UNDERSTANDING COMMITMENT

摘要

For many ship operators, the terminology involved in the maritime VSAT business is complex and obtuse. Given that contracts may amountto as much as $100K per vessel over a lease period, it pays to gain a deeper understanding of the key definitions and how these relate both to the actual connectivity experienced onboard, and to the service defined in the contract. The major operators supplying VSAT to the maritime industry have settled upon a number of key performance metrics to help prospective customers differentiate between competing services. As well as committed information rate (CIR), these include maximum (or burst) information rate (MIR), contention ratios and fair access or usage policies. However, these different aspects are all interconnected, and together have a real bearing on the actual service delivered.