Network Time Protocol: Here Is What You Need to Know

The economy loses an average of $7.4 billion per day (or 50 million hours) due to improperly filled out timesheets. This means that almost every company or business that relies on timesheets can be easily impacted financially.

For companies to realize their targets, it essential that time is used effectively. As such, network time should be synchronized and timesheets should be filled out accurately by all employees. This is where network time protocol (NTP) comes in.

What Is Network Time Protocol?

NTP is an internet protocol that synchronizes the clocks in a network. This system was developed at the University of Delaware by David mills in 1981. It offers scalability and is designed to provide high degrees of accuracy for businesses of all shapes and sizes.

For it to work, a time clock server relays the accurate time to the clock system. First, a time-request exchange with the clock server is initiated by the NTP client. Once the exchange is complete, they can adjust the local clock to match the server computer’s clock.

All devices (including clocks, phones, and computers) in the network are then able to request and receive time from the time clock server. With NTP time clocks, organizations can synchronize operations, streamlining company efficiency as all the devices in the network are accurate.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and NTP

Coordinated Universal is the standard by which all time zones are based. Keep in mind that it is a standard of time and not a time zone. As such, it is the same all over the world and is not affected by daylight savings.

When it comes to UTC, there are two components. These include international atomic time and universal time. International atomic time, or TAI, is the scale that is used to determine the speed at which clocks should tick. To ensure the system is accurate, there are 200 atomic clocks located in different regions of the world.

On the other hand, universal time is determined by the earth’s rotation. Thanks to TAI and UTC, it is possible for countries across 24 time zones to synchronize their clocks using NTP.

This allows organizations to synchronize their time on their device with high degrees of precision. In fact, small networks can benefit with accuracies that are within tens of milliseconds over the internet.

Why Is Time Synchronization Important?

It is easy to assume that computer clocks are always accurate, but that is simply not the case. This is because most clocks are set by hand within a minute or two of local time. After that, they are prone to drift by as much as a second a day.

With modern computer networks, the clock system must be synchronized. This enables institutions to accurately plan their operations, which is vital for securing, managing, planning, and debugging networks.

As processes become automated and digitized, a time clock server is integral in…

• The telecommunications industry for transferring large chunks of data
• Managing power distribution for utility companies
• The financial sector to ensure transactions are traceable through accurate time stamping
• Synchronizing clocking-in systems to enable companies to manage operations
• Speed and CCTV cameras that need to have accurate timestamps
• Satellite navigation as a variation of one microsecond will cause a 300-meter positioning error

Synchronization helps with:

• Tracking network usage, security breaches, and ensures time logs are accurate
• Providing accurate time to billing services and other applications
• Reducing confusion with shared file systems
• Ensuring distributed procedures follow the proper sequence
• Boosting security as timestamps will be accurate

Contact TimeMachines Today

Accurate time helps improve customer service, synchronizes operations, and boosts productivity. When all these benefits come together, they translate to increased profitability and business growth.

To ensure that your network times in your company are accurate and reliable, you need to set up an in house time clock server. With NTP, you will have a cost-effective and user-friendly channel for synchronizing time.