To achieve synchronisation computer networks use what is known as an NTP time server, which receives the time from an atomic clock signal and then distributes it around a network. However, it is not just computer networks that need an accurate and synchronised form of time, but also people in many organisations need to know exactly what the time, which is where Ethernet NTP digital wall clocks are used.

NTP

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a computer software algorithm that enables synchronisation on a network. It works by taking a single time source and then distributing it to all devices on a network, including Ethernet digital wall clocks. NTP continually checks the devices to maintain precision and accuracy, which mean an Ethernet NTP digital wall clock, once set, will always be accurate and precise.

However, for NTP to maintain network precision it first needs to know the exact time with which to synchronise all devices. It does this by using a NTP network time server, which receives the time from a secure and accurate atomic clock source.

NTP Network Time Servers

NTP network time servers come in several varieties, depending from where they get their time signals. The two most common NTP time servers are the GPS time server and the NTP radio receiver. As the name suggests, the GPS time server receives its time source from the GPS network, which is generated by atomic clocks on the GPS satellites. NTP radio receivers use radio transmission broadcast by physics laboratories such as NPL in the UK (National Physical Laboratory) and NIST in the United States (National Institute of Standards and Time). Both types of NTP network time servers can distribute these time signals across a network of hundreds of devices, including Ethernet NTP digital wall clocks.

Ethernet NTP Digital Wall Clock

Ethernet NTP digital wall clocks plug into an NTP times server using an Ethernet cable. This means that the time signal is sent from the NTP time server directly to the Ethernet NTP digital wall clock, maintaining its accuracy. There are several big advantages to this. Firstly, the Ethernet digital wall clock never needs setting as it is automatically set by the time signal sent from the times server, which means it will always be accurate, and secondly, the Ethernet NTP digital wall clock requires no mains power or batteries as it gets its power form the Ethernet. This means the clock will never lose time in a power outage, and even if the computer network goes down, as soon as it boots back up again the Ethernet NTP digital wall clock will automatically set itself to the atomic clock time signal received by the NTP network time server.

Using Ethernet NTP Digital Wall Clocks is a post from: Galleon Systems

To keep precise time, computer networks have to find a source of accurate, precise and secure time, which enables all devices to be synchronised together. One of the most common used devices for achieving this are radio time synchronisation receivers.

Coordinated Universal Time

In today’s world of global communication and the internet, computer networks don’t only have to be synchronised internally, but also to prevent errors when communicating other computer networks, have to be synchronised with every network with which it communicates.

To achieve this, a global time scale was developed based on the time told by atomic clocks. Atomic clocks are the most accurate and precise form of timekeeping devices as they do not drift and keep time to within a few nanoseconds. The only problem with atomic clocks is that they are expensive pieces of equipment and only normally found in physics laboratories such as NPL (National Physical Laboratory) in the UK and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Time) in the USA.

Radio Time Synchronisation Receiver

Fortunately, computer networks can utilise atomic clocks because these physics laboratories broadcast time signals. To receive these time signals for synchronising a computer network, radio time synchronisation receivers are used. Radio time synchronisation receivers not only receive the atomic clock signal, but also they distribute this signal around a computer network, ensuring all computers, routers and switches on the network are kept synchronised to this atomic clock time.

Radio time synchronisation receivers use NTP (Network Time Synchronisation) to maintain synchronisation across the network using the atomic clock signal.

Time Signals

The time signals and frequencies that radio time synchronisation receivers use vary country to country. In the UK, the signal broadcast by NPL is known as the MFS signal and it is transmitted from Cumbria. The signal is available across the UK, although as with most radio signals it is susceptible to interference caused by local topography.

In the USA, the NIST signal is known as WWVB and is broadcast from Boulder, Colorado and radio time synchronisation receivers across North America can receive it. Other nations have their own radio transmissions, such as the DCF signal in Germany, which can also be picked up by neighbouring countries.

For areas where a local time signal is unavailable, there is another solution for receiving an atomic clocks source – the GPS time synchronisation receiver. These are similar devices to the radio time synchronisation receivers, but rather than use a radio source, they make use of the GPS signal, which is then distributed around a network using the same NTP protocol. The big advantage of GPS time servers is that the signal is available anywhere, no matter where you are on the planet, although their main disadvantage is that an antenna needs a clear view of the sky to receive the signal.

Radio Time Synchronisation Receivers – for Secure and Accurate Network Time is a post from: Galleon Systems

Most wall clocks are not very accurate. Set two clocks to the same time and after a week or so, the clocks could be a minute or so apart, and over several weeks there could be as much as ten minutes difference between the clocks. Of course, constant resetting and synchronisation is one solution, but that means somebody has to take charge of synchronising an organisations clocks, which in a large building could me quite a task. Fortunately, NTP POE wall clocks are the ideal solution for maintaining accurate, precise and synchronised time.

Network Time Protocol

NTP POE wall clocks use Network Time Protocol (NTP) to maintain accuracy and synchronisation. NTP is a computer algorithm that works by taking a single master time source that it distributes to all devices on a network. In the case of most NTP systems, the time is received via a NTP time server that is hooked up to a computer network.

All computer networks need an accurate source of time for security and preventing errors. This time source typically comes from an atomic clock source, usually received by the NTP server by either GPS or a radio signal. NTP then checks all devices, including NTP POE wall clocks, and continuously adjusts them to ensure they exactly match this master time source.

Power Over Ethernet

NTP POE wall clocks are connected to a computer network using an Ethernet cable. They don’t require batteries because they utilise power over Ethernet, a system that provides both data and power to run the clocks.

Power over Ethernet is an efficient system that is easy to install and means clocks can maintain time without fear of batteries running down or having to use the services of an electrician to wire the clocks to the mains.

POE Clocks

Once installed and connected to the network, a NTP POE wall clock will set itself, taking the time directly from the NTP time server. This means the clock will be accurate to an atomic clock source. Furthermore, all NTP POE wall clock installed on the network will always have the exact same time, ensuring that everybody in a large organisation can have access to a precise source of time.

Once installed, a NTP POE wall clock will never have to be manually set. Even daylight saving hours will be accounted for with the clocks automatically setting themselves to the exact time. Easy to install, an NTP POE wall clock is the ideal solution for providing accurate, precise and visible time around large organisations.

Precision Made Easy with an NTP POE Wall Clock is a post from: Galleon Systems

Office clocks

Having a visible office clock that all employees can use as a time reference is an obvious solution for ensuring everybody is running to the same time. A visible office clock will allow employees to set their own watches to the office time, ensuring they won’t turn up late. However, in large organisations, with multiple departments, several office clocks are needed, but as clocks are prone to drift, this can lead to the same problems, with employees in different departments relying on time that could be several minutes out of sync with other office clocks.

Synchronised office clocks

The solution is to ensure that all clocks around an office are synchronised. However, synchronised office clocks require somebody to continually check and reset the clocks around an organisation, and in a large building, or a company with office all over the country this is impractical. The solution is to use a form of synchronised office clocks that will maintain accurate time and keep all clocks running at the exact same time, no matter where they are located.

Synchronised Office Clock Solutions

There are various solutions for synchronised office clocks, suitable for use in offices of all sizes, even those spread out across the country. The simplest solution is to use atomic clock radio receiver clocks. These come with either digital or analogue displays and they use radio transmissions to receive a source of atomic clock time (UTC – Coordinated Universal Time), which the clocks continually adjust themselves to ensure they running accurate. Because atomic clock time is highly accurate, an array of office clocks that use these atomic clock signals will always be telling the same time.

Another solution for synchronised office clocks is to make use of the network time server that most computer networks use to ensure all the PCs in an office network are synchronised. Often, these network time servers also get their time from an atomic clock source. Furthermore, by using office clocks that connect to the network using Ethernet, the time form one single network time server can be distributed to all office clocks in an organisation.

Synchronised office clocks such as these, never require setting as they automatically adjust to the source time. By using these types of synchronised office clocks, all clocks in an organisation can be kept to within a few milliseconds of each other, ensuring every employee has access to the exact time of day, regardless of where they are working.

Importance of Synchronised Office Clocks is a post from: Galleon Systems

To ensure security and to maintain precision and accuracy all the time, the only real solution is to use a time source external to the network and internet. For that, a GPS time server is the perfect tool, which will maintain millisecond accuracy for your network while being 100% secure and resistant to attack.

How it works

As the name suggests, GPS time servers receive their time from the GPS system (Global Positioning System). The GPS signal is basically just a time code sent down from the satellites’ onboard atomic clocks. This time signal is what satellite navigation systems use to triangulate positioning, but because it is generated by atomic clocks is extremely accurate and precise.

The GPS time server receives the time signal via a rooftop antenna, This is then used as a master time source by NTP (Network Time Protocol) to distribute around all the machines on a network to enable synchronisation.

What is NTP

Network Time Protocol is a software algorithm used for time synchronisation. Not only does NTP distribute the master time source received by the GPS time server, but also it continually checks the time on each device and alters it to ensure it is running accurately to the master time.

NTP is a tier-based system. This means, rather than have hundreds of devices all checking the GPS time server for the correct time at once, a tier of a dozen or so master devices use the GPS time server, while a further tier of machines check the time on these master devices, and another tier checks the time on those, and so on.

Installation

Installing a GPS time server is incredibly simple. The only difficulty is ensuring that the GPS antenna has a line of sight view of the sky. This is because GPS signals are fairly weak and can’t penetrate through buildings. A rooftop is obviously the best location, but if this is not possible, the side of a building may do just as well.

Once the antenna is installed the GPS time server is plugged into a router or master switch. This ensures it is available to all devices on the network. However, it is possible to plug a GPS time server direct to a single machine, although the traffic to that machine may become a hindrance.

Once installed, it may take a few hours for time server to get a lock on a satellite, but once this is achieved, the GPS time server is ready to be used for synchronisation. Most time servers come with an installation disk, so this just needs to be run on any machine, which will then install and activate the GPS time server to begin synchronisation.

Installing a GPS Time Server for Network Synchronisation is a post from: Galleon Systems

Traditionally wall clocks, whether they are digital or analogue, operate using quartz oscillators, which make them fairly precise. However, even these electronic clocks systems are prone to drift, often up to several seconds per week, so if more precise time is needed, an organisation needs to find a more accurate and reliable source, and the ideal solution is the digital network wall clock.

Atomic clock precision

The most accurate timekeeping devices are atomic clock systems. Rather than use quartz oscillators, atomic clocks use the precision of the atom. Theoretically, this enables atomic clocks to keep prefect time for thousands of years without losing as much as a second. Since the 1970s, atomic clocks have been used to keep a global time scale, used by businesses and organisations worldwide. This global time scale is known as UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).

UTC enables companies and organisations across the globe to synchronise with each other. While UTC is the same the world over, it still enables time zone differences, so no matter where an organisation is in the world it can kep its own time and still be synchronised to UTC.

Network Time

Most computer networks make use of a UTC, which enable global communication without the problems caused by unsynchronised machines talking to each other. Computer networks use network time servers to receive the time from atomic clock source, often via GPS (Global Positioning System) or specialist radio signals. The network time servers then use this time source to keep all devices on a network synchronised to UTC.

This network time is not only useful for keeping computers synchronised but also, with the use of digital network wall clocks, people have access to an accurate, precise and visible time system.

Digital Network Wall Clock

Digital network wall clocks make use of the same atomic clock signal that keeps a network synchronised. The digital network wall clock plugs directly into the network, so the signal received by the network time server is sent to the wall clock as well as to all the machines on the network.

The big advantage of a digital network wall clock is that they never have to be set as the time is kept and maintained by the network time server, which ensure the wall clock is accurate to the millisecond. Furthermore, most digital network wall clocks use the power over Ethernet system to provide the clock’s power, so there is no need to wire them up to the mains or install batteries (which have a habit of going flat and leading to the clock stopping). All this means that a digital network wall clock will always show the right time and provide a visible and accurate time reference for employees in organisations.

Perfect Time with a Digital Network Wall Clock is a post from: Galleon Systems

Normal electronic wall clocks have a major weakness for use in organisation such as a hospital. Modern quartz clocks may appear accurate but they are prone to drift, often by several seconds a day. Over time, clocks can become several minutes out of synchronisation with each other, which means in a large organisation such as a hospital, different health professionals working in different areas can be working to wholly different times, which can lead to people arriving for meetings and treatment procedures at different times, leading to an inefficient service

Accuracy

Accuracy is essential for digital wall clocks for hospitals. It is completely impractical to expect somebody to continually check all wall clocks around a hospital and keep resetting them to the correct time, which would be a full time job that would be virtually impossible to accomplish as the clocks first checked would soon be out of sync by the time the rest are adjusted.

For this reason, digital wall clocks for hospitals require a form of automatic synchronisation. Furthermore, they also need to be as accurate as possible and the most accurate source a digital wall clock can get its time from is atomic clock source.

Atomic clock time

Atomic clocks are so precise that they won’t drift by as much as a second in a hundred thousand years. While atomic clocks are large, impractical devices used mainly in research and physics laboratories, it is possible to utilise the time told by an atomic clock for synchronisation of digital wall clocks for hospitals.

Atomic clock time is used to govern the world’s global time scale UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and this time can be used by digital wall clocks for hospitals to provide an accurate and source of time for synchronisation.

Digital wall clocks for hospitals

There are several different choice for a digital wall clock for a hospital that receives an atomic clock time source and automatically keeps synchronised. The first is to use independent radio receiver clocks. These clocks receive the MSF transmission (or WWVB in USA) broadcast by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). The clocks automatically adjust themselves and maintain millisecond accuracy the atomic clock time signal.

The other option for digital wall clocks for hospitals, and perhaps more practical, is to connect the clocks on an Ethernet network and use an NTP time server that either receives the atomic clock radio signal or utilises GPS as its time source. These Ethernet clocks will synchronises and maintain accuracy of all the digital wall clocks for hospitals on the network, ensuring that no matter where anybody is or in which department of a large hospital, they will have access to synchronised clock that is telling the exact same time as every other clock around the hospital.

Digital Wall Clocks for Synchronised Time around Hospitals is a post from: Galleon Systems

Atomic Clock Precision

Atomic clocks are the most precise type of clock. Compared to a standard digital clock, which may drift a few seconds each day, an atomic clock won’t drift by a second in thousands of years. While this type of ultra-accuracy may seem unnecessary, by using an atomic clock a business won’t suffer the problem of different clocks drifting at different rates.

Of course, atomic clocks are not the sort of equipment that can be attached to a wall; they are highly sensitive and expensive pieces of equipment, but you don’t need an actual atomic clock to make use of its ultra-precise time. A business digital wall clock can use an atomic clock as a source of time, and relay this time in a digital display.

These atomic clock receiving clocks come in various guises. Some use small radio receivers to pick up the atomic clock transmissions broadcast by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in the UK or the National Institute of Standards and Time (NIST) in the USA. However, for organisations that require multiple business digital wall clocks, the most efficient system is to use network of clocks connected to a network time server. These time servers can receive and distribute atomic clock time to hundreds of devices including business digital wall clocks, but also computers around the office too.

NTP Synchronisation

A network time server uses the software algorithm NTP (Network Time Protocol) to synchronise all devices on a network to the same timescale. NTP works by continually checking every device connected to the network time server, whether it is a computer or business digital wall clock, and ensures it hasn’t drifted from the atomic clock time. This is so effective that it means a network of business digital wall clocks can be kept to within a few milliseconds of each other.

The great advantage of NTP synchronised clocks is that they never have to be adjusted and will automatically alter during periods of daylight saving time changes. When connected to a network using an Ethernet cable, they won’t require batteries either, so there is never any worry that a clock will stop. When time really matters, business digital wall clocks connected to a network time server and synchronised to NTP will ensure everybody in an organisation will have access to the exact same time and that all clocks will be identical to each other all the time, helping to create efficiency in the organisation.

A Business Digital Wall Clock for when Time Really Matters is a post from: Galleon Systems

Network time servers are responsible for providing a network’s time. Of course, all computers have their own onboard clocks built into the motherboards, but these devices are only cheap oscillators and are prone to drift. When you have a network of hundreds or even thousands of PCs and devices, if there was no synchronisation to a single network time source, all the machines could be relaying completely different times, often several minutes apart.

Network Time

To maintain synchronicity all devices on a network need to have access to a single time source, which needs to be as accurate and precise as possible. Furthermore, a network also needs a means of maintaining this time accurately, to avoid drift and maintain synchronisation with each other.

Network time servers do this by using a single, highly accurate time source, which they can then distribute around a network. Furthermore, they continue to check the times on devices such as PC consoles, to make sure there is no drift, and if there is, the network time server adjusts the offending machine it to keep in synchronised with the rest of the network.

Most network time servers run Network Time Protocol (NTP) to achieve this, which is a highly efficient time synchronisation protocol able to maintain accuracies to a few milliseconds. With NTP, a single time source can be distributed to all devices on a network, ensuring complete synchronisation. NTP continually checks and adjusts machines for drift.

Types of Network Time Server

Network time servers come in several flavours. Firstly, there is the radio referenced time server, which receives its time from a radio signal. These transmissions are usually put out by organisations such as the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) or the United States’ National Institute for Standards and Time (NIST). Because these signals are generated by atomic clocks, they are incredibly accurate, enabling networks to utilise this same precision.

Another type of network time server is one that utilises GPS. The GPS network (Global Positioning System) also transits atomic clock signals sent from the satellites. These clock systems are what satellite navigation systems use to work out where they are in the world, but are just as useful as a source of atomic clock time. GPS time servers, receive the signals from a rooftop antenna, and then distributes the time around a network.

Some network time servers use a dual system, which receives the time from both radio and GPS sources. Dual time servers are therefore more accurate, as NTP can take an average of both time sources before it distributes it around a network. They also maintain accuracy when, for instance, interference or outage blocks the radio signal, or when the antenna loses track of the satellites, which is rare, but can happen after a power outage or other system reboot.

Understanding your Network Time Server is a post from: Galleon Systems

Synchronisation is vital for networks operating over the internet. Without synchronisation, there would be chaos. Imagine receiving an email from someone five minutes before it was sent or transferring money to a user whose machine says the money left before it arrived.

Coordinated Universal Time

To avoid all these problems, a single, universal timescale is employed across the internet, which is the same no matter what time zone a machine resides. Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is governed by atomic clocks, so it is highly accurate and stable.

For computer networks to receive UTC, they use NTP servers, which receive the time source from either the GPS network (Global Positioning System), radio transmissions, or from the internet itself. Once received, it is up to NTP to take master time source and distribute it around a network to ensure synchronicity.

Network Time Protocol Explained

NTP is one of the oldest protocols in computing. It dates back to when the internet was still in its infancy, but it has been modified and adapted to ensure it is still relevant. In essence, NTP is an algorithm designed to adjudicate the timing on individual computers and compare them to the UTC time source. If NTP finds and discrepancies, it adjusts the clock on the offending device to ensure it matches. NTP does this with such accuracy that a network of a thousand machines can all be synchronised to within a few milliseconds of each other.

NTP adopts a hierarchical system. Rather than have every device on a network checked with the NTP server and its UTC time source, the protocol allows those machines closest to the server, to be used as reference to machines lower down. This avoids an influx of traffic to the NTP server and allows a single device to maintain synchronisation in a network of hundreds or even thousands of devices.

Leap Seconds

One of the biggest challenges NTP faces in using UTC as a time source is that this universal time is occasionally adjusted to maintain its correlation with the rotation of the Earth. Because the planet is ever so slightly slowing down, the atomic clocks that govern UTC are moiré accurate that the planet itself, so an occasional second is added once or twice a year to ensure there is no drift from day into night (although such a process would take millions of years).

These incremental changes are known as Leap seconds and are identified in the signals sent to most NTP servers. When NTP discovers a leap second is added, it automatically adjusts all devices on a network by repeating a second. Failure to adjust for these leap seconds would result in the network gradually drifting away from UTC and becoming out of sync with the rest of the internet community.

Keeping Time with Network Time Protocol is a post from: Galleon Systems