# The invisible heartbeat of our networks

DevFeed: [The invisible heartbeat of our networks](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/the-invisible-heartbeat-of-our-networks-10855.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.apnic.net/2026/09/01/the-invisible-heartbeat-of-our-networks/>)

Author: Luca Cicchelli

Published: 2026-08-31T23:03:47Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [APNIC Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/apnic-blog.md>)

Topics: [Networks](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networks.md>), [distributed-systems](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/distributed-systems.md>), [Critical Infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/critical-infrastructure.md>), [Security](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/security.md>), [5G](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/5g.md>), [Cybersecurity](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cybersecurity.md>), [cloud-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/cloud-infrastructure.md>), [AI Infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-infrastructure.md>)

Tags: [5g](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/5g.md>), [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-infrastructure.md>), [critical-infrastructure](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/critical-infrastructure.md>), [cybersecurity](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cybersecurity.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data.md>), [distributed-systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/distributed-systems.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [gnss](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gnss.md>), [gps](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gps.md>), [guest-post](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/guest-post.md>), [hardware](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hardware.md>), [network](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/network.md>), [networking](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networking.md>), [networks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networks.md>), [outage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/outage.md>), [outages](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/outages.md>), [post](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/post.md>), [servers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/servers.md>), [systems](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/systems.md>), [tech-matters](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/tech-matters.md>), [time](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/time.md>), [transactions](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/transactions.md>)

## AI overview

The article examines how accurate time synchronization underpins modern networks and distributed systems. It uses the Telstra outage to show how misaligned time servers can disrupt communications and rail services, and discusses resilient time sources, terrestrial backups, local atomic clocks, and synchronization requirements for finance, 5G, cloud, and AI infrastructure.

## Source excerpt

Guest Post: The recent Telstra outage highlighted a critical but often overlooked dependency in modern networks: Accurate time synchronization.