Google’s new mega-project Spanner uses atomic clocks and hi-tech GPS units to keep track of time to run what is the single largest database on the planet.
Google has come up with what is the TrueTime API, essentially a combination of GPS tracking devices and atomic clocks to keep track of time right to the nanosecond.
Spanner, Google’s planet-wide data centers has problems of its own. The issue with a data centre of such scale is the drop in consistency of data across several data centers Whenever a data on data center A is modified, data centre B need to keep track of this change. This becomes particularly difficult while trying to maintain data on serves separated by thousands of miles as network congestion and time differences become significant. Hence Google came up with a unique solution to address this issue: TrueTime API.
The scale of Spanner is unprecedented and so is Google’s time-keeping system. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen such a syncronization tool though. Traditionally global data centers use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to keep track of time, though NTP is a metaphorical dwarf when put alongside Google’s finest.
Source: Wired