Managed Open Source

Network Time Foundation, Inc. (NTF) steadfastly produces and distributes enterprise-quality Open Source software that is quietly (ok, usually invisibly) used by tens of millions of computers around the world. NTF also offers professional support and online services for its products. NTF’s flagship effort is the Standard Reference implementation of the Network Time Protocol, using a Managed Open Source model.

Managed Open Source is a win/win – everybody benefits from community feedback and ideas, while compliance and high-quality are the responsibility of professional software engineers.

It’s important to note that NTF is about network timekeeping. In addition to its support of NTP, Network Time Foundation is also supporting the efforts of several other network time related projects, including Precision Time Protocol (PTP) efforts, advanced computer clock research and software, and navigational satellite time monitoring.

This software could not exist without a set of evolving standards and specifications. Currently, the standards process for NTP are handled by the IETF NTP workgroup and the IETF TICTOC workgroup and PTP is handled by the IEEE 1588 workgroup.

NTF must also devote attention to many other standards and standards organizations, including:

• the ITU-T PTP Profile

• synchronizing frequency for phone communications

• HL7 – International Electronic Health Information

NTF is a nonprofit public benefit corporation (a 501(c)(3) since 2011 dedicated to providing direct services and support to improve the state of accurate computer network timekeeping in the general community.

Remember…If you can’t trust your time, you can’t trust your data.