Photo: Princess Cruises 37 demand for different connectivity services throughout each cruise. “Passengers are most active during the day, making voice and video calls, uploading high-quality content to social media, or streaming live and on-demand entertainment from platforms such as Netflix,” says Martin. “Meanwhile, crew traffic tends to peak in the evenings and overnight when individuals are completing back-office tasks, carrying out bulk data transfers from ship to shore, or using the internet during their leisure time. Cruise operators also see spikes in demand from both guests and crew during embarkation and sea days.” To meet this demand and provide the best possible connectivity experiences for everyone, cruise operators typically need to switch between three or four different system configurations each day. They must also prevent their satellite communication links becoming saturated during periods of heavy traffic. “Our Adaptive Traffic Management technology enables cruise lines to optimise bandwidth by intuitively routing traffic and prioritising critical communications at peak times,” says Martin. “Cruise lines can set parameters to govern how they allocate access to high bandwidth throughout the day and we manage everything automatically. For example, they may prioritise bandwidth for critical operational functions and passenger-facing applications during the day but give the crew precedence at night. This ensures passengers never face the dreaded buffering experience and crew members are always able to work productively and efficiently.” SES provides real-time analytics and on-demand reports for cruise brands to track traffic distribution and monitor how people are using different connectivity applications. “This allows them to identify any new usage trends and update their Adaptive Traffic Management parameters accordingly,” explains Martin. One US-based family cruise brand has successfully resolved the saturation issues it was experiencing with its existing satellite communication links by implementing Adaptive Traffic Management “ Cruise mPOWERED sets an entirely new standard for worldwide cruise ship connectivity ” SES’s solutions help operators like Princess Cruises to deliver fast and reliable connectivity experiences for guests and crew
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