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CIONET - What's next

Connecting ambitious digital leaders and businesses around the globe.

Catch up on the upcoming CIONET Events

             
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Germany Sep 9, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Frankfurt: AI Driven Logistics

Vom ersten Use Case zur strategischen Neuausrichtung CIONET lädt bereits zum vierten Mal zu einem exklusiven Roundtable für CIOs und Digitalverantwortliche aus Logistik und Handel ein. Im Mittelpunkt des Abends steht die Frage, wie Unternehmen ihre KI-Initiativen erfolgreich skalieren und aus ersten Use Cases echten strategischen Mehrwert schaffen. Microsoft 365 für Frontline Worker: Moderne Tools, die Mitarbeitende im Tagesgeschäft entlasten ServiceNow für Prozessintegration: Automatisierte End-to-End-Workflows – vom Schadensfall bis zur Retourenabwicklung KI-gestützte Disposition und Planung: Mit smarten Algorithmen zur optimierten Supply Chain Digitale Lieferketten und letzte Meile: Transparenz, Effizienz und Kundenzentrierung durchgängig gedacht

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Belgium Sep 13, 2025 All Members Physical english

CIONET Cycling Event

Join us for a wonderful ride. The ride is accessible to all levels of riders and doesn't require extensive technical skills. More information will follow soon. Looking forward to ride together!

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

München: Cyber Security Fatigue

Cybersecurity ist längst kein reines IT-Thema mehr – sie betrifft das gesamte Unternehmen. Doch während die Bedrohungslage zunimmt, geraten viele Security-Verantwortliche an ihre Belastungsgrenzen: zwischen 24/7-Verantwortung, wachsenden Anforderungen und dem ständigen Innovationsdruck.

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Germany Sep 17, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Köln: CIO & CISO, das Rezilienz-Power-Duo

IT-Betrieb und Cybersicherheit stehen heute unter extremem Druck: steigende Komplexität, wachsende regulatorische Anforderungen (NIS2, DORA, KRITIS), chronische Ressourcenknappheit – und gleichzeitig eine Bedrohungslage, die keine Verzögerungen duldet. Trotzdem agieren viele IT- und Security-Teams noch immer in Silos. Die Folge: ineffiziente Abläufe, Tool-Wildwuchs, langsame Reaktion auf Vorfälle und unklare Verantwortlichkeiten.

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Germany Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Virtual german

Online: Nachhaltige IT - CIDO Priorität

Nachhaltigkeit ist für CIOs nicht nur ein „Nice-to-have“, sondern eine strategische Priorität – sie beeinflusst direkt die finanzielle Performance, die operative Effizienz und die langfristige Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

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Belgium Sep 18, 2025 Country Members Physical french

Les Rencontres: La dette technique : Un défi stratégique pour les entreprises

La dette technique est comparable à la négligence des réparations d'une maison. Ignorer un toit qui fuit peut faire gagner du temps aujourd'hui, mais cela pourrait conduire à l'effondrement du plafond plus tard. Pour remédier à la dette technique, il faut trouver et réparer ces fuites dès maintenant et mettre en place un plan d'entretien de la maison afin qu'elle soit prête pour les extensions futures. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, il faut définir des priorités stratégiques, communiquer clairement avec les parties prenantes et établir une feuille de route à long terme pour la modernisation. Cet événement se déroulera entièrement en français.

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Recent Cases

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Connecting DP World Antwerp’s operations with smarter wireless technology

With a wireless mesh backbone network across the port, every employee can get the information in a dynamic environment.

Overview
DP World Antwerp helps to get products where they need to be. The Antwerp Gateway terminal handles 2.5 million containers every year, 3,000 trucks a day and almost 950 ships annually.
It’s one of the larger terminals in Europe, with a team of over 900 people keeping things running smoothly.

In logistics, efficiency is everything. That’s why DP World Antwerp’s fleet of vehicles – including straddle carriers and cranes – need to be constantly connected. But with a huge area to cover, avoiding signal dropouts is tough.

“If a terminal’s network went down, and it lasted longer than a few hours, the impact would be disastrous,” explains Jef Lambregts, DP World Antwerp’s head of engineering. “You’d have all the trucks queuing to bring or pick-up containers, and you’d have queues all around Antwerp.”

 

The challenge  
The port landscape poses many wireless networking challenges:

Signals bounce back off the corrugated sides of the metal containers.
Reefer zones, used to power refrigeration units, can impact wireless signal strength and quality.
Wireless signals from docked ships can interfere with those of the terminal.
Terminals have to comply with strict regulations when using outdoor wireless technology, ensuring that port authority weather radars get priority whenever it’s needed.
Signals have to travel across huge areas without losing the connection.
People and vehicles, including cranes and straddle carriers, are constantly moving, so every corner of the terminal has to have a connection.
According to Philippe de Crombrugghe, global account director for our Global division, DP World Antwerp needed a wireless connectivity solution that could transport all its data in real time, without compromising on security. It had to be resilient, carry large amounts of data, and it couldn’t go down. And because the team plan to integrate more functionality into their operations in the future, they also needed a network that could evolve alongside the company. One that could handle Internet of Things devices, geolocation devices, truck scanning and video streaming without breaking a sweat.

“We handle more than 200 trucks an hour, so the system has to be very reliable. If it went down, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” explains Jef.

Timings for deployment were very well agreed on, and also kept. If there was an issue it was immediately solved.”

Jef LambregtsHead of Engineering, DP World Antwerp.


The solution
“BT’s was the first solution that we really believed could solve our problems,” says Jef. “We had a lot of proposals, but that was the one that we really believed in.”

We started with a pilot program, to test the approach and make sure the wireless backbone technology and approach would work in the port environment. Once it was approved, we created a terminal-wide solution that kept costs low, without compromising on connectivity. We also made sure the network supported the static and dynamic elements of DP World Antwerp’s operational environment – a key part of their digital transformation roadmap.

Deploying Rajant’s Kinetic Mesh technology, we created a stable backbone solution that would keep everyone connected to the same network, even as they moved around the port. “A Rajant network maintains multiple connections at all times, and is constantly scanning the environment to check the fastest route for the data, from source to destination,” explains Chris Mason, Rajant’s director of sales. So if corrugated containers block or disrupt connections, the network will route around it to maintain the signal. Which means there’s no single point of failure.

And if DP World Antwerp wants to make changes to the network, it doesn’t have to reconfigure anything. It’s all done seamlessly and automatically in the background.

In logistics, efficiency is everything.


The result
The reliable wireless backbone means DP World Antwerp’s operations across the Antwerp Gateway terminal can always stay in touch with the central system. So they get the information they need, when they need it. And because the network is future proof, it can also support new ways to work more efficiently and save on costs.

In the logistics industry, it’s essential to stay a step ahead. And with the wireless backbone, it’s easier for DP World Antwerp to innovate, work more efficiently and stay agile in an industry that is quickly moving towards automation.

“In the last few years there has been a big move towards automation of the container terminals,” explains Jef. “This network opens new opportunities for us. One of the things we’ve started testing now is related to the Internet of Things. With the wireless backbone network, we’re able to receive messages from machines about their condition. In the future this will allow us to predict when the machines need to come in for maintenance.”

With a new, adaptable network in place, DP World Antwerp is one step further on its journey towards digital transformation.  

Within the logistics vertical, digitisation will help them increase their efficiency and lower their environmental impact.”

Philippe de CrombruggheGlobal account director, BT


The new network is also highly scalable, which means there will always be bandwidth capacity available as DP World Antwerp grows. And unlike a traditional wireless network, the Kinetic Mesh Network operates on multiple frequencies and multiple paths. So DP World Antwerp can add as many new devices to the network as it wants without efficiency dropping.

With our wireless backbone solution behind it, DP World Antwerp is one step closer to its digital transformation goals. And when new technologies roll out worldwide – like wind-powered container vessels and connected drones for loading and unloading – they’ll have the network to support them from day one.

Technologies

Rajant Kinetic Mesh

Checkout our CIONET COOKBOOK

cookbook

Embark on a culinary journey through the ever-evolving world of digital leadership with our third edition of the CIONET Cookbook: Recipes for Digital Success. Unveiling the intricate trilemma faced by today’s Master Chefs, our trailblazing European CIOs address a challenge at the nexus of customer interests, digital transformation strategies, and IT modernisation. Their secret? Synchronising the gearing between customer, business, and technology to create a frictionless movement through the digital landscape.

The CIONET Cookbook uses the analogy of a five-star restaurant to explain the importance of optimally integrated technology, with the CIO as Master Chef. In order to provide the best service to its customers, a top restaurant must have the right atmosphere, an inviting menu, a well-equipped kitchen, talented and committed front-of-house and kitchen staff and smooth-running processes that ensure an enjoyable experience for diners.

CIONET TV

 
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Kalman Tiboldi - CTO & Founder at GemOne-TVH - Simplify or Die: Why Complexity Is the Real IT Challenge

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Isabelle Droll - CIO for Airline, Corporate, Hotels & Resorts and Sustainability at TUI - Data, Diversity, and Destinations

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Sharon Prior - CIO in transition - How Great Tech Leadership Begins with Business Thinking

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José Antonio López, Group CIO at TOUS - Jewels, Data & AI: Inside the Digital Transformation of TOUS

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Tom Tanghe - General Manager ITC EMEA at Daikin Europe - Reinventing the CIO Role

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CIOFEST 2025 - From Order Taker to Proactive Disruptor

CIONET Reports

 
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Cybersecurity in critical infrastructure

Geopolitical tensions have dominated the headlines for over two years now. In this context, the cyber threat landscape is also evolving rapidly. The protection and security of critical infrastructure – both physical and digital – is becoming increasingly important.

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HDS - From Hype to Reality Navigating the Challenges of GenAI

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Integration In An Era Of AI: Challenges And Opportunities

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Anna Kopp

Head of IT Germany and Regional Office Lead Munich, Microsoft

“The CIONET App allows us to learn from eachother and and find the courage to be authentic by hearing stories from others! Thanks to Tobias and the whole team for bringing us together:-) ”
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Mauricio Amaro

IT Director, IT Thinker

“The main things that I would like to get from our community of Digital Leaders are: networking, share experiences, share best practices and successful cases, and comments and recommendations about providers.”
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Vice president IT & Compliance, VisionaryRCM (A Carlyle Grp Company)

“The CIONET app provides a really cool platform to network and share insights.”

About CIONET

CIONET’s mission is to help IT executives become more at ease and above all more successful in their jobs. So they can do more than just keep up with change but ultimately define it. CIONET opens up a whole new universe of opportunities in IT management.

With the largest membership of corporate digital leaders across Europe, Latin America, US and Australia, CIONET has the expertise and pioneering vision to solve or address any IT management challenge.

Why join CIONET?

From our local and global events, from our publications and research to our executive education programmes, everything we do is aimed at making sure digital leaders maximise their potential.

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with digital leaders who share your interests, who face the same challenges, who care about the same topics.

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stories, experiences, and ideas around our shared mission.

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from our exclusive events, publications and research.

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inspiration, thought-provoking conversations, expert perspectives and exclusive first-hand content each and every day

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and make better, more well-informed decisions on how to lead your digital business.

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You can either send us a registered handwritten letter explaining why you'd like to become a member or you can simply talk to us right here!

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