Time distribution

The need for time synchronisation is omnipresent in industrial companies, where the accuracy of operations can have a significant impact on security, productivity and costs. Technologies such as NTP, IEEE 1588v2 (PTP) or IEEE 802.1AS are essential for synchronising systems present on the same network with each other or with reference clocks.

Beyond a simple time display, an airport must deliver a reliable, accurate and highly secure time to all equipment present in the different airport terminals.

An exact time enables to coordinate operations across the airport network, to organise departures and arrivals, to anticipate delays, etc. A single time reference must be deployed across all devices on the IT network to achieve synchronisation (clocks, computers, check-in counters, video surveillance systems, and so on). To meet the need of high time reliability and ongoing availability of time information, airports equip their control tower and operations centre with high-precision time servers.

In addition to displaying the time, a railway station or an underground station must distribute a reliable, accurate and secure time to all its equipment.

Indeed, an accurate time allows the railway network to operate correctly: orchestrating departures and arrivals, anticipating delays, informing passengers, and so on. A single time reference must be deployed across all the IT network to synchronise all equipment: clocks, computers, ticket machines, video surveillance systems, radio communications and telephones. In order to meet this need, railway stations and underground stations are being equipped with time servers and specific clocks.