Why we need accurate time
The CRESCENT acronym spells out the eight main reasons
why accuracy is important in the computing world.
Causality
In a distributed computing environment, it is impossible to determine what caused what unless all devices’ clocks agree.
Recognition
Recognising characteristic behaviours, including anomalies, is only possible if we can see the time relationship between events.
Efficiency
Knowing how long distributed processes take is vital to improve the productiveness of our resources, reduce bottlenecks and speed up work-in-progress.
Syntonisation
Ensuring events happen at the same rate. In particular, ensuring radio transmitters stick to their frequencies, and frame rates in audio and video stay in sync.
Control
Complex control activities, from fly-by-wire to autonomous vehicles, need the data generated by sensors and actuators to be correctly sequenced in time.
Expectations
For forward planning, we need to be able to forecast future outcomes. Unless the data we base forecasts on are correctly timestamped, the forecasts are meaningless.
Navigation
All navigation systems ultimately rely on measuring the communication time delays between the object to be positioned and devices of known position.
Traceability
If we cannot prove the events executed by computers actually happened when they did, how can we trust them as a true record? Algorithms have real-world consequences, so their actions must be auditable and their owners made accountable.
Each application has different accuracy needs
In the virtual world, real time data can only be coherent if time can be distributed ubiquitously at greater accuracy than the speed with which machines measure the world, make decisions and take actions. Today, that sweet spot is around ten to a hundred microseconds today (10 – 100 millionths of a second, or 10μs – 100μs). For example, in financial services, an exchange matching engine matches trades in around 150μs; the MiFID II and CAT regulations require the exchanges to timestamp events to better than 100μs.
Each application also has different traceability needs
To generate a radio wave at the right frequency, you don’t care if the clock is nowhere near UTC as long as it ticks at the correct rate. But if you want to join a Zoom call at the same time as everyone else, traceability to UTC is paramount, but an accuracy of a few seconds is perfectly acceptable.
Ready to learn more?
When thousands of transactions take place every second this level of accuracy and reliability is required to give businesses confidence that their transactions are being properly handled. A highly accurate timing solution like the one outlined above is ready to be rolled out without the purchase and installation of additional timing infrastructure.
Hoptroff Traceable Time as a Service (TTaaS®) is a range of network and software-based timing solutions that are simple, resilient, and cost-effective.
Whether you need the security of verifiable time for compliance, or sub-microsecond delivery into your data centre, our obsession with accuracy will transform your business.
