Symmetricom
Encyclopedia
Symmetricom, Inc. develops, manufactures, and supplies timekeeping technology to customers in industry and government worldwide that require extremely precise synchronization. Symmetricom products support today’s precise timing standards, including GPS-based timing, IEEE 1588 (PTP), Network Time Protocol
Network Time Protocol
The Network Time Protocol is a protocol and software implementation for synchronizing the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Originally designed by David L...

 (NTP), Synchronous Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....

 and Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications
DOCSIS
Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification is an international telecommunications standard that permits the addition of high-speed data transfer to an existing cable TV system...

 (DOCSIS®) timing.

Products include hydrogen maser
Hydrogen maser
A Hydrogen maser, also known as hydrogen frequency standard, is a specific type of maser that uses the intrinsic properties of the hydrogen atom to serve as a precision frequency reference....

s, rubidium
Rubidium standard
A rubidium standard or rubidium atomic clock is a frequency standard in which a specified hyperfine transition of electrons in rubidium-87 atoms is used to control the output frequency...

 and cesium atomic standards
Caesium standard
A caesium standard or caesium atomic clock is a primary frequency standard in which electronic transitions between the two hyperfine ground states of caesium-133 atoms are used to control the output frequency. They are one of the most accurate types of atomic clock...

, temperature and oven controlled crystal oscillators, miniature and chip scale atomic clock
Atomic clock
An atomic clock is a clock that uses an electronic transition frequency in the microwave, optical, or ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum of atoms as a frequency standard for its timekeeping element...

s, network time servers, network sync management systems, cable TV timekeeping solutions, telecom synchronization supply units (SSUs), and timing test sets.
Symmetricom is the world’s only commercial supplier of cesium atomic standards (atomic clocks).
By weighted average, Symmetricom atomic clocks contribute over 90% of UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, the world time standard). The BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) calculates UTC by averaging the combined contributions of the national laboratories of its member countries.

In addition to its products, Symmetricom also offers various lifecycle services including: engineering and installation, operations and support programs, maintenance, training and certification programs and professional development courses as well as consulting and other professional services to support customers of its product lines.
Symmetricom is headquartered in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...

 with research and development centers in Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

 and Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly, Massachusetts
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 39,343 on , which differs by no more than several hundred from the 39,862 obtained in the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community on the North Shore, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides...

.

Industry Firsts

Symmetricom or its predecessor companies introduced a number of key timing innovations, including:
  • The first commercially available chip scale atomic clock
  • The first commercially available miniature atomic clock
  • The first space-qualified cesium clock launched into space
  • The first commercial secure network time server
  • The first carrier-class network synchronization solution for offices and nodes located at the telecom network’s edge
  • The first IEEE 1588-based solution for time and frequency synchronization applications
  • The first DOCSIS® Timing Interface (DTI) Server to be qualified by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc.
    CableLabs
    Founded in 1988 by cable television operating companies, Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. is a not-for-profit research and development consortium that has cable operators as its members. System operators from around the world are eligible to be members. Members dues are based on revenue...

     (CableLabs®)
  • The first single-box all-digital phase noise and Allan Deviation test set
  • The first commercially available active hydrogen maser with stand-alone cavity switching auto tuning

  • Symmetricom sued for patent assignment issues (US6370629)and other IP related issues pertaining to its sale of the Trusted Timing Infrastructure technology in violation of its limited license to use it - See Santa Cruz Superior Court matter CV165643.

Organization

Symmetricom operates through two business units: the Communications Business Unit and the Government and Enterprise Business Unit.

The Communications Business Unit provides synchronization products to wireless, wireline cable service provider and electric utility markets. These products synchronize wireline communications, provide the precise timing needed for DOCSIS 3.0 broadband services, and provide synchronization and timing support to wireless base stations deployments and smart power grids.

The Government and Enterprise Business Unit supplies solutions to aerospace, defense, metrology, timekeeping and IT infrastructure markets including the Power and Finance verticals. Network synchronization solutions include timing management software and dedicated NTP and PTP time servers. Time and frequency solutions include secure GPS receiver technology, scalable GPS receivers and GPS timing distribution platforms. Components and systems that address specific space, defense, and avionics (SDA) requirements include highly reliable and ruggedized precision frequency references (atomic standards). Symmetricom also provides commercial time scale systems designed to function as a national timing laboratory.

History

Symmetricom, Inc. was incorporated in 1956 as Redcor Development Corporation, which developed, manufactured and marketed a variety of electronic products. In 1977, Redcor merged with Silicon General and the combined companies formed Silicon General, Inc. Since then it has grown and become broadly diversified within advance timing, often by acquiring companies or divisions of companies targeting other markets for timing and frequency products. Symmetricom has also diversified organically such as when it entered the computer network synchronization market, shipping its first product in 1986.
As of the late 1970s, the many companies contributing their “genetic code” to today’s Symmetricom were mostly small independent companies, each targeting a different part of the market for precise time and frequency products.

These companies included Sigma Tau Standards Corporation, a company founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...

 in 1977 by Harry Peters, who built the first commercially available active hydrogen maser — the MHM 2010 — one of the most precise instruments for measuring time ever built, with several dozen of the original model still in use today at leading national laboratories around the world.

Other companies were Irvine, California-based Efratom and Beverly, Massachusetts-based Frequency and Time Systems. The former supplied the first atomic frequency standard launched into space aboard Navigation Technology Satellite (NTS-1, launched in 1974), a precursor to the GPS. The later supplied the first space-qualified cesium clock launched into space (aboard NTS-2, launched in 1977).
In 1985, Silicon General acquired Telecom Solutions, a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment for synchronizing digital telephone offices and networks. Typical customers were telephone companies and private network operators looking to precisely synchronize diverse telephone network elements such as digital switches, digital cross-connect systems and multiplexers for customers who rely upon high quality data transmission.

In 1993, Silicon General changed its name to Symmetricom. It also created a wholly owned subsidiary, Linfinity, owning all the assets of the company’s semiconductor business. Linfinity products included linear and mixed signal, standard and custom integrated circuits (ICs) as well as modules primarily for use in power supply, data communications and signal conditioning applications in commercial, industrial, and defense and space markets. In 1999, Symmetricom sold Linfinity to Microsemi of Irvine, California to focus exclusively on its advanced timing business.

Also in 1993, Symmetricom acquired UK-based Navstar Limited, a manufacturer of systems that use global positioning (GPS) technology to determine precise geographic locations and elevations within a few centimeters. Symmetricom incorporated Navstar’s scalable GPS receiver technology into its synchronization products.

By 1997, Datum-Bancomm of San Jose, California, a manufacturer of timing equipment for the wireless telecommunications market founded in 1969, had acquired Sigma Tau Standards, Efratom, and Frequency and Time Systems — forming Datum’s Trusted Time Division. In 1999, Datum also acquired Digital Delivery, a best-of-breed company in Lexington, Massachusetts for distributing secure time over IP networks. Symmetricom bought Datum in 2002, creating the Time, Test and Measurement (TT&M) division, based in Santa Rosa, California, which existed until the current corporate structure was formed in 2010, consisting of the Communications Business Unit and Government and Enterprise Business Unit.

In 2002, Symmetricom also acquired Santa Rosa, California-based TrueTime Inc., which also became part of TT&M. Founded in 1999 as a spinoff of Houston-based OYO Corporation USA, TrueTime designed, developed, manufactured and marketed precision time and frequency signal generating components. These included: computer bus cards, network time servers, time code products and time displays. Markets included telecommunications, computer networking, e-commerce and aerospace.

Complementing the Datum and TrueTime acquisitions was the acquisition of Agilent Technologies’ frequency and time standards product line in 2005. Among the products Symmetricom acquired from Agilent was the HP 5071 cesium atomic clock, the first microprocessor-based cesium clock and descendant of the HP 5061 (one of the world’s smallest cesium clocks in 1964).
In 2006, Symmetricom acquired Timing Solutions Corporation — a leading supplier of precise timing systems to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and other government agencies – located in Boulder, Colorado.
Symmetricom later developed and brought to market smaller atomic clocks as part of its Quantum® family. These included the first commercially available miniature atomic clock, the rubidium SA.3Xm in 2007, and the first commercially available chip scale atomic clock, the cesium CSAC SA.45s in 2011, a co-development project of Symmetricom’s Beverly Massachusetts R&D facility and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
Draper Laboratory is an American not-for-profit research and development organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Draper focuses on the design, development, and deployment of advanced technology solutions to problems in national security, space exploration, health care and energy.Originally...

 (Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...

).

Timeline

1956 — Symmetricom founded as Redcor Development Corporation

1969 — Datum founded

1964 — HP introduces HP 5061 cesium atomic clock (followed by 5071, the first microprocessor-based model, later sold to Agilent, then Symmetricom)

1972 — Efratom founded – later to be bought by Datum (1995) and eventually become Symmetricom's Irvine operation when Symmetricom acquires Datum (2002)

1972 — TrueTime founded

1974 — First Atomic Frequency Standard (built by Efratom) launched into space

1977 — Redcor merges with Silicon General and the combined companies form Silicon General, Inc.

1977 — Sigma Tau Standards Corporation founded by Harry Peters, which built the MHM 2010, the only commercially available active hydrogen maser with stand-alone cavity switching auto tuning

1977 — Navigation Technology Satellite (NTS-II) employs first space-qualified cesium clock launched into space (built by Frequency and Time Systems)

1983 — Datum acquires Frequency and Time Systems

1986 — Symmetricom ships first network synchronization product

1995 — Datum acquires Irvine, CA-based Efratom

1993 — Silicon General changes its name to Symmetricom and launches Linfinity, a new subsidiary owning all the assets of its semiconductor business

1993 — Symmetricom acquires Navstar

1997 — Datum acquires Sigma Tau Corporation

1999 — Datum acquires Digital Delivery of Lexington, MA, a leading provider of secure information and management software – forms eBusness Division, later to become Trusted Time Division*

1999 — Symmetricom sells Linfinity to Microsemi Corporation of Irvine, CA. to focus exclusively on the advanced timing business
1999 — Symmetricom acquires HP’s Communications Synchronization business

2000 — Symmetricom spins off Navstar’s miniature antenna technology in a management buyout that forms Sarantel
Sarantel
Sarantel is a Wellingborough, UK-based manufacturer of miniature low-proximity antennas used in cell phones, PDAs, GPS, and other communication devices. The company has offices in England and the US...

, a Wellingborough, UK, based manufacturer of miniature low-proximity antennas used in cell phones, PDAs, GPS and other communication devices.

2001 — Symmetricom opens its first Asia Pacific office, in Hong Kong

2002 — Datum Trusted Time Division introduces Trusted Time SyncServer S100, the first commercial secure Network Time Server at the RSA Conference 2002
2002 — Symmetricom acquires TrueTime and Datum

2002 — Symmetricom forms Timing, Test and Measurement unit, based in Santa Rosa, CA, consolidating TrueTime and Datum acquisitions

2003 — Symmetricom launches IP Network Timing product line within the Timing, Test and Measurement Division

2003 — Symmetricom shuts down Trusted Time Division*

2003 — Symmetricom introduces TimeProvider, the first carrier-class network synchronization solution for offices and nodes located at the telecom network’s edge

2005 — Symmetricom acquires Agilent Technologies frequency and time standards product line

2005 — Symmetricom becomes the first company to offer an IEEE 1588-based solution for time and frequency synchronization applications

2005 — Symmetricom acquired Agilent Technologies timing solutions product line

2006 — Symmetricom acquires Boulder, Colorado-based Timing Solutions Corporation, a leading supplier of precise timing systems to NIST and other government agencies

2006 — Symmetricom introduces TimePictra, a state-of-the-art carrier class management platform for controlling multiple types of vendor synchronization network elements on a local and global scale.

2007 – Symmetricom acquired QoSmetrics SA, integrated into QoE Assurance Divisions

2007 — Symmetricom introduces world’s first commercially available miniature atomic clock, the rubidium SA.3Xm family

2007 — Symmetricom introduces TimeCreator 1000, the first DOCSIS® Timing Interface (DTI) Server to be qualified by Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®)

2009 — Symmetricom announces world’s first single-box all-digital phase noise and Allan Deviation test set

2010 — Symmetricom sells QoE business to Cheetah Technologies, LP of Pittsburgh, PA

2011 — Symmetricom introduces world’s first commercially available chip scale atomic clock (CSAC SA 45s)

2011 — Symmetricom establishes the SyncWorld™ Ecosystem Program to enable interoperability and cooperation among technology vendors who deliver on service providers’ advanced network requirements

Communications Business Unit Products

Symmetricom products provide a frequency and time reference which enables digital switching, routing and transmission systems to operate at a common, synchronized clock rate — thereby aligning time slots, which increases bandwidth utilization while minimizing signal degradation and reducing errors throughout a network. These products fall into two broad categories: synchronization products, embedded products.

Synchronization products leverage atomic clock and GPS technologies and provide for the generation, distribution, and management of communications synchronization infrastructure. They include:
  • Primary Reference Sources (PRS) — consist of the GPS-based TimeSource® family, the cesium-based TimeCesium® family of products, and the industry’s first packet based called the TimeProvider® 1500.

  • Core Synchrnonization Solutions — consist of the carrier-class SSU 2000 and TimeHub®, both intelligent sync distribution systems, and carrier class Network Time Protocol (NTP) & IEEE 1588 (PTP) plug-in server cards supporting critical applications for next generation networks.

  • Edge Synchronization Solutions — consists of TimeProvider 5000 IEEE 1588 Grandmaster, TimeProvider 1000, 500 and 100 solutions. TimeCreator®, the first DOCSIS Timing Interface (DTI) server qualified by CableLabs®.

  • Embedded Synchronization Solutions -- include sub-system modules, software, Rubidium and GPS accessories which network equipment manufacturers require to achieve precise timing for communications devices requiring high precision frequency and timing such as base stations, routers, switches, microwave radios, and femto cells and small cells.

  • Network Management Systems — consist of TimePictra, the carrier class HP-UX based system, TimeScan, the PC-based system, and TimeCraft advanced GUI management tool.

Government and Enterprise Business Unit Products

Government and Enterprise Business Unit products generally fall into the following broad categories:
  • GPS & time code instrumentation products — consist of a wide variety of general purpose and secure GPS receivers, time code generation, translation, measurement and distribution products.

  • Precision frequency references — form the basis of absolute time and frequency in many systems and applications such as telecommunications timing, calibration and metrology laboratories, satellite tracking stations and space-based master time standards.

  • Enterprise network time server's" — consist of products that bring an entire network of computers into precise time synchronization.

  • Test & measurement equipment — includes a family of phase noise and Allan deviation test sets designed to measure critical performance specifications of precision time and frequency sources.

  • Bus level timing — includes plug-in cards for computers provide precise timing to computers equipped with common bus components. Symmetricom also offers software development tools to speed the integration of these cards into applications.

  • Space, defense and avionics — consists of ruggedized/militarized quartz and atomic clock platforms designed to deliver precise timing despite severe environmental hazards such as extreme acceleration and high levels of radiation.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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