Keeping the world of computers on time

An explosion of Internet-based services is driving growth at Santa Rosa's Symmetricom Inc., which this week launched a next-generation timekeeping system for computer networks.

"Right now, the Internet is this huge growth engine," said John Hirsekorn, Symmetricom's vice president of sales and marketing. "Everything has a connection to the network these days."

Santa Rosa is headquarters of Symmetricom's Timing, Test and Measurement Division, which makes technology for keeping super-accurate time on large computer networks. The San Jose company bought the timing business in 2002 from TrueTime Inc., which was founded in Santa Rosa in 1972.

As the Internet grows more complex, there's a greater need for computers to be synchronized, Hirsekorn said.

"The whole digital network runs off Internet protocol, and there are all kinds of devices that sit on it," including phones, TVs and alarm systems, he said.

Accurate time references are needed to mark online traffic, including e-mail, business transactions and legal documents. Time stamps also help network administrators trace computer problems. Networks might check their clocks thousands of times per second.

Symmetricom has about 70 percent of the world market for network time servers, small digital appliances that synchronize business and government computer systems.

The Santa Rosa-based division has been growing, posting $73 million in sales in fiscal 2007, up 23 percent from 2006.

"We expect a pretty strong performance from this product line," said Ramki Ramakrishnan, the company's director of marketing and business development.

Symmetricom's servers download the time from atomic clocks in Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that orbit Earth. Symmetricom's servers deliver it to computer networks with high precision, accurate to one second in 250 years, Hirsekorn said.

The new technology offers better security, faster response and more connections than previous versions, according to the company. The basic system sells for $5,500.

The new servers were designed and are manufactured in Santa Rosa, where Symmetricom has about 100 employees at a facility near Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.

Some of Symmetricom's timing products are made at a higher-volume, lower-cost operation in Puerto Rico, but the company is keeping production of the new servers in Santa Rosa for now, Hirsekorn said.

"Some of our state-of-the-art products we like to keep here," he said.

The Internet is changing so fast that new timing technology is needed every 18 months to two years, Hirsekorn said.

"We're already planning for the next generation," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Steve Hart at 521-5205 or steve.hart@pressdemocrat.com.