Remembering David Mills: A Pioneer of Time Synchronization

The Internet mourns the loss of Dr. David Mills, a pioneer whose work on the Network Time Protocol (NTP) shaped the world's approach to computer timekeeping.

Although Mills contributed many other technologies, his seminal contribution was in my opinion the development of NTP, a key element in network time synchronization. While my own work in clock stability, particularly with RADical Sync, follows a different path than NTP, the importance of Mills' work in the broader context of time synchronization cannot be overstated. His innovations laid the groundwork for various approaches to network timekeeping, including alternatives like RADical Sync.

Dave Mills was a visionary whose influence extends across the entire landscape of network technology. His contributions have laid a foundation that will continue to support and inspire future innovations in time synchronization and beyond.

R.I.P

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Written by

Peter Membrey

Peter Membrey is the Chief Engineering Officer at ExpressVPN and has been with the company since 2016. He is the creator of Lightway , a state of the art Open Source VPN protocol that protects millions of users every day with a focus on security and privacy. He was also one of the core creators of TrustedServer, the VPN industry’s first true RAM only server. Peter is also a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Chartered IT Professional and a Chartered Engineer. He has a doctorate in engineering and a masters degree specializing in Information Security. He has co-authored over a dozen technical books and a number of research papers on a variety of topics. He is also an IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Contributor, has written for the IT Professionals New Zealand Blog and has appeared on national TV in New Zealand to offer insights into cyber security. Although he works in industry, he remains very interested in academia and is actively looking for opportunities to conduct research and work with academics and students in the privacy field. His primary focus at the moment is Internet Privacy and the technologies that make that possible. His role is primary R&D and hopes to publish papers in peer reviewed journals in the near future. He is also looking at founding a VPN industry centric conference. Apart from this, he is also interested in time synchronization, particularly dealing with variable latency networks.