The ACS8595 ATCA is a highly integrated, single-chip solution for "Hit-less" protection switching of SEC (SDH/SONET Equipment Clock) + Sync clock "Groups", from Master and Slave SETS clock cards and a third (Stand-by) source, for line cards/blades in a SONET or SDH ATCA (Advanced Telecommuncications Computing Architecture) Network Element. The ACS8595 has fast activity monitors on the SEC clock inputs and will implement automatic system protection switching against the Master clock failure. The selection of the Master/Slave input can be forced by a Force Fast Switch pin. If both the Master and Slave input clocks fail, the Stand-by "Group" is selected or, if no Stand-by is available, the device enters Digital Holdover mode.