The most feature-rich PCI express time code processor card supports a new synchronization standard known as Precision Time Protocol (IEEE-1588v2) for low latency networks

Rochester, NY – June 15, 2010 – Spectracom, a company of the Orolia Group (NYSE Alternext Paris – FR0010501015 – ALORO) and a global provider of time and frequency systems to support vital communications networks, today announced its industry-leading PCI express timecode processor is available with support for Precision Time Protocol (PTP). PTP is an important standard for synchronizing device clocks with high accuracy over Ethernet. Spectracom’s model TSync-PCIe-PTP ensures the best PTP performance by providing the highest resolution timestamping in the industry; +/- 4 nanoseconds (4 billionths of a second).

“Spectracom has been deeply involved in the development of the PTP specification through standards groups and interoperability ‘plug-fests’,” commented John Fischer, Spectracom’s Chief Technology Officer. “There is now significant interest in the deployment of this new network synchronization protocol in the industries such as aerospace and defense, industrial and process control, and financial services and data centers to support this capability in our synchronization product platforms.”

PTP is a new time distribution protocol for local-area and wide-area Ethernet networks. It provides much higher clock synchronization accuracy than the incumbent synchronization protocol for Ethernet, network time protocol (NTP), and on par with synchronization protocols that require specialized distribution systems, namely IRIG timecodes, widely used in military installations and process control systems. The combination of high accuracy and distribution over network infrastructures enables new applications in high performance/low latency computing and allows time-sensitive operations to transition from legacy timing networks.

According to Laurent Borgagni, Engineering and Operations Manager, “The adoption of PTP is currently limited by the ability of a local device clock to generate, receive, and process PTP messages. The new TSync PCI express PTP timecode processor easily integrates into a PC or server with a PCI express slot for processing of the PTP timecode. The card works in master as well as slave mode, meaning it can be used as a source of time by other clocks on a network -- extremely useful for transitioning from a legacy IRIG-based timing system.”

Applications and Markets

The TSync-PCIe-PTP timing board is designed for high-performance networks such as military simulation and test range applications, high frequency / low-latency trading in financial services, and in distributed computing where extremely small time errors can cause system instabilities. Industrial process control applications, specifically in the power and utilities industry, require extremely low levels of time latency in their computer systems and will benefit from a PCI express card with PTP capability. It is also ideal as an alternative to synchronization to the Global Positioning System in locations where a GPS antenna system is impractical (no roof-top access) or the GPS signal is unavailable (urban canyon or underground). Simply leverage an existing Ethernet network connection to distribute the PTP timing signal from a master clock to a slave clock using two or more timing cards.

“In Wall Street implementations, Spectracom has brought a high level of technology expertise to our customers’ projects,” noted Victor Yodaiken, CEO, FSMLabs. “TimeKeeper simply plugs into Spectracom NetClock time servers, enabling end-to-end precision time stamping of globally distributed transactions and real-time data for event processing engines.”