Oscilloquartz Launches Industry’s Smallest PTP Grandmaster Clock

Breakthrough Technology Drives Phase and Frequency Synchronization Deeper into Access Networks

30 October 2015

Oscilloquartz, an ADVA Optical Networking company, today launched its OSA 5401 Syncplug™, a highly accurate and uniquely efficient small form-factor pluggable (SFP) grandmaster clock and GNSS receiver. The innovative device has the smallest footprint and most compact design on the market. It complements the existing portfolio of Oscilloquartz products, driving precise IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) frequency and phase synchronization as well as Synchronous Ethernet deeper into access networks, including radio access and small cell networks. With its miniature form factor and low-touch provisioning, the new synchronization solution can be deployed in the most space-restrictive environments. What’s more, it operates at low cost, consumes minimal energy and requires no additional power source or real estate. The OSA 5401 Syncplug™ supports the creation of an entirely new time distribution architecture to meet the stringent phase-synchronization requirements of today’s access networks.

“In terms of efficiency, precision and density of design, our OSA 5401 Syncplug™ miniature grandmaster is a major development for our industry,” said Kenneth Hann, senior director, R&D, Oscilloquartz. “It’s possibly the world’s smallest grandmaster clock and yet it generates phenomenally precise PTP frequency and phase synchronization for radio access and small cell networks. Now network operators have a cost-effective migration path for deploying robust phase and frequency synchronization deeper into access networks. Our OSA 5401 Syncplug™ integrates with existing network elements and its small form factor and rich feature set enable a versatile range of deployment options for enhanced synchronization network performance. Its timing-optimized, dual-frequency GNSS receiver achieves excellent performance even in urban canyons where small-cell deployments are often made and it can also work with a single satellite.”

An enormous amount of expertise and passion has gone into designing this device. It’s been driven by our strategic understanding of what’s most needed in the synchronization space.

The OSA 5401 Syncplug™ is the first new product to be jointly engineered by Oscilloquartz and members of the recently acquired Time4 Systems. It easily conforms to all relevant PTP telecom profiles and, when locked to global navigation systems, meets the stringent requirements of G.8272 and G.811 specifications. The device functions as a Synchronous Ethernet source, GNSS receiver and a grandmaster clock. It can support both Layer 2 and Layer 3 PTP transport and is capable of unicasting and multicasting simultaneously. Advanced design and network redundancy techniques provide resiliency against local GNSS jamming. It also boasts an impressively wide operational temperature range of -40 to 85 Celsius. But the key benefits that the OSA 5401 Syncplug™ provides are space and energy efficiency for significant savings in installation and engineering costs. It also fully complies with multi-source agreements for total interoperability.

“An enormous amount of expertise and passion has gone into designing this device. It’s been driven by our strategic understanding of what’s most needed in the synchronization space,” commented Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz. “This first member of our miniature sync product family has already won great feedback from major mobile operators. What makes our ultra-compact OSA 5401 Syncplug™ so special is that it combines small size with high performance. Make no mistake, there’s a vast amount of advanced functionality squeezed into this device. That’s what enables it to deliver highly accurate timing distribution with the smallest available footprint. This level of agility and efficiency creates a new range of solutions for service providers to deploy phase synchronization even in the most difficult network scenarios. There’s no doubt that this is an exciting time for network synchronization technology and this new product will extend our position in the market as a one-stop shop for all synchronization solutions. The new generation of mobile networks demands more small cells and a higher density of radio heads and we’re addressing this challenge in the most energy-efficient and cost-effective way possible.”

The OSA 5401 Syncplug™ will be showcased live from Tuesday, November 3 until Thursday, November 5 at ITSF 2015 in Edinburgh.