Which term denotes the average time between failures of an asset?

Which term denotes the average time between failures of an asset?

• A. Maximum Tolerable Downtime
• B. Mean Time Between Failures
• C. Issue-specific Policies
• D. Load Balancing

Answer: (B)

Mean Time Between Failures is a reliability measure that represents how long an asset operates on average before a failure occurs. It’s used for repairable systems and is typically calculated by dividing the total operating time by the number of observed failures. A higher MTBF indicates the asset fails less frequently, reflecting better reliability.

This concept is distinct from other terms: Maximum Tolerable Downtime refers to the maximum downtime a business can endure in a disruption scenario, not how often a device fails. Load balancing is about distributing workload to improve performance and availability, not measuring failure intervals. Issue-specific policies are governance documents, not metrics of reliability. If the asset is repairable, MTBF is the appropriate measure; for non-repairable items, Mean Time To Failure would be used instead.