Abstract: A network element includes a port; and a device with circuitry configured to encode data for communication to a second device via a plurality of physical channels, and utilize one of the plurality of physical channels as a dedicated timing channel with encoding thereon different from encoding on the other plurality of physical channels, and interface encoded data via the plurality of physical channels with the port for transmission and reception with a second device.

Abstract: A system includes a first module with a first clock; a second module with a second clock; and an Ethernet network interconnecting the first module and the second module by N Ethernet paths, N?2; wherein the first module is configured to provide timestamps encapsulated in replicated Ethernet packets to the second module over each of the N Ethernet paths for redundancy. The first module can be configured to obtain timestamps from a first clock with each timestamp having a sequence identifier, replicate each timestamp and its sequence identifier, and encapsulate each replicated timestamp and its sequence identifier in an Ethernet packet and transmit each Ethernet packet over one of the N Ethernet paths. The second module can be configured to receive Ethernet packets over the N Ethernet paths; and utilize a first Ethernet packet with a given sequence identifier for synchronization of the second clock with the first clock.

Abstract: A network element includes a port; and a device with circuitry configured to encode data for communication to a second device via a plurality of physical channels, and utilize one of the plurality of physical channels as a dedicated timing channel with encoding thereon different from encoding on the other plurality of physical channels, and interface encoded data via the plurality of physical channels with the port for transmission and reception with a second device.

Abstract: A method, at an egress node, includes synchronizing with a global reference time; receiving a signal including a presentation time for when a specific part of the signal is to be transmitted, wherein the presentation time was determined by the ingress node with reference to the global reference time; determining an actual transmission time when the specific part of the signal is transmitted; and causing adjustment of a clock based on a time error derived from a difference between the presentation time and the actual transmission time.