[TowardEX NOTIFY-ALL] Scheduled Network Maintenance Notification (FRIDAY SEP 5, 2008 02:00 Eastern)

[ip-admin at twdx.net]

Dear Customer,

TowardEX has scheduled a maintenance to upgrade certain sections of our network, as
part of our continued efforts to improve services.  The following maintenance activities
are scheduled to be performed between hours of 02:00 AM and 06:00 AM on Friday September
5th, 2008 Eastern Time:

- Relocate a number of Dedicated Internet Access customers with Gigabit interfaces to
  new aggregation equipment(s).
- Configure 802.1Q trunking between two backbone devices.
- Enable Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) between core routers for rapidly 
  detecting network fault conditions.
- Relocate IPv6 uplink to a different backbone switch.
- Upgrade Boston MXP connection to Gigabit Ethernet. 
- Bring online remote-reboot PDU units installed in new cabinets for EasyColo customers.


Affected Customers
------------------
** Expected Downtime or Impact for Affected Customers is between 10 to 15 minutes. **

Dedicated Internet Access customers connected to TowardEX Network with a circuit ID assigned
between the following range(s) are affected:

- 28/FCXQ/150000/MB1 -> through -> 28/FCXQ/196930/MB1
- 28/KFEQ/150000/MB1 -> through -> 28/KFEQ/190000/MB1
- 11/LGTT/100582/MA1

If your circuit is affected/part of the above range, you will experience interruption in service
for up to 15 minutes beginning at 02:00 AM.  If you have redundant circuit(s), you should not
experience downtime, however your routing will change to secondary/backup circuit during the
duration of the maintenance.  Affected customers with BGP sessions will notice that peering
session conducted over the affected circuit will be administratively shutdown in advance in order
to allow gracious routing changes with minimal impact to end-user connectivity.

Customers/peers connected to us via GNAPS/BostonMXP link may experience extended service 
interruptions while our connection is being upgraded to a Gig-E.  IPv6 will also be unavailable
for some time during the maintenance window.

All other customers, including EasyColo customers, are not directly affected by the maintenance
activities.  However, you may notice brief momentary routing changes during the duration of 
maintenance work while certain backbone configurations are being updated.

If you are unable to connect or having problems for an extended period of time after the
maintenance event, please contact 1-617-459-4051 extension 500.



TowardEX is providing this notification so that you can determine if business
continuity preparations are necessary. We regret any inconvenience this 
maintenance activity may cause you or your organization. As usual, we are 
committed to keeping you informed about the status of maintenance activities
affecting your service reliability.

Important Notice to E-mail Recipients: Notice sent as a customer courtesy only 
and is not a service level agreement or other commitment. Scheduled maintenance 
events may not give rise to claims for credits. 

Thank you,
Change Management
TowardEX Technologies, Inc.
Helpdesk: (617) 459-4051 option 2
Email: cmc at towardex.com