, DB failing) | 30 minutes | 8 hours |
| P3 – Moderate | Partial impact with a workaround available (one feature failing, running slowly, SSL warning) | 2 hours | 24 hours |
| P4 – Low | A minor issue with no effect on core operation (interface glitch, configuration question) | 8 hours | 72 hours |
5.1. Response and resolution times are counted in business hours (8:00–22:00 every day of the week, including public holidays), except for P1, which is counted 24/7.
Article 6. Incident reporting and tracking process
6.1. Customers report incidents via: (a) email support@photuesoftware.com with the subject line “[INCIDENT P1/P2/P3/P4] – Service name – Short description”; (b) the ticket system at my.hitechcloud.vn; (c) the emergency hotline 0865.920041 (for P1 and P2); (d) the real-time status board at status.hitechcloud.vn.
6.2. Each incident receives a unique ticket ID; Customers track progress in real time through the management portal.
6.3. After a P1/P2 incident is resolved, HiTechCloud provides a root cause analysis (RCA) report within 3 working days.
PART IV – SLA CREDIT SCHEME
Article 7. Compensation conditions and amounts
7.1. When HiTechCloud fails to meet the uptime commitment:
| Actual uptime achieved | Compensation level (based on monthly fee) |
|---|---|
| 99.0% – below the committed level | 10% of monthly fee |
| 98,0% – < 99,0% | 15% of the monthly fee |
| 95,0% – < 98,0% | 25% of the monthly fee |
| < 95,0% | 50% of monthly fee |
7.2. Conditions for compensation: (a) the claim must be submitted within 15 days after the end of the month in which the breach occurred; (b) it must be supported by evidence (system logs, third-party monitoring results, or a confirmed ticket number); (c) the downtime must be confirmed by HiTechCloud's internal monitoring system or by an independent monitoring tool accepted by both parties.
7.3. Compensation takes the form of a Service Credit applied to the next billing cycle. No direct cash refund is made unless the service has already been terminated.
7.4. Total SLA compensation may not exceed 50% of the service fee for the month concerned, regardless of the number of incidents or the severity of the breach. This cap forms part of, and is not separable from, the liability cap in Article 22 of the Terms of Service.
Article 8. Technical support commitments by plan
| Service plans | Support channels | Support hours | P1 response | SLA Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared / WordPress Hosting | Email, Ticket | 8am-10pm, 7 days a week | 4 hours | 99,5% |
| Business Hosting | Email, Ticket, Chat | 8am-10pm, 7 days a week | 2 hours | 99,8% |
| Cloud Hosting | Email, Ticket, Chat, Phone | 24/7 | 1 hour | 99,9% |
| Cloud Server / VPS | Email, Ticket, Chat, Phone, Dedicated | 24/7 | 30 minutes | 99,95% |
| Email Hosting | Email, Ticket | 8am-10pm, 7 days a week | 2 hours | 99,9% |
| Cloud AI / MaaS | Email, Ticket | 8am-10pm, 7 days a week | 4 hours | 99,5% |
| Enterprise (custom) | Dedicated Account Manager | 24/7 | 15 minutes | Under a separate contract |
PART V – MAINTENANCE AND NOTICES
Article 9. Maintenance schedule
9.1. Scheduled maintenance: (a) the preferred window is 00:00–06:00 Vietnam time (UTC+7), Monday to Thursday; (b) notice is given ≥ 48 hours in advance by email and on the status page; (c) a maximum of 4 windows per month, totalling no more than 8 hours per month; (d) any time beyond 8 hours per month counts toward Downtime under the SLA.
9.2. Emergency maintenance: (a) applies when a critical security vulnerability (CVSS ≥ 9.0) or a risk of data loss is identified; (b) notice is given at least 30 minutes in advance (or immediately after, in cases of absolute emergency); (c) is not counted toward the Downtime SLA if completed within 4 hours.
PART VI - EXCLUSIONS, MONITORING, AND FORCE MAJEURE
Article 10. SLA exclusions
10.1. HiTechCloud is released from its SLA obligations in the following situations: (a) force majeure (Article 12); (b) acts or errors of the Customer (incorrect DNS configuration, exceeding quota, breach of the AUP); (c) faults caused by third-party software the Customer installed; (d) network attacks (DDoS/DoS) exceeding existing defensive capacity (> 10 Gbps); (e) faults in an upstream provider's infrastructure, or at an IXP or IX; (f) service suspension or restriction to comply with a lawful requirement of a competent authority.
Article 11. SLA monitoring and reporting
11.1. HiTechCloud publishes a real-time service status page at status.hitechcloud.vn showing: the current status of each service (Operational / Degraded / Partial Outage / Major Outage); a 90-day incident history; upcoming maintenance windows; and the previous month’s uptime report.
11.2. The Customer may subscribe to email/SMS incident notifications at status.hitechcloud.vn.
Article 12. Force majeure
12.1. “Force majeure event” has the same meaning as in Clause 2.8 of the Terms of Service, and includes: natural disasters (floods, storms, earthquakes); war, terrorism, riots; epidemics; administrative decisions by state authorities; large-scale external cyberattacks; extended national power outages; and damage to submarine fiber-optic cables or international telecommunications infrastructure.
12.2. On the occurrence of a force majeure event, the affected party must: (a) give notice within 24 hours; (b) provide supporting evidence; (c) use its best efforts to remedy the situation as soon as possible.
12.3. If a force majeure event continues for more than 30 consecutive days, either party may terminate the affected services without compensation.
This SLA takes effect on 1 July 2026 and supersedes all previous versions. The Vietnamese version prevails as the legally binding text.
