In a distributed compute system, such as any multi-device transaction system or database, time synchronization is essential to data integrity. The simplest case is a multi-step transaction over multiple compute devices – something that is common to a wide range
Efficient Optimistic Concurrency Control Using Loosely Synchronized Clocks
Efficient Optimistic Concurrency Control Using Loosely Synchronized Clocks This paper describes an efficient optimistic concurrency control scheme for use in distributed database systems in which objects are cached and manipulated at client machines while persistent storage and transactional support are provided
Time Synchronization in the Cloud
Synchronizing clocks in the cloud, especially for virtual machines, is way beyond the capabilities of ordinary synchronization methods. Tests show that virtual machines in the cloud relying on NTPd can fall off the reference time by tens of minutes over
Mitre and GPS spoofing
Some slides on GPS timing vulnerabilities.
The business case for being time protocol agnostic.
Time Synchronization and Distribution is a business critical issue but it is easy to become bogged down in arcane technology/marketing controversies. One of those controversies is over the choice between low level network protocols used to deliver time to application
Challenges deploying PTPv2 in a Global Financial company
Interesting article – most of these problems and more were solved in TimeKeeper years ago. But the most interesting part is the enormous engineering effort required to kind of get PTP to work.
Patent Reform modest proposal.
Companies over a certain size should be required to show that they have evaluated a patent claim from a small entity in good faith. That is, if they get a claim that they are infringing, they should be required to
A basic design error in software
Suppose we didn’t know too much about bridge design, but were convinced that (a) the current design methods were too slow and unmodular to be useful, and (b) not knowing anything about structure other than what we could observe of
Paying for music
Streaming services rely on a weird conceit, but it’s not a new one. Like record labels, these companies can’t exist—they literally have no product—without musicians. Yet hardly any musicians are pleased with the advent of digital streaming, and understandably so—they
the terrible effect of Krohn-Rhodes
One of the most interesting theorems in computer science is the Krohn-Rhodes theorem that shows a strong link between basic computer science and group theory. Crudely, the KR theorem extends Jordan-Holder \( (H_1 \triangleleft H_2 … \triangleleft H_n=G)\) to state