The atomic clock bit isn't novel at all. I've worked for HFT firms the past 9ish years and using hardware timesources is 101 level intro to electronic trading.
The actual patent talks a lot about NIST GPS clocks, and not so much about atomic clocks. Never trust a headline. Gell Mann Amnesia Effect in full play here.
Sure. You can't get roof access (for a gps antenna) or a vendor ptp feed in every exchange. In those places, you get a rubidium decay stratum 0 timesource.
Not all businesses can afford this, but it is only 4 or 5x the price of a normal GPS timesource, which is affordable for the right people.
