Honey, I shrunk the clock: Datum squeezes timing onto chipset

Synchronization. It's the heartbeat of the central office. But like other key features of the telecommunications infrastructure-intelligence, service creation and quality of service measurement - synchronization and timing soon may get pushed to the edge of the network.

In today's circuit-switched world - and it is still circuit-switched - timing is everything. Voice and data flow in tiny time slots, arriving and departing according to a master clock. However, the world will not remain circuit-switched forever. As carriers rely more on IP as a transport for voice, data and video, their requirements for synchronization also are changing.

Datum last week introduced its TimePieces synchronization technology, offering a family of software-configurable chipsets that telecom equipment manufacturers can use to embed timing and synchronization capabilities into their equipment.

"As bandwidth requirements increase and as the carriers are being required to support more digital and IP traffic, the requirement for synchronization gets driven lower and farther out into network topologies," said Jack Rice, president of Datum-Austin.

Datum, a supplier of traditional synchronization solutions to major service providers, is working with vendors to embed the technology in equipment ranging from Class 5 switches to edge devices such as routers.

Although routers typically operate in a non-synchronized IP environment, technologies such as voice over IP are forcing vendors to rethink timing and synchronization issues. And carriers are prompting some of that rethinking.

"We have had, over the last 12 to 24 months, multiple requests for proposal for vendor equipment, which included gigabit and terabit routers, and in those requirements, we have included requirements for synchronization distribution," said G. Scott Henderson, distinguished technical member of network systems engineering for MCI WorldCom and former vice-chair of the ANSI committee T-1 working group T1X1.3 for synchronization.

Datum, in turn, received requests from vendors for board-level synchronization solutions. Rather than customize solutions for each vendor, Datum shrunk the technology onto a chipset. The resulting TimePieces synchronization technology is patent-pending and will bridge the gap between the telecom and datacom equipment worlds with regards to synchronization.

TimePieces features a software component called the TimePieces Interface Bus that lets individual manufacturers command and control capabilities through a parallel interface and eventually through an Ethernet port. The chipset is intelligent and auto-configurable so manufacturers don't need in-house synchronization expertise.

"There is a need for the manufacturers to bring [their] products to market very quickly, with synchronization being a requirement of their customers. But it is typically not a readily accessible technology or core competency of these equipment manufacturers," said Dave Figge, director of product marketing for TimePieces at Datum.

But timing and synchronization have been core to carrier networks. A key to making next generation IP-based networks work with today's time division multiplexing networks is interoperability.

"If you mean to do voice or interface with the [public network], you have to interface with the time base that is the basis of the [public network]," Henderson said. "Until voice over IP has a critical mass where it is some fairly significant percentage [of traffic], you have to do interworking with the legacy network."

Interworking with a legacy network requires synchronization. "Interoperability is a key driver in this market. As it becomes more of a multivendor environment, having a standardized timing device will also be key," said David Schwartz, senior analyst at Dataquest.

Datum will target vendors of switching equipment, ATM switches, routers, Sonet transmission equipment, digital cross-connect equipment and multiplexers for TimePieces. The product will be available in April.