8th Technical Seminar Year 2016 on Synchronization

The Institute of Electronics Engineers of the Philippines KSA Central Region Chapter is proud to announce the successful conduct of our 8th technical seminar entitled, “The Need for Synchronization” last 26th of August 2016 at the Orchid Al Mansour Hotel in Riyadh.

This seminar is part of IECEP KSA CRC’s grand tradition of delivering top-of-the-line educational programs to its members and interested individuals. The Institute was honored to have been enlightened by the expertise and experience of Engr Ulysses Pacarro Jr., the event’s resource speaker.

Engr. Pacarro, a graduate of Aviation with specialization in Electronics Engineering, and with a 25-year wealth of experience in the Telecommunications sector under his belt, discussed in great detail the nature of Synchronization from within different perspectives and industries.

The program proper was kicked-off with the registration of online and on-site registrants eager to learn from the subject at hand. As soon as the guests were settled in, an invocation led by BoD Member Engr Vinz Lao followed, and promptly ushered by the introduction of the guest speaker by BOD Member Engr Tony Retuta.

Engr Ulysses divided his seminar into two parts, the first part being a soft introduction to the subject entitled “The Need for Synchronization” this section covered the basics of the topic namely:

(1) Purpose of Clocking (Needs of the Clock) – this part dealt with synchronizing the network, the principal types of synchronization (frequency, phase and time-of-day), and performance levels.

(2) Means of Clocking (Means of the Clock) – this section tackled synchronization source, distribution, and management and how these processes are carried out.

(3) A thorough discussion of the ITU-T standards and recommendations governing synchronization in both frequency and time/phase packet networks.

(4) An overview of popular and industry accepted SYNC node types and vendors.

It is worth noting that a significant number of IECEP KSA CRC’s members are coming from the telecom industry (telecom carrier operators and private networks)and that they were able to interact seamlessly with the resource speaker and the topic being discussed.

The lively discussion was shortly broken for a fill of refreshments and networking for the attendees and some announcements from the BODs on the up and coming events, activities, and programs of the 2nd half of the fiscal year for IECEP KSA CRC. A thorough invitation was extended to the members to become a part of the Riyadh delegation and attend the 3rd IECEP International Convention (IIC2016) to be held in Bahrain and will be hosted by IECEP KSA CRC.

Engr. Ulysses resumed his discussion on the second part of the day’s event coveringthe more advanced topic of “NTP Synchronization”. After laying the foundations of synchronization on the first part of the seminar, he masterfully met the discussion objectives namely, Understanding the NTP synchronization, the requirements for NTP, The NTP key properties, and understanding the difference between NTP and PTP synchronization.

The specifics of this part of the seminar dealt with the fundamental definition of the NTP as a system synchronizing the clock on computers or time machine on the clock of a time server via a data communication network. Other significant sections of the discussion covered, NTP system operation, NTP time, clock strata, NTP client, comparison between SNTP and NTP clients, and NTP v3 and v4 differences and similarities. The final part of the discussion was a technical Q&A which included different application scenarios of NTP, SYNC, and other clocking/timing technologies. Engr. Pacarro, received a warm round of applause for a deeply informative delivery as he ended the seminar at around past 5 in the afternoon.

The final part of the eventwas signaled by a closing remark and open forum from both Pres Noel Yumul and VP External Affairs, Ken Vallespin, followed by the usual awarding of certificates for the attendees and a plaque of appreciation to the resource speaker. This part of the event involved countlessphoto-ops, light moments and networking opportunities to widen the reach of the electronics engineers and technician communities in Saudi Arabia’s Central Region. This part was concluded by a commemorative group photoand an invitation to IECEP KSA CRCs upcoming technical seminars and activities.

The day ended with a blast and everyone went their ways with added value to their professional development goals eagerly anticipating the next IECEP KSA CRC technical seminar.