Network Time Security has been on NTPsec roadmap since the start.

Actually implementing NTS in NTPsec has been waiting on three things: the codebase for NTPsec being refactored clean enough to do it well, the actual NTS specification being stable and close enough to final, and having a sponsoring partner to be the first customer for it.

We now have all three.

We are pleased to announce our sponsoring partner is Cisco Systems Inc, with an amusing project name of "Good Secure Times". Cisco is providing funding for this work, and also will help with compliance testing, and with providing a focus on what their own customers will need and want from an NTS implementation.

The NTS specification has been years in the making, with lots of expert discussion in the IETF working groups, and now appears to be complete enough. The internet draft is not yet formally an RFC standard, but we don’t expect any more major changes before it is finalized. One of our project regulars has been deeply involved in the IETF WG developing the specification, so we know it well.

As for the NTPsec codebase cleanup, we think we are ready. The major swamps have been drained, the cruft has been cleared away, and our core team has enough headaround the existing code and the places were we will need to extend it, we’re confident we can do it.

Watch our NTS implementation come together! We work in the open, on our mailing list, and in our public git repos on GitLab.com.