The new EL6688 EtherCAT Terminal from Beckhoff permits cross-factory and cross-site synchronisation according to the IEEE 1588 standard. Using the EL6688, different machines, system components or production lines can be accurately synchronised with each other or with an external grandmaster clock via GPS or DCF77 receivers. In this way, a high-precision, technology- and vendor-independent global timebase is available that can be used for time stamping of measured data, for example.