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Free Clock Democratizes Atomic Accuracy
schliz writes "A new, trial network of software-based clocks could give data centers and networks the accuracy of an atomic clock for free. The so-called RADclock analyses information from multiple computers across the internet by collecting the time from each machine's internal quartz clock, the time it takes for this information to be transmitted across the network, and comparing all the information collected to determine a time that is most likely to be accurate, so machines are calibrated across the network with up to microsecond accuracy — as good as that provided by a $50,000 atomic clock, researchers say."
RTTs to under a microsecond! Whoa! That'll make.... absolutely no difference at all to me. As mentioned, if I care about exact time, I use a GPS receiver (two for redundancy).
If I don't care about exact time, then something accurate to within a second or so is just fine... ntp_time fits the bill. If I'm not comparing time sensitive records across sites, I don't even care if the clocks on a site are correct, only that they're in sync.
Yes, this is development of a new system for time. Good for them. It deserves an "attaboy" in an email message, not a story on slashdot.