Guest Blog: The Cinderella Utility - Why Time Is the Silent Pillar of Modern Infrastructure
As digitalisation accelerates with AI, cloud, blockchain, and distributed databases taking centre stage in our interconnected world, one silent enabler continues to be overlooked: time. Precise, secure, and traceable timing rarely makes headlines—until something breaks. In industries like financial services, telecoms, energy, broadcasting, emergency services and even agriculture, time isn’t just a background process. It’s the unseen hand that keeps the rhythm of trust, governance, and coordination alive.
In today’s “digital intelligence war,” where nations and corporations vie for technological dominance, knowing who holds your data, for how long, and where it’s headed relies entirely on trusted time stamps.
We focus on visible threats like energy shortages even or subsea cable sabotage. Yet, time is a “Cinderella utility”, a quiet partner to these vulnerabilities, always in the background, unacknowledged—yet without it, the digital world falters. Neglect it, and the entire technological stack stumbles.
Behind the Curtain of Modern Systems
Every modern sector increasingly depends on latency, jitter-sensitive systems:
Each relies on precise time synchronisation to order events across millions of distributed nodes. Whether it’s intrusion detection, managing smart certificates, or auditing machine behaviour, the heartbeat of each system is tied to a secure, auditable time signal. For many organisations, timing infrastructure is inherited, fragmented, and forgotten—a relic left behind by acquisitions and legacy integrations.
Like Cinderella before the ball, it sits unnoticed. But the moment it fails, the illusion of seamless digital coordination disappears.
The Fragile Glass of GPS
Most timing systems are GPS-reliant, designed decades ago for simpler environments. Today’s world complex, more hostile, and more demanding.
GPS is:
Even “free time off the internet” is risky, often unaudited, not traceable to UTC, and exposes open firewall ports that attackers can exploit. Bad actors know where the clocks are and tampering is increasing.
The US government has signalled that GPS redundancy is not its responsibility. Executive Order 13905 and EU Notice 9188/1/25 both place the onus on the private sector to plan for GPS-denied environments. Similarly, the UK’s National Risk Register now lists loss of Position, Navigation, and Time (PNT) as a significant national threat.
In this context, relying on one fragile slipper to carry the weight of your organisation’s timing needs is no longer viable.
Time Is Money—and Integrity
In financial services, microseconds matter. Without accurate timing:
-
Regulatory frameworks (MiFID II, CAT, DORA, PCI-DSS, ISO2700 EU9188, eIDAS Regulation are breached
But the story doesn’t end there. From coordinating autonomous vehicle fleets to controlling industrial robotics, from synchronising energy grids to tracing IoT data, time is the invisible scaffolding of the digital world.
When the Clock Strikes Midnight
Just like the fairy tale, it’s easy to forget about the clock until it’s too late. When timing drifts, systems desynchronise. Logs become meaningless. Security controls fail silently. Recovery becomes difficult and expensive.
Board members, CIOs, CISOs, and network engineers must now ask themselves:
If your advisors aren’t talking about this, they might be stuck offering yesterday’s advice for today’s threats.
By investing in robust, traceable, and secure timing—from resilient PTP networks to GPS alternatives, organisations can unlock better governance, improved data provenance, and yes, significant cost savings. You’ll reduce operational risk, meet compliance needs, and protect your reputation in the process.
So, Who’s Watching Your Clocks?
Go and ask your team to evidence your clocks are synchronised. Audit your “timing plumbing” and check whether it’s ready for the future you’re building.
Because no matter how beautiful your digital infrastructure may look, if the timing fails, the carriage turns back into a pumpkin. It needs to be at the centre of the ball.
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Meet the team
Sophie Greaves
Associate Director, Digital Infrastructure, techUK
Sophie Greaves is Associate Director for Digital Infrastructure at techUK, overseeing the Communications Infrastructure and Services Programme at techUK, and the UK Spectrum Policy Forum.
Sophie was promoted to Head having been Programme Manager for Communications Infrastructure and Services, leading techUK's telecoms activities, engagement and policy development. Previously, Sophie was Programme Assistant across a variety of areas including the Broadband Stakeholder Group, Central Government, Financial Services and Communications Infrastructure programmes.
Prior to joining techUK, Sophie completed a masters in Film Studies at University College London; her dissertation examined US telecoms policy relating to net neutrality and content distribution.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2038
- Twitter:
- @SJMJames1,@SJMJames1
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiegreaves/,https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiegreaves/
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Tales Gaspar
Programme Manager, UK SPF and Satellite, techUK
Tales has a background in law and economics, with previous experience in the regulation of new technologies and infrastructure.
In the UK and Europe, he offered consultancy on intellectual property rights of cellular and IoT technologies and on the regulatory procedures at the ITU as a Global Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI).
Tales has an LL.M in Law and Business by the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and an MSc in Regulation at the London School of Economics, with a specialization in Government and Law.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- +44 (0) 0207 331 2000
- Website:
- www.techUK.org
- LinkedIn:
- www.linkedin.com/in/talesngaspar
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Josh Turpin
Programme Manager, Telecoms and Net Zero, techUK
Josh joined techUK as a Programme Manager for Telecoms and Net Zero in August 2024.
In this role, working jointly across the techUK Telecoms and Climate Programmes, Josh is responsible for leading on telecoms infrastructure deployment and uptake and supporting innovation opportunities, as well as looking at how the tech sector can be further utilised in the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.
Prior to joining techUK, Josh’s background was in public affairs and communications, working for organisations across a diverse portfolio of sectors including defence, telecoms and infrastructure; aiding clients through stakeholder engagement, crisis communications, media outreach as well as secretariat duties.
Outside of work, Josh has a keen interest in music, painting and sailing.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 020 7331 2038
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-turpin/
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Authors
Nancy Scott
Corporate Projects Director, Hoptroff
