The document discusses challenges and solutions for precise time synchronization in data centers, particularly emphasizing the importance of accuracy across various industries such as finance, manufacturing, and broadcasting. It highlights the evolving landscape of IT infrastructure towards hybrid cloud environments and the significance of time as-a-service offerings. Additionally, the document outlines customers' approaches, expectations for reliable timing services, and the infrastructure provided by Equinix to meet these needs.

1. ©2019 Equinix.com
Challenges with Data
Center Synchronization
and Options for Precise
Synchronization
ITSF Pre-Event Tutorial
October 6th 2020
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2. © 2020 Equinix
Equinix is the world’s digital infrastructure company.
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3. ©2020 Equinix.com© 2020 Equinix 3
Cross
Connects
Equinix Internet
Exchange™
Equinix
Connect
Equinix
Fabric™
IBX®
Data Centers
IBX
Smartview™
xScale™
Data Centers
Edge
Services
Interconnection
Services
Data Center
Services
Network
Edge
Secure
Edge
Bare
Metal
Equinix Is Uniquely Positioned to Help You Succeed

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Hybrid Clouds and Interconnected Data Center Networks
Connecting private clouds, public clouds and enterprises globally
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PERFORMANCE HUB
Customer’s Digital Edge
1G/10G Ports
ISPSD WAN
Internet
MPLS
Metro
Ethernet
Remote
Site
HQ
WAN
Network
SD WAN
Controller
Data Center NSP
Router
Firewall
Compute Storage
Open Banking
API Gateway
Equinix Cloud
Exchange
Fabric®
Load
Balancing
NSP
On-prem
Access Points

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Data Center Trends…
Future of IT infrastructure is everywhere…
… the role of the corporate data center is shrinking
It’s a hybrid world, blending cloud and edge…
… core workloads are shifting to the edge
Future infrastructure is an ecosystem of partners…
…cloud is not the end game, it’s part of the conversation
These ecosystems are locally and privately interconnecting…
… achieving differentiated advantage and efficiency

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Timing Requirements in Data Centers…
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Precise Time is Critical In Data Center Environment
The level of accuracy depends on industry use case and application
Financial Services
Banks need highly accurate
time (in the order of single digit
µs) to maintain an ordered
sequence of transactions
Enterprise Applications
A narrow drift offset is needed for
distributed transactional apps/DBs,
accurate ordering of logs, preventing
online attacks (sequence of events)
Manufacturing
Robotics and automated operations
on the manufacturing floor require
precise time synchronization across
different digital systems
M&E – Gaming, Sports
Streaming
E-Sports and gaming require precise
time sync to ensure the chronological
order of play in multi-player games
(e.g. bullet hitting a target)
M&E – Broadcasting
Broadcasting industry requires
accurate synchronicity between
audio and video feeds to prevent “lip-
sync” errors.

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Data Center Customers’ Approach Today
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Pros:
• Sub-microsecond precision at
the receiver
• Control and ownership
Cons:
• Procure, setup and operate
• Security and redundancy
• Build and train staff
• Scale and support across
locations
Pros:
• Microsecond-level accuracy
• Easier than DIY
Cons:
• Only available in specific
locations
• Scalability, multiple
dependencies
• Reliability and SLA levels
Pros:
• Easy to connect
• Free (ntp.org, other time
services)
Cons:
• Accuracy levels
• Unreliable – No guaranteed
SLA
• Security – easily susceptible to
attacks
Do-It-Yourself
(GNSS Antenna + Colocation) Time as-a-Service Free Time-Internet

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Expectations and Demands
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Accurate and Precise
• Precise time globally 24x7
• Average Accuracies between 1-100 microseconds
Traceable and Compliance
• Traceability to national labs
• Meet HIPAA, FINRA, MIFID II standards
Standard Protocol Support
• PTP, NTP
Security and Reliability
• Low-jitter, secure networks
• Bypass Internet
• GNSS backups, anti spoofing/jamming
• Multi-tenancy, authenticated.
As-a-Service
• Fully managed service, requiring no maintenance.
• Single click installation and service dashboard
• Fully automated provisioning with SLA
Highly Available
• Multiple levels of service redundancy
Monitoring-enabled
• UI-based monitoring service
• Alerting capabilities
Time and Synchronization in Data Centers

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How Data-Center customers can get time
as-a-service?
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11. ©2020 Equinix.com
*As measured from January 1 - December 31, 2019, for IBX Operations.
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How Networks contribute to Precise Time as-a-service

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210+
Data Centers
56
Metros
26
Countries
>99.9999%*
Uptime Record
*As measured from January 1 - December 31, 2019, for IBX Operations.
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Equinix Fabric
Low-Jitter, Secure, Global, Direct, Dynamic

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– Leverage Equinix Fabric
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Precise, Reliable, Flexible as-a-service

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Deploying Reliable and Highly-Available Timing Architecture
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Example deployments at scale
Customer’s
device in TR2
PTP NTP
Edge Precision Time sites with GNSS Reference with Atomic clocks as backups
Equinix metro locations where you can connect to Edge Precision Time Service
over ECX.
GNSS
Reference
with
Atomic
clocks as
backups
Grand-
masters
Boundary
Clock
Switches
ECX
Fabric
Primary DC Secondary DC
AMER-East-Coast Service Location
AMER-West-Coast
Service Location

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United States of America
Canada
Typical PTP Accuracy ~5µs – Achieved over Data-center networks
Coast-to-Coast North America Region
Time Synchronization Center
Equinix ECX Fabric
Equinix Time Reference Locations
Achieved ~1-2µs
within the metro
over Equinix Fabric.

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• Private Connectivity over ECX
• No exposure to internet,
• User Authenticated
• Secured end-to-end connectivity over
private network
Ensuring Secure and Reliable Time Synchronization
• Multitenancy
• Private IP space
• Software-enabled and controlled time
distribution
End-to-End Single Broadcast Domain, Private IP space

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Challenges Still To Be Addressed
• Seamless synchronization of Virtual machines
in hybrid cloud environments
• Legal Traceability across national labs globally
• Sub-microseconds of accuracy with Software-
enabled time service globally
• Meeting executive order on resilient timing for
critical infrastructure
• Archiving of synchronization data for audit
purposes

18. Thank You
Reach us at:
rramakrishnan@equinix.com
ansharma@equinix.com