NTP

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is a protocol for synchronising the clocks of computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. Although NTP is most commonly used in conjunction with the UDP/IP protocol, it can also be transported over other network protocols such as TCP/IP. It has been particularly designed to resist the effects of variable latency.

NTP uses Marzullo's algorithm (invented by Keith Marzullo of University of California, San Diego in his dissertation) with the UTC time scale, including support for features such as leap seconds. NTPv4 can usually maintain time to within 10 milliseconds (1/100 s) over the public Internet, and can achieve accuracies of 200 microseconds (1/5000 s) or better in local area networks under ideal conditions.

NTP is one of the oldest IP protocols still in use. NTP was originally designed by Dave Mills of the University of Delaware, who still maintains it. The current version is NTP version 4.

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