An NTP time server gives your network its own reference clock, disciplined by GPS rather than borrowed from the public internet. Every log entry, badge swipe, camera frame and database transaction is stamped against a source you control, running on hardware in your own rack.

Most networks still point at pool.ntp.org or a vendor's cloud NTP service. That works until it does not. It needs an outbound firewall port, it puts a dependency you cannot audit in the middle of your timestamping, and it gives you nothing to show an auditor who asks where your time comes from. A stratum 1 appliance removes all three problems at once.

What to look for

• Reference source. GPS alone is fine for most sites. Multi-constellation, adding GLONASS, Galileo or BeiDou, buys resilience where sky view is poor or jamming is a concern.
• Capacity. Requests per second and typical client count. One server usually covers an entire campus, which makes a second unit a redundancy decision rather than a capacity one.
• Holdover. How far the internal oscillator drifts once the satellite signal is lost. TCXO for general IT, OCXO where milliseconds matter.
• Outputs. NTP covers IT networks. Broadcast, industrial and laboratory environments may also need IRIG or PTP.
• Security. 802.1X, RADIUS or LDAP authentication, an embedded firewall and signed HTTPS certificates. The time server is a network device like any other and gets audited like one.

Everything here is shipped from Canada and quoted in Canadian dollars, with no tariffs, cross-border brokerage or duty. If you are not sure which model fits, tell us what you are synchronizing and roughly how many clients, and we will scope it.