ITSF 2025 delivered packed rooms, sharp questions and the kind of conversations you only get when timing experts meet in person. One theme in particular stood out during the conference: how to ensure resilient timing beyond simple backup. Here are five key pieces of advice we shared with visitors at our booth.
1. Fuse your timing, don’t just switch it
If there was one topic at this year’s ITSF that came up again and again, it was this: relying on a single satellite source is never a safe plan for critical infrastructure. Modern timing systems need to combine multiple references, measure and compare them in real time, score their quality, detect jamming or spoofing, and decide when to hold over or re‑track quickly. All of this should happen behind the scenes, so timing clients stay oblivious to the drama. This layered approach is the foundation for zero-trust timing – assuming every source can fail or be compromised.
2. Authenticate with Galileo OSNMA
Many visitors came to our booth focused on the risks of spoofing and meaconing. Some of the most energizing conversations for me were around Galileo OSNMA, which adds authentication to civilian GNSS. Just before the event, we announced first‑in‑timing support across Oscilloquartz platforms, delivered via firmware update on supported receivers. That means operators can strengthen defenses without a hardware swap, while layering in our Syncjack™ probing to spot replay attacks more reliably. For networks that need to verify their time sources, authentication is a big step forward.
3. Sub‑nanosecond is practical with White Rabbit
We showed how White Rabbit is now a license‑based software upgrade on our existing grandmasters, so teams can add sub‑nanosecond precision – down to picoseconds – without a forklift refresh. That makes it a practical option for finance, data center and research networks seeking higher accuracy and simpler operations. Our on‑site demo highlighted how to fan out sub‑ns timing at scale and still make day‑two operations straightforward for the people who live with the network. We also demonstrated interoperability with our friends in CREN White Rabbit consortium.
4. Optical cesium makes holdover simpler and longer‑lived
Strong holdover is still the best way to buy time when satellite signals are unreliable or unavailable, but many visitors to our booth wanted to know how they could replace aging magnetic cesium. Our new OSA 3200 SP and OSA 3250 ePRC extend our optical pumping cesium family to more budgets. With a typical ten‑year lifetime, they provide practical anchors for critical PNT needs and for modernizing legacy systems.
5. SFP grandmasters take precision into tight spaces
Edge sites keep getting tighter on space and power. That’s why it was great to see the reaction to our OSA 5401XG SyncPlug™. It drops PTP and NTP straight into 10Gbit/s‑only hosts from a compact SFP, with multi‑band GNSS, spoofing detection and PRTC‑B compliance. For teams trying to extend assured timing into hard‑to‑reach locations without adding a new box, it’s a smart lever that turns an empty SFP slot into a precise time node.
Session snapshots
Beyond the booth, our team sparked some important conversations. Bartek Kropiewnicki’s talk “Next‑gen time: resilient, redundant and ready for the GNSS crisis” captured the layered approach perfectly: fuse diverse sources, apply policy‑driven selection, test continuously and design for graceful degradation. Our joint poster session with Synch Industries complemented this by exploring what it takes to build a GNSS‑secured national time system, from architecture and fiber‑based PTP distribution to governance and phased rollout.
Addressing today’s challenges
Holdover buys time, but complete assurance needs fusion plus analytics to determine the right moment to switch to extended holdover. With OSNMA authentication, White Rabbit precision, optical cesium and a 10Gbit/s SFP grandmaster, we gave visitors a toolkit to strengthen timing where it matters most. As the industry moves toward zero-trust architectures to counter daily jamming and spoofing threats, these tools give operators practical ways to harden timing.
If you couldn’t make it to ITSF this year and you need advice on how to map your current timing posture and prioritize next steps, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Oscilloquartz experts. We’re ready to share guidance on strategies and deployment patterns tailored to your network.