In a Q&A at the launch event, Elop noted that SLAs from Microsoft's competitors don't always measure up. "You have to look carefully at the fine print. Some will say ten minutes [of downtime] doesn't matter. But the reality is, if a customer is down, it counts," Elop said, without mentioning any names.
Microsoft's standard service level agreement is "three nines," or 99.9 percent guaranteed uptime, and anything below that results in Microsoft incurring financial penalties within the scope of its contract with customers, executives said at the event.
