NTP

Network Time Protocol

Accurate time matters when no computer is an island.

NTP, brought to the world by 'Father Time'

The widely quoted definition of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) is simple: a protocol designed to synchronise computer clocks across networks.

Why synchronise? Because computer clocks tend to drift. When they do, the time shown by one computer differs from that shown by another, and many things can go wrong.

Official NTP website: www.NTP.org

From information networks to financial markets and security, accurate time-keeping is essential.

In 1981, American computer engineer David Mills designed a system that keeps computers connected to the Internet in step, by synchronising their imperfect clocks to an accurate one, such as an atomic clock. It is a continuous process, using an algorithm whose robustness has been proven again and again. David Mills has since been known as the Internet's 'Father Time'.

When he passed away in 2024, the University of Michigan, his alma mater, published an obituary entitled Remembering alum David Mills, who brought the internet into perfect time.