For decades, distributed systems operated under Network Time Protocol, but the need for hybrid cloud latency solutions has surged as limitations of this architecture have become painfully clear. Precise timing is now essential to meet complex networks’ needs, particularly in latency-sensitive applications within cloud computing environments.

Enter Clockwork Systems Inc. The company addresses the growing need for accurate clock synchronization in distributed systems, allowing businesses to operate more efficiently.

“The whole world is now living in some form of cloud plus web applications,” said Balaji Prabhakar (pictured), chief executive officer and co-founder of Clockwork.io. “As we’ve gone to more and more high-speed networks, the need for accurate timing to enable applications to obtain the best performance … has become more paramount. There are [also] new types of applications … in financial trading or in gaming or … at local area networks. It’s sometimes not just useful; it’s a business imperative.”

Prabhakar spoke with Bob Laliberte, principal analyst at theCUBE Research, during an AnalystANGLE segment on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the criticality of accurate clock synchronization in enabling time-sensitive apps across distributed environments such as financial trading and gaming industries, among others.

Solving network latency with edge-based clock synchronization

Clockwork.io’s technology tackles one of the biggest challenges in distributed networks: latency, according to Prabhakar. Traditional networks rely on hardware such as switches and routers for timing, which can create bottlenecks. With Clockwork’s edge-based synchronization, companies can measure latency accurately without depending on network hardware. Using this approach, networks can run at higher utilization rates while keeping latency low, which is particularly beneficial in high-frequency financial trading, where microseconds can mean millions of dollars.

“If you have accurate clocks, you can measure more accurately the time it takes for a packet to go through a network. You can actually measure congestion from the edge … and then you can control that congestion,” Prabhakar explained. “You can drive them at higher utilizations while maintaining very low latencies.”​

The company’s edge-based solution allows organizations to avoid over-provisioning bandwidth and improve network efficiency without adding additional hardware, according to Prabhakar. In industries such as algorithmic trading and multiplayer gaming, where precise timing is critical, hybrid cloud latency solutions provide the capability to ensure the low-latency, high-performance environments integral to business success.

“By distributed clock synchronization, without using the network and making it scale worldwide, it becomes very interesting now to try and look at hybrid cloud deployments that customers have … and give them the performance that they can get given the bandwidth that is connecting their different nodes, whether it’s in the same data center or across data centers.”

Implementing hybrid cloud latency solutions in complex environments

As enterprises run applications across private data centers, public clouds and edge locations in hybrid and multicloud environments, managing latency becomes an increasing challenge, Prabhakar noted. Many enterprises don’t have complete control over the cloud operator’s network, which makes managing performance even more difficult. Clockwork.io addresses this issue by offering hybrid cloud latency solutions that provide precise clock synchronization, allowing companies to better manage performance and resources.

“When you own the network yourself, and all the servers are within a building or two, you can manage your own fate and destiny fairly well,” Prabhakar said. “But increasingly, many organizations — almost all the Fortune 500-type companies — have hybrid deployments, and part of it’s in the cloud. When you have this sort of a dual split, you have different administrators in a more fundamental way.”

The ability to manage latency-sensitive applications from the edge is a must-have for industries that rely on real-time interactions, such as e-commerce and mobile banking, Prabhakar noted. By ensuring that performance targets are met, regardless of where an application is hosted, Clockwork.io’s technology gives IT departments visibility and control.

“From the edge, you can manage the connectivity between your nodes and get the best performance you can get out of those nodes without having to rely on the cloud operator helping you. You really want to be going after all the bandwidth you can get.”

Addressing compliance and cost efficiency

Financial services and other regulated industries often face strict data accuracy and timing requirements. For instance, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2004 (MiFID II) requires trading firms to capture and store market data with high precision to ensure fairness in financial transactions. Clockwork.io helps businesses comply with these regulations by synchronizing clocks across different locations and ensuring that data is recorded with the necessary accuracy, according to Prabhakar.

“If I’m a trading firm and I can capture market data from different exchanges as accurately as is possible with respect to [a] centralized clock, [and] if I’m trading two venues … I could compare the recency of the market information coming from these different locations with respect to common stock. That tells me this has happened recently, and I can react to it, so you have this other aspect to market data being distributively emitted, different matching engines, across the world.”

Beyond compliance, Clockwork.io’s technology can help organizations save costs by improving network efficiency, according to Prabhakar. Implementing hybrid cloud latency solutions can reduce network congestion and eliminate packet loss while allowing companies to reduce the number of virtual machines they need to run their operations, ultimately decreasing infrastructure expenses.

“With more intelligent software and technology, you can save a tremendous amount of cost,” Prabhakar said. “This could be something like the work of a hundred [virtual machines] could be done by 70 VMs. You don’t have to keep scaling to keep your performance well at an acceptably good level.”

Here’s theCUBE’s complete AnalystANGLE video with Prabhakar:

Photo: SiliconANGLE