Symmetricom Announces Carrier Class Network Time Protocol (NTP) for Next Generation Telecom Networks: TimeHub's NTP Server Card Supports Quality
"Carriers are finding that 'best effort' enterprise class NTP is not sufficient for QoS assurance in packet networks and advanced services, such as IPTV and billing record management," commented Barry Dropping, senior director product line management for Symmetricom. "With the introduction of Symmetricom's high performance NTP servers on a card, the BITS platform can now deliver carrier class NTP to meet demanding NGN packet timing requirements, providing performance, scalability, availability and security for delivery of advanced services."
Telecommunication carriers have typically deployed enterprise class NTP servers in central locations to provide coarse time stamping for applications such as billing records and time correlation of alarm events. NTP that was in the domain of the data center could be distributed widely across the network since accuracies of half a second were generally adequate, and transaction rate loading was low. However, NGN applications such as IPTV are highly dependant on carrier class NTP. Time coordination of massive amounts of digital content in the head end serving locations is reliant on accurate and secure NTP timestamps.
Symmetricom's NTP server cards are fully integrated into the TimeHub BITS system. NTP cards can be installed as single servers or redundant pairs in any available master or expansion shelf output slot. Already in large scale deployment with major North American carriers, the TimeHub 5500 is the next generation BITS designed for carrier class networks. It is a modular, fully redundant timing distribution system that tracks incoming timing references and qualifies the signals against network timing standards. It then filters and distributes precise timing to all equipment in the central office.
High performance features of the carrier-class NTP server card include:
-- High Availability and Protection - Carrier class reliability with full redundancy; five nines availability
-- High Performance - Superior Accuracy with Hardware Time Stamping
-- Card Based Scalability - Capacity scales with network growth
-- Security and Authentication - Enhanced protection for mission critical applications
-- NEBS Level 3 Certification - Carrier class equipment
Availability
The new carrier class NTP server card will be available in March 2007 and is scheduled for lab testing with major North American carriers.
For more information, visit: http://ngn.symmetricom.com/lp/CCNGN/.
About Symmetricom, Inc.
As a worldwide leader in precise time and frequency products and services, Symmetricom provides "Perfect Timing" to customers around the world. Since 1985, the company's solutions have helped define the world's time and frequency standards, delivering precision, reliability and efficiency to wireline and wireless networks, instrumentation and testing applications and network time management. Deployed in more than 90 countries, the company's synchronization solutions include primary reference sources, building integrated timing supplies (BITS), GPS timing receivers, time and frequency distribution systems, network time servers and ruggedized oscillators. Symmetricom also incorporates technologies including Universal Timing Interface (UTI), Network Time Protocol (NTP), Precision Time Protocol (IEEE 1588), and others supporting the world's migration to Next Generation Networks (NGN). Symmetricom is based in San Jose, Calif., with offices worldwide. For more information, visit www.symmetricom.com.