The Tick Tock Man

Somewhere In Time clock, by Infinity Art Furnishings

Once upon a time, when my children were much younger, we were careening down the road at the legally allowable speed when one of them asked “What time is it?” I answered “It depends on whether you are in the front or back seat.”

Turns out, I was right. It’s got something to do with energy, mass, speed, and a whole lot of other math.

The Earth’s gravitational and magnetic field bends time, and among other things, causes satellites in orbit to drift out of time sync. If it weren’t for time synchronization products, I would always be late for lunch (instead of often).

Symmetricom materials say their “Perfect Timing… solutions… have helped define the world’s time and frequency standards, delivering precision, reliability and efficiency… in more than 90 nations.” They have customers in Government, Aerospace, Broadcast, and other sectors. From television stations, to stock markets, to Global Positioning Satellites, if time is a critical componant Symmetricom has something for you, including the spiffy new XPRO High Perfomance Rubidium Oscillator.

Thomas W. Steipp is retiring this year, after more than 11 years with the company, the last ten as President and CEO. He’s leaving the company in a strong position for future growth. In my cover letter I noted that while the Symmetricom is “well known and respected within its markets, I would like to create a stronger consumer awareness, similar to the brand awareness of Intel.”

Wow! Free Stuph!

On their website they have a download of a Windows based program called Symmtime. It’s a highly configurable clock program that syncs with numerous time servers, has hundreds of time zones, and you can have up to 30 clocks on your desktop. I have three: Fort Smith, AR; Tucson, AZ; and Mumbai, India. It’s free, but you do have to register to download it. You can opt out of their newsletters and I have not received any spam from them. This is pretty cool.

Update! (already)

An email from Mr. Steipp:

“I appreciate your interest in the position here at symmetricom, but our position description calls for someone with a much different background than you currently have included on your resume.”

I guess my timing was off.