Book excerpt: As part of a satellite communications network, VSATs allow earth terminals to be located on users' premises to provide data or voice and video services; they can be established rapidly and reconfigured to respond to changing communications needs flexibly and cost effectively. Twenty-eight contributions describe the key technology underlying these systems, representative systems from various vendors, budgets, protocols, service provision, economic, and regulatory issues. For those involved in telecommunications systems management or the engineering aspects. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR