TL;DR
- ▸TimeBeat first publicly demonstrated atomic-clock-equipped Open TimeCard variants at the OCP Regional Summit 2023 in Prague.
- ▸The demonstration was aimed at the OCP TAP working group conversation around standardising atomic-grade open hardware.
- ▸Atomic-grade open hardware is now an established part of the OCP timing ecosystem.
What we showed
The OCP Regional Summit 2023 in Prague was where TimeBeat first publicly demonstrated atomic-clock-equipped variants of the Open TimeCard, integrating rubidium oscillators into the OCP Time Appliance Project reference design. The demonstration was aimed at the OCP TAP working group conversation around standardising atomic-grade open hardware for the next generation of OCP-aligned grandmasters — until that point, OCP TAP reference designs had focused on OCXO-based grandmasters and rubidium variants were only available from proprietary vendors.
The Prague demonstration showed that atomic-grade hardware was feasible within the OCP TAP design philosophy without compromising the open-standard, multi-vendor sourcing principles that the working group had built around. It changed the conversation from "OCP TAP is for OCXO-based hardware" to "OCP TAP can support atomic-grade hardware too".
Where this lands
The atomic-equipped Open TimeCard is now part of the TimeBeat hardware lineup and is shipping to customers in finance, defence and telecom who need atomic-grade holdover within an open-hardware procurement framework. The OCP TAP working group conversations from Prague have continued through subsequent summits, and atomic-grade open hardware is now an established part of the OCP timing ecosystem rather than a niche idea.
For TimeBeat, the Prague demonstration was an inflection point — it made clear that the open-hardware approach could compete with proprietary alternatives across the full precision tier, not just at the entry level. Customers who previously wouldn't have considered open hardware for atomic-grade use cases started seriously evaluating the alternatives.
Frequently asked questions
What is OCP TAP?+
Are atomic-grade Open TimeCards available?+
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