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From: rees@pisa.citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.time.ntp
Subject: Re: DTS vs. NTP
Message-ID: <500d6ab6.1bc5b@pisa.citi.umich.edu>
Date: 26 Feb 91 22:53:24 GMT
References: <28775.27c916d0@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
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Reply-To: rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees)
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In article <28775.27c916d0@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>, paul@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu writes:

  DECnet Phase V includes something called DTS (Digital Time Service).
  Does anyone know if DTS and NTP are indeed one and the same? Digital's
  seminar about planning for DECnet Phase V provided no information.

They are not the same.  Most everyone I know uses ntp, but OSF has chosen
dts for DCE (enough TLAs?).

Dave Mills (of fuzzball fame) wrote a paper comparing these two:  Draft
document distributed to the NTP engineering group on 12 February 1990:  "A
Comparison of the Network Time Protocol and Digital Time Service."  This
triggered some discussion on the net.  Joe Comuzzi of DEC wrote a rebuttal.
The whole exchange makes good reading and is more than you ever wanted to
know about time keeping.

The ntp timestamp resolves to 200 picoseconds (6 cm at the speed of light!)
but will roll over in the year 2036.  As Joe says,

    The DTS time is a signed 64 bits of 100 nanoseconds since Oct 15, 1582.
    It will not run out until after the year 30,000 AD. Unlike NTP which
    will run out in 2036. I, for one, intend to still be alive in 2036!


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