The Namex Consortium and the TOP-IX Consortium have signed an agreement to provide the Time as a Service (TaaS) solution, marking an important step forward in the collaboration between two of Italy’s main Internet Exchange Points (IXPs).

The official announcement was made on June 4th, from the stage of NAM2024, the Namex Annual Meeting hosted at the National Railway Museum of Pietrarsa in Naples.

The Time as a Service solution

The TaaS service, based on the Precise Time Protocol (PTP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP), on the infrastructures of Namex and TOP-IX, guarantees greater security compared to similar services transmitted via satellite systems (e.g. GPS).

This is a fundamental requirement for mission-critical applications such as broadcasting, smart grid electrical networks, telecommunications and high-frequency financial trading.

The service was developed by TOP-IX in collaboration with its member Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica (INRIM).

Service Sharing

“This agreement with Namex allows us to expand the reach of our TaaS service, making an extremely reliable and secure time synchronization solution available beyond our network” commented Andrea Casalegno, Executive Director of TOP-IX. “We are excited to collaborate with Namex to drive innovation in the network industry.”

Maurizio Goretti, General Manager of Namex, echoed this sentiment: “The collaboration with TOP-IX for the supply of the TaaS service represents the first concrete result of the federation established with them last year and goes in the direction of the mutual sharing of services in a federated, secure, performant and neutral environment.”