Revolutionizing STS4 for Accurate and Robust Timing NIC
The Silicom TimeSync product line (STS) offers cutting edge combination of PCIe smart NIC with highly accurate and robust timing support. STS supports IEEE 1588 (PTP) standard compliance Grand Master (GM), Boundary Clock (BC), Slave and G.8275.1, G.8275.2 Telecom profiles.
STS incorporating best in class Microchip PTP stack and servo in its product. By building Silicom timing software package on top of it, adding advanced GNSS, SyncE and PTP support, Silicom delivers carrier grade timing product.
The STS4 TimeSync product delivers high sync performance, such as BC/Slave ITU-T G.8273.2 Class C, and Master ITU-T G.8272 Class B, complete support of failover scenarios, tight monitoring of GNSS clock quality and jamming, and extremely good holdover performance with and without SyncE. Silicom STS4 TimeSync are fully supported by RedHat OpenShift operator, VMware Photon as well as by Helm Chart / K8s.
The STS4 TimeSync address a wide range of use cases including 4G and 5G O-RAN (Open RAN), generic cellular backhaul and fronthaul, data centers, HFT (High Frequency Trading) and industrial automation. O-RAN (Open RAN) relies on stringent time synchronization requirements for end-to-end latency and jitter.
O-RAN ensure open, intelligent, virtualized and fully interoperable RAN. O-RAN delivers the most efficiently infrastructure connectivity solution for high-speed and synchronized network connections. Stringent timing synchronization is critical for ensuring O-RAN requirements for end-to-end latency and spectral efficiency.
STS4 TimeSync incorporate virtual RAN software for DU & CU that runs on COTS (Commercial of the Shelf) servers with high-density NIC (network interface card), combined with advanced time synchronization including PTP, SyncE (Synchronous Ethernet) and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System). The usage of COTS hardware and integration of Grand Masters (GM) and Boundary Clock (BC) functionalities into DU NIC drive the cost down.
The STS4 TimeSync NIC includes high port count, high-speed links, timestamps on PHY level, SyncE & PTP PLL, on-board GNSS, while the PTP stack and servo software run on COTS servers in virtual environment.
