The service targets Finance, Online Gaming, Broadcast and other latency-sensitive businesses.
Financial firms rely on precise, reliable and secure time synchronization in order to track the sequence of transactions. Industries such as e-sports and online gaming sites need exact time stamps to track the chronological order of play in multiplayer games. Media companies need time synchroinization to accurately sync audio and video feeds.
Equinix, the digital infrastructure company, is launching a new platform to meet these needs. The company calls their new offering Equinix Precision Time and it is an edge service available over Equinix Fabric.
Introducing TaaS – “Time as a service”
The company calls their new platform “time as a service,” and says it can help customers overcome the challenges posed by reliance on the public internet or GPS antennas for time synchronization.
Equinix announced the new service in a press release this week. “As enterprises today digitally transform, the need for precise and secure time synchronization of their network infrastructure is critical,” they said.
“For many global businesses, including those within the financial services, online gaming, government, manufacturing, and media and entertainment sectors, Time as a Service is essential for meeting compliance requirements and maintaining precise time synchronization across the network to support seamless operations of their digital infrastructure.”
Vulnerabilities and risks pose challenges to companies relying on current infrastructure
Companies that rely on precise synchronization face challenges such as security vulnerabilities and complexities with installing traditional antenna-based GPS timing infrastructure solutions, they said.
In addition, cybersecurity risks can arise from sourcing time from the internet. These problems have created significant challenges for many latency-sensitive businesses, Equinix claims. They perceive a need to deploy time services with greater agility and without additional capital expense.
“To help businesses overcome these challenges, Equinix Precision Time is designed to deliver secure and reliable time as a service that supports network timing protocols such as NTP and PTP in a cost-effective way,” according to the company.
Equinix Precision Time is a robust solution delivered via Equinix Fabric that allows organizations to bypass the public internet for secure and reliable time synchronization. It aims to help companies looking to improve application efficiency and network agility, they say. It also helps minimize reliance on the public internet and GPS antennas for time synchronization.
Integration with Equinix Fabric also allows Equinix Precision Time customers to access digital ecosystems and seamlessly connect with other physical or virtual services available on the Equinix platform, the company added.
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