ADVA celebrates 70 years of Oscilloquartz timing innovation

ADVA is celebrating Oscilloquartz’s 70th anniversary as a pioneer of network timing technology. Since its foundation in January 1949, Oscilloquartz has led the way with highly accurate synchronization delivery and assurance, driving innovation and setting new standards for the industry to follow.

The company's commitment to empowering communication service providers (CSPs), public and private network operators, and utilities to overcome challenges and achieve more with their synchronization networks has been key to Oscilloquartz's success over the years.

Its technology has enabled customers to meet stringent frequency and phase demands and address urgent footprint, power consumption and sky-view limitations. Following acquisition by ADVA and a major injection of investment, Oscilloquartz has developed the market’s most complete and cost-effective portfolio of timing technology. With its agile product range and unrivalled experience, Oscilloquartz’s is uniquely placed to provide the levels of precision and reliability needed to synchronize tomorrow’s networks.

“This historic anniversary is a time to reflect on how much we’ve achieved together with our partners and customers across the globe. A shared passion for innovation and a consistent focus on quality have helped us come a very long way since our first ever project, installing quartz clock technology at the astronomical observatory in Neuchâtel seven decades ago,” said Gil Biran, general manager, Oscilloquartz. “From leading the way with network timing innovation throughout the second half of the 20th Century to joining forces with ADVA five years ago, we’ve always been ahead of the pack when it comes to keeping our customers in sync. Our family of PTP grandmaster clocks has enabled countless networks to evolve smoothly across multiple generations of timing technology. Recent additions to our product range include our OSA 5401 and OSA 5405 Series of disruptive, small form-factor solutions and our OSA 5420 series of cost-effective, mid-scale sync devices for precision timing at the network edge. And just last year we added our pioneering OSA 5430 and OSA 5440 fully redundant, carrier-grade grandmasters and next-generation synchronization supply units able to support 10GbE interfaces with hardware timestamping.”

Oscilloquartz has been at the forefront of network synchronization throughout its long history. In 1958, Oscilloquartz began its key role as a driver of atomic frequency standards and, in 1966, it delivered its first commercial cesium atomic clock. Oscilloquartz’s role as a major innovator of synchronization solutions for telecommunication networks began in 1978 with the Swiss PTT. In 1982, the company actively pursued research and development of state-of-the-art quartz resonators and oscillators, resulting in the unrivaled stability and performance of the BVA product line. In 1988, in a joint venture with Sercel, France, Oscilloquartz developed the new European Digital Cesium Standard, EUDICS, with fully digital control loops and remote capabilities. Since its acquisition by ADVA in 2014, Oscilloquartz products have been deployed by a host of major CSP customers including Orange and T-Mobile. It has also supplied bespoke solutions for a wide range of industries such as metrology, finance and some of the world’s largest national defense organizations. Oscilloquartz’s position as market leader in the field of cesium clock technology for satellite positioning led to the European Space Agency supporting its research and development work.

“Our long-term philosophy has always been about responding directly to the changing needs of our customers. That’s what drives our focus on ease of use, flexibility and cost-efficiency. Our ongoing mission is to deliver the ideal synchronization solution for all network scenarios while also expanding the boundaries of possibility through pioneering innovation,” commented Jean-François Dubuis, VP, sales operations and partner planning, Oscilloquartz. “From legacy SONET/SDH to highly accurate frequency and time solutions for packet-based networks, we’ve provided the industry with scalable technology able to deliver robust timing with or without satellite signals. Oscilloquartz was also the first to integrate the delivery and assurance of synchronization. Now, with solutions like our OSA 5401, we’re bringing timing closer to end applications with the smallest size and power consumption on the market. And with technology like our enhanced primary reference time clock (ePRTC) system, we’re enabling stability even when the GNSS signal is lost, creating unprecedented reliability and opening the door to 5G applications.”