White Rabbit (WR) is an open-source technology born at CERN. It is based on standards (Ethernet and the Precision Time Protocol, PTP) and allows the synchronisation of nodes in fibre networks with an accuracy better than 1 nanosecond. Since its standardisation within IEEE 1588, it has been widely adopted in many applications, both in industry and academia.

In order to manage this evolution in a scalable way, CERN created the WR Collaboration (WRC) along with 8 partners, including other laboratories and companies. The launch event was held in March in the CERN Globe.

The main idea in the WRC is to pool resources so that the open-source core of the WR Technology can always be in a healthy state, and users and developers can receive adequate support. In order to guarantee this, members pay a yearly fee which is used to staff the so-called WRC Bureau,

Since the creation of the WRC, 8 new members have joined, and the funds are now sufficient to open the first staff position at CERN paid by the Collaboration. This is an important milestone which goes towards validating the overall scheme, aiming at making the support of the WR community cost-neutral to CERN and other laboratories.

The second WRC meeting took place at CERN last week. Monday and Tuesday were devoted to the Collaboration Board Meeting, welcoming new members, providing a technical and financial status of the actions of the WRC in 2024 and starting to plan for the year ahead. On Wednesday, we had a full-day training session on WR. The Testing Committee, another important part of the WRC, met on Thursday to discuss validation strategies for WR gear.

Within CERN, the WRC is a joint effort of BE-CEM and IPT-KT. The Collaboration is an example of how a CERN-born technology can maximise impact in commercial and non-commercial settings while relying on a strong open-source core.