Time as a Service
Synchronization service offered by TOP-IX to its members and primary partners.
It involves the dissemination of the time signal certified by INRiM through the fiber optic infrastructure managed by TOP-IX.
It involves the dissemination of the time signal certified by INRiM through the fiber optic infrastructure managed by TOP-IX.
How does it work
Time as a Service (TaaS) is delivered in two different modes, depending on the protocols used for distributing the time reference and the users of the service itself:
TOP-IX benefits from a unique collaboration with INRiM, a primary member of the Consortium, which performs the functions of the national metrology institute for Italy, constituting the mainstay of much of metrology, the science of measurement.
INRiM creates, maintains, and develops the national reference standards for the seven base units of the International System of Units (SI) – including the second regarding time – and their respective derived units. Through these standards, it ensures the reliability of measurements at the national level and their comparability at the international level.
TOP-IX delivers synchronization services through its own fiber optic network, directly connected via fiber optic to the Time and Frequency laboratories of INRiM, and its own fabric at the network level.
Gallery
Time as a Service: How to synchronize digital applications and processes
IN PARTICULAR
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is the most commonly used protocol for time synchronization of computer and telecommunications systems.
An accurate and secure system relying on NTP is essential not only for end users of services but also for various industrial and productive sectors at the local, national, and international levels. Examples include air traffic control, banking transactions, file logs on electronic devices used in legal, production, etc. The time deviation between NTP servers and the national UTC (IT) time scale is typically never less than one millisecond.
When servers providing NTP reference sources are reachable via the Internet, they can be exposed to DDoS attacks capable of inhibiting synchronization processes and rendering them inaccessible.
TOP-IX, through its infrastructure, is able to avoid any type of attack because it does not transmit the signal over the public network but over a private network, carefully monitored and protected. For the members connected directly to TOP-IX, a dedicated VLAN for this specific service is indeed available.
The service is provided on a port (dedicated or shared with other services) of the Fabric at all TOP-IX PoPs, with redundant NTP servers in Turin and Milan.
In many sectors, synchronization needs require greater accuracy than that provided by the NTP protocol. An example is provided by the MiFID II directive of ESMA, which requires the following minimum requirements for online trading operations:
- 100 microseconds of accuracy compared to UTC;
- 1 microsecond of granularity.
Although such levels of accuracy can also be achieved by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System such as GPS or Galileo) sources, this mode has the following limitations:
- the service occurs through radio signals which, as such, can be susceptible to interference from external sources;
- in some cases, the system is managed by entities outside the EU, and the accuracy is subject to the will of the operator (the U.S. Department of Defense in the case of GPS);
- the regulations (as in the case of MiFID II) require that systems be referenced to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), derived from national atomic clocks.
The PTP TaaS service overcomes these limitations as it is provided based on the Italian time sample managed by INRiM through a fiber infrastructure and not via radio. It guarantees the standards required by the European regulations mentioned earlier and is traceable to the UTC (IT) reference.
The service is currently available in the following locations of the TOP-IX network:
ITGATE ( Corso Svizzera 185, Torino)
IRIDEOS ( Via Caldera 21, Milano)
Based on specific market needs, it can also be extended to other key nodes of the TOP-IX network.
To these, following a collaboration with ARUBA, the Data Center of Ponte San Pietro (BG) is added.
The service is available to TOP-IX Consortium members and external entities.
IN PARTICULAR
Protocollo NTP TaaS
NTP TaaS
The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is the most commonly used protocol for time synchronization of computer and telecommunications systems.
An accurate and secure system relying on NTP is essential not only for end users of services but also for various industrial and productive sectors at the local, national, and international levels. Examples include air traffic control, banking transactions, file logs on electronic devices used in legal, production, etc. The time deviation between NTP servers and the national UTC (IT) time scale is typically never less than one millisecond.
When servers providing NTP reference sources are reachable via the Internet, they can be exposed to DDoS attacks capable of inhibiting synchronization processes and rendering them inaccessible.
TOP-IX, through its infrastructure, is able to avoid any type of attack because it does not transmit the signal over the public network but over a private network, carefully monitored and protected. For the members connected directly to TOP-IX, a dedicated VLAN for this specific service is indeed available.
The service is provided on a port (dedicated or shared with other services) of the Fabric at all TOP-IX PoPs, with redundant NTP servers in Turin and Milan.
Servizio PTP TaaS
PTP TaaS
In many sectors, synchronization needs require greater accuracy than that provided by the NTP protocol. An example is provided by the MiFID II directive of ESMA, which requires the following minimum requirements for online trading operations:
- 100 microseconds of accuracy compared to UTC;
- 1 microsecond of granularity.
Although such levels of accuracy can also be achieved by GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System such as GPS or Galileo) sources, this mode has the following limitations:
- the service occurs through radio signals which, as such, can be susceptible to interference from external sources;
- in some cases, the system is managed by entities outside the EU, and the accuracy is subject to the will of the operator (the U.S. Department of Defense in the case of GPS);
- the regulations (as in the case of MiFID II) require that systems be referenced to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), derived from national atomic clocks.
The PTP TaaS service overcomes these limitations as it is provided based on the Italian time sample managed by INRiM through a fiber infrastructure and not via radio. It guarantees the standards required by the European regulations mentioned earlier and is traceable to the UTC (IT) reference.
Dettagli del Servizio TaaS
Service Details
The service is currently available in the following locations of the TOP-IX network:
ITGATE ( Corso Svizzera 185, Torino)
IRIDEOS ( Via Caldera 21, Milano)
Based on specific market needs, it can also be extended to other key nodes of the TOP-IX network.
To these, following a collaboration with ARUBA, the Data Center of Ponte San Pietro (BG) is added.
The service is available to TOP-IX Consortium members and external entities.
