White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network

White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network Latest News

The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and New & Renewable Energy recently commissioned the White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL), Bengaluru,

About White Rabbit Technology-based Indian Standard Time (IST) Dissemination Demonstration Network

• It was commissioned at the Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL) in Bengaluru.
• It was developed jointly by the Department of Consumer Affairs, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR–NPL) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). 
• The system disseminates IST, traceable to national time-keeping authority UTC (NPLI), using Precision Time Protocol (PTP)-based White Rabbit technology. 
• The system is designed to deliver highly accurate, secure and resilient time synchronisation for critical sectors, including banking, financial markets, telecommunications, power systems, transportation, digital governance and other strategic infrastructure.
• This network has already successfully verified the secure transmission of IST between RRSL Bengaluru and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in Chennai.

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What is White Rabbit Technology?

• White Rabbit is an advanced networking protocol that allows devices connected via optical fibre to synchronise their internal clocks with an accuracy of less than one nanosecond (one-billionth of a second).

• Originally developed at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research), this technology acts as a high-precision upgrade to standard Ethernet networking. 
• Its primary innovation is its ability to continuously monitor and compensate for signal delays across long distances.
• By doing so, it ensures that every node in a network remains perfectly aligned, effectively eliminating the “time drift” that occurs in conventional systems. 
• Why is this deployment critical for India?
  • Currently, many of India’s digital systems—ranging from telecommunications to banking—rely on foreign satellite-based timing services such as the US-operated GPS.
  • While these systems are functional, they are vulnerable to external risks.
  • An indigenous time dissemination network will make these services more secure and resilient by reducing dependence on external sources.

 Source: DD News