Editing Very-small-aperture terminal (section)

== Maritime VSAT ==

A maritime VSAT has features that allow it to be operated on a ship at sea. A ship that is underway is in continuous motion in all axes. The antenna part of a marine VSAT system must be stabilized with respect to the horizon and [[true north]] as the ship moves beneath it. Motors and sensors are used to keep the antenna pointed accurately at the satellite. This enables it to transmit to and receive from the satellite while minimising losses and interference with adjacent satellites. New technology is emerging that will allow a solid state device (flat panel) to steer an antenna electronically without moving parts.

=== Technology ===

Initially, stabilized satellite antennas were used on ships for reception of television signals. One of the first companies to manufacture stabilized VSAT antennas was SeaTel of [[Concord, California|Concord]], [[California]], which launched its first stabilized antenna in 1978. SeaTel dominates the supply of two-way VSAT stabilised antenna systems to the marine industry with almost 72% of the market in 2007 compared to Orbit's 17.6%.<ref name="Uy79P">[http://www.comsys.co.uk/vm1e_mn.htm The Comsys Maritime VSAT Report] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523033524/http://www.comsys.co.uk/vm1e_mn.htm |date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> Initially, maritime VSAT was using [[single channel per carrier]] technology, which suited large-volume users like oil drilling rigs and [[oil platforms]] and large fleets of ships from one shipowner sailing within one or few [[Footprint (satellite)|satellite footprints]]. This changed when the company {{Proper name|iDirect}} launched its IP-based [[time-division multiple access]] technology that dynamically allocated bandwidth to each ship for shared bandwidth, lowering the entry-level cost for getting maritime VSAT installed, which turned out to be of key importance to small to mid-sized fleets, and thus to the market acceptance of VSAT.

===Market===
According to the Maritime VSAT report issued by the Comsys Group, the market for stabilised maritime VSAT services (not including oil and gas rigs) reached more than $400 million in 2007.<ref name="Uy79P" /> In 2010, [[Comsys|COMSYS]] released its "2nd Maritime VSAT Report", where the market estimate had increased to $590 million in 2009 with predictions for 2010 at $850 million. The estimated size of the market in terms of vessels eligible to get VSAT was in this report set to in excess of 42,000 with just over 34,000 to go. The major companies market share in terms of number of vessels in service were in 2009 (2007 in parentheses) according to these reports: Vizada: 17.6% (26.0%), Ship Equip: 11.0% (10.7%), Cap Rock 2.8% (2.9%), MTN 7.5% (6.4%), Stratos - % (3.6%), KVH 5.4% (- %) Elektrikom 4.9% (3.2%), Intelsat 3.4% (- %), Eutelsat 3.1%, NSSL 3.1%, Radio Holland 3.0%, Telemar 3.0%, DTS 2.6% and others accounted for 32.6% (27.7%). Many of the major providers have branded their maritime VSAT offerings such that [[Vizada]] offers its service through the Marlink division and the SeaLink and WaveCall products, OmniAccess, through their BroadBEAM<ref name="2yUap">[http://www.satnews.com/story.php?number=205261551 iDirect... Evolution Makes Its Way To OmniAccess (SATCOM)] / Sat Magazine, January 2011</ref> products and Ship Equip calls its offering [[Sevsat]].<ref name="jdCNM">[http://www.satmagazine.com/story.php?number=606155997 The Maritime Market: VSAT Rules] / Sat Magazine, December 2008</ref>

VSAT Maritime Connectivity Service Providers Market Shares Global - Revenues (2018 & 2019):<ref>[https://www.thedigitalship.com/news/maritime-satellite-communications/item/6826-marlink-remains-largest-retail-vsat-service-provider-in-2019 VSAT Maritime Connectivity Service Providers Market Shares Global Global - S Revenues (2018 & 2019)]</ref>

# Marlink 23.9%
# Speedcast 15.0%
# Inmarsat 11.3%
# KVH Industries 8.8%
# Global Eagle 7.6%
# ITC Global 6.6%
# RigNet 5.9%
# NSSLGlobal 5.2%
# Navarino 4.3%
# Satcom Global 2.7%