In modern data centers the actual network OWDs are small compared to the “switch around time” of the acknowledgment at the Receiver, so RTT/2 turns out to be a poor estimate. In case there are multiple hops, as happens, for example, to the trajectory of a transaction in a Microservice System, the OWD of each leg can be precisely determined.
All posts by Clockwork Team
Pinpoint Network Latency Faster Using OWD
How does Clockwork help our customers reduce time to resolution? By providing insight into the precise one-way delay (OWD) across complex networks instead of using round-trip time (RTT) so teams spend less time identifying where the problem is, and focus on fixing it instead. Here’s a quick video using global trading operations as an example.
Accurate One-Way Latency Measurement ≠ RTT/2
As a user, you notice when your application is lagging, and it’s frustrating. As a network engineer, this lag — network latency — is cause for investigation and resolution. Network latency is how long it takes a packet of data to reach its destination. It is typically measured in round-trip time (RTT) from the sender to the receiver and back, and includes additional delays like propagation delay, processing delay, queuing delay, and encoding delay. Plus, network congestion can add a dynamic element.
The Research that Inspired Clockwork Systems
Clockwork Systems was founded in 2018 by Stanford University researchers and experienced tech entrepreneurs, based on protocols developed at Stanford. Here’s a synopsis of the original paper and presentation that inspired the company.
Tick Tock… The Clock Runs Wild
It can be easy to forget or take for granted, but the millions of computer servers and billions of connected devices we depend on for so many of our routine activities rely on precise timing and onboard clocks. These onboard clocks have to synchronize with a reference clock over a network in order to help the apps we regularly use to function properly, without hiccups. The need for time synchronization is a decades-old challenge that predates the Internet and has a long history in fields like radio broadcasting and telecommunications. But the advent of distributed computing and networking and a […]