Synchronizing Date and Time on NEO 3 Devices

For the most accurate transaction timestamp, a host application should synchronize its system clock with a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server before populating Tags 9A and 9F21.

Integrators can use a commonly used public NTP service such as pool.ntp.org. The NTP Pool Project provides access to a large group of publicly available time servers distributed around the world. By synchronizing with pool.ntp.org, the host system can maintain accurate UTC time and then convert it to the appropriate local time zone ebefore generating the transaction date and time values.

Recommended Process

1. Configure the host system to synchronize its clock with pool.ntp.org or another trusted NTP server.

2. Retrieve the current date and time from the synchronized system clock.

3. Format the date as YYMMDD and populate Tag 9A.

4. Format the time as HHMMSS using a 24-hour clock and populate Tag 9F21.

5. Include Tags 9A and 9F21 in the transaction request sent to the NEO 3 device.

Example

If the synchronized host system reports:

• Date: June 3, 2026

• Time: 2:35:45 PM

The transaction data should contain:

Important Notes

• The NEO 3 device does not directly query NTP servers.

• The host application is responsible for obtaining the current date and time and supplying the values in Tags 9A and 9F21.

• If the host system’s clock is inaccurate, the transaction date and time sent to the NEO 3 device will also be inaccurate.

• Synchronizing the host system with a reliable NTP source such as pool.ntp.org helps ensure consistent transaction timestamps across devices and deployments.

• Tags 9A and 9F21 apply only to the current transaction and are used by the payment kernel during transaction processing.

• Tags 9A and 9F21 do not update, modify, or synchronize the NEO 3 device's internal clock.

• The NEO 3 device does not automatically obtain date or time information from an NTP server.