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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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Italy Sep 25, 2025 Invitation Only Physical italian

Innovation in Balance: governing the power of data and automation

Nel percorso verso l’AI e la trasformazione digitale, dati e automazione sono gli elementi centrali di ogni strategia tecnologica. Ma senza una governance chiara, rischiano di diventare non solo fonte di inefficienza, ma anche di rischi e incoerenza.   Come garantire che i dati siano completi, accessibili e affidabili? Come automatizzare le operation IT e i processi aziendali mantenendo controllo, compliance e sicurezza?   Durante questa roundtable esclusiva, organizzata da CIONET Italia e IBM, affronteremo:   La governance come abilitatore di dati affidabili e automazione sicura. Come prepararsi a un’adozione dell’AI realmente scalabile. Il ruolo di controllo, resilienza e gestione del rischio nell’innovazione.

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Belgium Oct 16, 2025 Invitation Only Physical english

CIONET Round Table - Rethinking AI

AI isn’t just another tool. It changes how we work, how we think, how we organise ourselves.Yet most organisations still approach it like a digital upgrade, deploying assistants, automating workflows, testing use cases inisolation.The results are predictable. Short-term wins. Long-term confusion.Effort spent. Value unclear.Many companies can’t connect AI to their actual strategic goals,and the promised ROI never materialises.At the same time, something deeper is shifting.AI can now reason, decide, adapt. Not just mimic processes butcontribute to them.The technology is evolving, but the way we implement it hasn’tcaught up.If your AI still fits inside a single department, you’re likely solvingthe wrong problem.If it works only for individuals, you're missing how your teamsactually deliver value.If it replaces people instead of supporting them, you're buildingfor today, not tomorrow.The next step isn’t more AI. It’s the right AI.Built for your business, your teams, your way of working.Not a tool to add but a structure to build around.Are we ready to treat AI as a shared capability, not a scatteredexperiment?Can we move beyond individual efficiency and build systems thatcollaborate, learn and adapt with us?Those are the questions we’ll explore at the round table.

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Poland Oct 17, 2025 Invitation Only Physical & Virtual Polish

IT EXECUTIVE MASTERCLASS 5

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Germany Oct 28, 2025 Country Members Physical german

Köln: Powershift

Am 28. Oktober lädt CIONET CIOs und Digital Leaders nach Köln ein: hier stellen wir reale Anwendungsfälle vor, in denen KI-Agenten Aufgaben autonom übernehmen, Prozesse beschleunigen und Entscheidungen vorbereiten – mit messbarem Nutzen für das Business.

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France Nov 4, 2025 Country Members Physical french

Maîtriser la souveraineté numérique: du réseau à la donnée

À l’ère des mutations géopolitiques et réglementaires, l’établissement d’une souveraineté numérique est devenu un élément stratégique essentiel pour les entreprises. Ce dialogue stratégique mettra en lumière le rôle fondamental du réseau dans la mise en place du contrôle, de la confiance et de la résilience. Nous explorerons comment une infrastructure moderne et résiliente permet d’appliquer des politiques de gestion des données et d’assurer la continuité opérationnelle. Ce dialogue stratégique, réservé à un groupe restreint de pairs, est conçu pour permettre aux leaders du numérique d’échanger sur l’un des enjeux les plus urgents aujourd’hui. Nous discuterons des réseaux « sovereign-ready » et débattrons des préoccupations croissantes autour de la souveraineté des données, qui motivent l’adoption de politiques de confidentialité et de protection des données de plus en plus strictes à l’échelle mondiale.

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Netherlands Nov 10, 2025 Public Physical english

Reis mee: CIO Innovation trip Web Summit 11 nov 2025 Lissabon

CIONET Nederland vertrekt met een groep Nederlandse CIO's en digital leaders 10 t/m 12 november 2025 voor de geheel verzorgde CIO Innovation Trip naar de Web Summit in Lissabon, Portugal. Reis jij mee of neem je collega(s) mee!

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Recent Cases

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DataBank fortifies its fast-growing data center business with Trend Micro TippingPoint

Fortifies its fast-growing data center business with Trend Micro TippingPoint

 

OVERVIEW

DataBank provides their data-center customers with enterprise-class co-location, cloud, connectivity, and managed services, specializing in security and compliance enablement. When the company’s recent acquisitions doubled its employee headcount and tripled the number of customer data centers they managed, they needed to quickly make a decision about threat protection across their newly expanded ecosystem. Fortunately, DataBank already had Trend Micro™ TippingPoint™ in place to protect their network from attack without impact on performance.

 
 

CHALLENGES

DataBank has acquired several new companies and data-center facilities over the last few years. Most recently they acquired zColo’s data-center assets from Zayo Group Holdings, significantly accelerating the company’s expansion strategy. Since that acquisition, DataBank now provides services in 64 data centers across 28 markets in the U.S., the U.K, and France. As the company expands their global footprint, compliance is a growing challenge.

“DataBank is now subject to strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules,” says Mark Houpt, CISO at DataBank. “That means a significant strategy shift in how my compliance team will handle things in the future. We have to adhere to new security and compliance requirements at the same time that we’re adding new complexities and new people.”

DataBank’s acquisitions over the years have also resulted in a diverse IT environment. With a wide range of operating systems and endpoints, the company is subject to a broad array of vulnerabilities. Doubling its employee count due to the zColo acquisition is also a complicating factor—the company is actively working to integrate new personnel and additional IT assets.

Externally, the company experienced a significant increase in distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks, advanced persistent threats (APTs), and ransomware attacks over the last year. DataBank is focused on ensuring that its customer systems are protected from threats while balancing business and customer needs.

“We are constantly doing risk assessments to ensure that our balance is correct and that we protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of DataBank’s customer information systems,” says Houpt.

 
 

WHY TREND

DataBank has been a TippingPoint customer for more than five years. The company considered other solutions over the years, including the solution zColo leveraged, but Trend Micro continues to be their partner of choice because of the technology and the people.

“The technology is solid,” says Houpt. “We very rarely have problems with the product, and if we do, Trend Micro solves it quickly.”

Trend Micro’s dedication to research and development is another selling point.

“Trend Micro conducts constant threat research,” says Houpt. “Every time I read a new threat report, Trend Micro already has something addressing it, or on its way. The research team is top-notch.”

Regular product updates are another reason that DataBank chooses to stay with Trend Micro.

“Trend Micro is constantly updating TippingPoint so that it always addresses the latest thing coming down the pipe,” says Houpt. “As a service provider, I need to continually assure customers that we are protecting them. With TippingPoint and Trend Micro, I don’t have to rethink it.”

 

"Our history with Trend Micro has been stellar from the beginning. I have a real sense of relationship and trust."

Mark Houpt

Chief Information Security Officer, DataBank

 
 

SOLUTION

DataBank uses TippingPoint to detect and block targeted attacks and malware through preemptive threat protection, threat insight and prioritization, and real-time enforcement and remediation. "DataBank customers also love TippingPoint’s virtual patching function,” says Houpt. “Sometimes patches aren’t immediately available by the vendor so virtual patching via TippingPoint gives our customers the ability to protect their systems quickly, and gives them time to test the vendor patch before deploying across the organization.”

TippingPoint customers also receive exclusive access to vulnerability information from the Trend Micro™ Zero Day Initiative™ (ZDI).

“This means that zero-day attacks can be detected and blocked almost instantly,” says Houpt. “That gives customers assurance that we are protecting them proactively against the latest threats. TippingPoint is a solid product in helping me convey that message.”

Finally, TippingPoint helps DataBank meet a broad range of compliance needs, including those of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and the GDPR.

 
 

RESULTS

Security and compliance are DataBank’s key differentiators, and TippingPoint is part of the company’s default solutions across their offerings. In the spring of 2020, Houpt and his team began seeing a greater number of DDOS attacks, which they traced back to delayed patching on a global level due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Houpt noted people working from home were risk-averse to patch issues since they couldn’t go into the office to fix patches that caused problems. Thankfully, TippingPoint provides virtual patching, a feature Houpt pointed out to customers to curb concerns.

When one of DataBank’s management ports required a reboot last summer, the Trend Micro team was tenacious in verifying that the problem didn’t impact customers, including providing quantifiable data.

“DataBank is all about data,” says Houpt. “The Trend Micro team was able to show us data that proved our customers weren’t impacted. Our history with Trend Micro has been stellar from the beginning. I have a real sense of relationship and trust.”

 
 

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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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.

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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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