Cendio Systems has participated in the development of the system behind the new speaking clock, Fröken Ur, which is Sweden's national time giving service over the telephone (see photo). The new system is based on a customized and stripped version of Linux, the open source operating system. The project to replace the old speaking clock machine, which has been in service since 1968, with a new computerized system was managed by SP, the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, which joined forces with Guide/Communicator and Cendio to supply the new speaking clock to Telia, the national telephone operating company.

“Reliability and stability were important considerations in our development of a new solution for the speaking clock,” explains Håkan Nilsson, Project Manager at SP. “At SP we have been carried out a research project concerned with time servers based on the Network Time Protocol (NTP) for a number of years. Therefore, a Linux solution was an obvious choice. This choice also means that we do not have to worry about license fees.”

In order to satisfy Telia's exceptional need for precise time indication, the system has been stripped of unnecessary functionality. Its operating reliability has been enhanced by basing the system solution supplied by Cendio on double IBM Netfinity 5000 servers and an IBM Netfinity 3000 server located on SP's premises in Borås, Sweden. The new, computerised speaking clock is linked to two time-code generators and to two of SP's atomic clocks, and the system is thus connected directly to the Swedish national time scale.

“The project has demonstrated that it is possible to set up a Linux system offering such high precision. Linux is available just at the right time, not only in terms of stability, but also in terms of functionality,” says Thomas Rosén of Cendio Systems. By combining it with applications from Guide/Communicator (voice function) and from SP, the Swedish National Testing and Research Institute, (time synchronisation), we are well within Telia's requirement for a time accuracy of 100 millisecond.

About Cendio Systems

Cendio Systems, Sweden's leading Linux company, develops and markets system solutions, integrated systems and security products. The company was founded in 1992 and bases its solutions on the best open source software of the Internet. Cendio has just over thirty employees in Linköping and Stockholm. Cendio Systems was previously known as Signum Support and works closely together with the University of Linköping. For more information, contact: Thomas Rosén, Systems
[email protected].

 
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