Microchip announces TimeProvider 4500 Grandmaster

The operators of critical infrastructure market segments such as 5G telecommunications, power utilities and transportation need to continuously upgrade their networks with technology capable of delivering higher processing speeds and highly accurate time sources that are not dependent on the Global Navigation Satellite System constellations like GPS, GALILEO and QZSS. To provide network operators a terrestrial alternative for distributing very accurate time, Microchip Technology announces the new TimeProvider 4500 grandmaster, a hardware timekeeping platform that provides high-speed network interfaces up to 25 Gbps and enables precise time accuracy of less than one nanosecond. The TimeProvider 4500 grandmaster is capable of supporting very-high-capacity Precision Time Protocol transactions. The innovative hardware platform enables higher IEEE-1588 scalability for thousands of clients. In network locations where range and capacity need to be balanced, namely in C-band 5G deployments, it is critical to be able to serve thousands of gNodeB from a single grandmaster. Depending on the specific sites, the grandmaster could serve very few or a large number of gNodeB base stations. This results in cost-effective and flexible deployments for operators regardless of scale.