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Welcome to CIONET Belgium

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Upcoming Events

 
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Belgium 23-6-26 All Members Physical english

The Sovereignty Play : Sourcing for Autonomy, Resilience and Competitive Advantage

Sourcing for Autonomy, Resilience and Competitive Advantage. Global platforms offer incredible speed and innovation, but they also create deep dependencies that can expose your business to vendor lock-in, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory shifts. For today's CIO, the central challenge is no longer just about technology adoption; it's about building a digital foundation that is both agile and resilient. Strategic sourcing is the key. It has evolved from a procurement function into the primary tool for CIOs to navigate uncertainty, mitigate risk, and achieve digital autonomy. This session provides a practical playbook for using strategic sourcing to build a future-proof enterprise.

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Belgium 30-6-26 Public Physical french

L'IT Public au point de rupture

L'IT Public au point de rupture : Vers un modèle à l'usage ? Transformer l'inertie en agilité : le défi du service public. Le constat : L’ère de la possession touche à sa fin Le citoyen n'attend pas que vous gériez des serveurs ; il attend des services. Pourtant, le modèle IT public reste prisonnier du « faire » plutôt que du « résultat ». Entre des budgets CAPEX verrouillés sur 5 ans et des cycles de procurement qui naissent périmés, l'écart se creuse. Le dilemme est stratégique : Comment passer d'une infrastructure que l'on subit à une informatique pilotée par le résultat (Outcome-based IT) ? Est-il possible d'adopter la souplesse du Cloud sans abandonner les clés de notre souveraineté ? L'objet du débat : Le "As-a-Service" au-delà du concept Nous vous invitons à remettre en question les promesses des modèles orientés vers la consommation. L'objectif est de débattre, sans tabou, du potentiel réel de ces approches pour le secteur public : Inverser la responsabilité : Passer de l'achat de matériel à l'achat de niveaux de service (SLA). Est-ce le secret pour libérer vos équipes de la maintenance ? Aligner le coût sur l'usage : En finir avec le surprovisionnement pour ne payer que ce qui est réellement consommé. Agilité "Procurement-proof" : Comment le modèle à l'usage permet-il de scaler en quelques jours ce qui prenait des mois d'appels d'offres ? La souveraineté par le contrat : Le "As-a-Service" sur site est-il le compromis idéal entre contrôle privé et flexibilité publique ? Le Format : "Zero Slides, Full Insight" Pas de présentation ni de marketing, uniquement une confrontation de visions entre pairs : Cercle restreint : Décideurs du secteur public francophone. Règle de Chatham House : Ce qui se dit à table reste à table. Débat pur : Une discussion structurée autour de vos doutes et de vos ambitions numériques.

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Belgium 30-6-26 All Members Physical english

AI at Home

As AI becomes critical to business success, organisations in highly regulated sectors such as Financial Services, Critical Infrastructures and Defence, face strict data privacy, security, and compliance mandates that make public cloud AI a non-starter. This interactive session will explore the practical realities, both the benefits and limitations, of bringing enterprise-grade AI capabilities directly onto your own premises. Join CIONET, Kyndryl, and Dell Technologies for an exclusive, hands-on roundtable and live workshop on navigating the crucial intersection of artificial intelligence, data sovereignty, and autonomous operations. We will move beyond the theory by bringing the physical machine into the room for a live, air-gapped demonstration of cutting-edge workloads running entirely on-site. This interactive workshop will bring together Digital Leaders to: Demystify Sovereign AI at the C-Level: Review the strategic trade-offs, architecture, and compliance advantages of running localised AI models. See Zero-Leak Secure Code Review in Action: Watch a live demo of an on-premise LLM scanning software for vulnerabilities, ensuring your codebase never leaves your secure infrastructure. Experience On-Premise Agentic AI: Witness a local, autonomous monitoring agent, utilising advanced, Claude-level reasoning capabilities, managing critical IT Operations tasks completely offline. Collaborate on Best Practices: Engage with peers to discuss deployment timelines, security frameworks, and infrastructure requirements for true data control. Don't miss this opportunity to interact with live hardware, engage with industry peers, and gain actionable insights into unleashing the power of sovereign and agentic AI.  

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Upcoming TRIBE Events

 

CIONET Partner Updates

CIONET Partner Updates

Recent Cases

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WESTPOLE chooses Trend Micro to secure its systems and those of its customers

Chooses Trend Micro to secure its systems and those of its customers

OVERVIEW

WESTPOLE Italia is the Italian chapter of WESTPOLE Europe, an IT services and solutions provider. With over 40 years of experience in technology management and innovation, WESTPOLE’s primary goal is to scale up digital transformation and “go to cloud” in order to enable the creation of secure, scalable, and cutting-edge innovations.

With two data centers in Milan and Rome, the company designs services for about 500 clients, including government entities, financial institutions, and private companies. WESTPOLE changes the very concept of technological transformation and does so with a pioneering spirit, passion, and empathy.

 
 

CHALLENGES

WESTPOLE’s strategy in choosing a security vendor was aimed at consolidation—one vendor that could secure the organization and its customers. WESTPOLE was looking for a single partner that would provide reliable, innovative, and affordable security.

“We began by analyzing our infrastructure, starting to lock down the endpoint,” recalls Michele Onorato, security office manager of WESTPOLE. “Later, we moved to the data center, which had to be safe for both our protection and that of customers who use our cloud.” But the WESTPOLE project did not end there, it needed security solutions that could protect the slice of customers hosted in its data centers.

 

"One of the greatest benefits we experienced was the consolidation Trend Micro provided, it is very nice to have a single platform to manage everything."

Michele Onorato

Security Office Manager, WESTPOLE

 
 

SOLUTIONS AND WHY TREND

After evaluating multiple vendors based on technology and flexibility, WESTPOLE chose to protect its endpoint deployments with Trend Micro Apex One™, and its data centers with Trend Micro™ Deep Security™ software, which also secures customers hosted within its own cloud. For customers outside the data center, WESTPOLE chose Trend Micro™ TippingPoint™ and Trend Micro™ Deep Discovery™ Inspector for network protection.

Apex One is an all-in-one solution that automates detection and response, providing complete visibility to IT and security teams. Compared to previous traditional antimalware solutions, Apex One is a unified platform for the management of different services, redefining endpoint security with vast capabilities offered through a single agent for SaaS and on-premises environments.

Deep Security and Trend Micro Cloud One™ – Workload Security are integrated and modular platforms that provide comprehensive protection of data centers that include physical, virtual, and cloud servers, as well as virtual desktops. Designed to defend the data center from breaches and business disruptions, Deep Security is the first and only agentless security platform that helps simplify security management and accelerate return on IT investments.

Deep Discovery Inspector is a network device that allows 360-degree control over all traffic, to detect any aspect of a targeted attack. And with TippingPoint, WESTPOLE experiences the best intrusion prevention to remain protected against all types of threats traveling at great speed anywhere on the network.

 

"Trend Micro solutions allow us to easily control security from a centralized console, which is essential from an operations point of view."

Michele Onorato

Security Office Manager, WESTPOLE

 
 

RESULTS

WESTPOLE adopted Trend Micro solutions to protect its infrastructure and its customers. “One of the greatest benefits we experienced was the consolidation Trend Micro provided, it is very nice to have a single platform to manage everything,” says Onorato. “As for the internal WESTPOLE side, the usability and lightness of the products were fundamental in removing the need to allocate additional resources.” Onorato went one to say that, “Customers are pleasantly surprised when they become aware of threats that were never detected by the solutions they used to have installed.”

The WESTPOLE data centers now house around a thousand machines and all customers using the WESTPOLE cloud are protected by Deep Security. “Customers can take advantage of all the features of this product, according to individual needs,” says Onorato.

As for the offer to customers outside of the data centers, “WESTPOLE is able to offer managed service solutions. Trend Micro solutions allow us to easily control security from a centralized console, which is essential from an operations point of view,” says Onorato. “Trend Micro virtual patching is also a great feature, as it allows us to secure legacy infrastructures, while avoiding significant costs for the renewal of the entire machine park,” continues Onorato.

 
 

WHAT'S NEXT

“We recently migrated to Office 365®, and the next step is to protect it with Trend Micro solutions. This protection will also be extended to the emails of all our customers and also to those who use advanced suites,” concludes Onorato.

 
 

Partners

CIONET Circles

CIONET Business Circles

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Cyber Circle

CIONET’s Cyber Circle: a new three-event programme exclusively focusing on the most urgent, complex, and high-impact challenges in cybersecurity today. Launched in 2026, this initiative brings together CISOs, CIOs, and senior IT executives with a strong interest in cybersecurity for three curated gatherings each year. As part of CIONET’s trusted executive community, the Cyber Circle provides a confidential, peer-driven environment to exchange insights, share real-world experiences, and address evolving cyber threats. Each session is designed to foster strategic dialogue, strengthen resilience, and elevate cybersecurity as a core driver of business value.

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Telenet Business Leadership Circle

The Telenet Business Leadership Circle powered by CIONET, offers a platform where IT executives and thought leaders can meet to inspire each other and share best practices. We want to be a facilitator who helps you optimise the performance of your IT function and your business by embracing the endless opportunities that digital change brings.

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Les Rencontres

Découvrez la dynamique du leadership numérique aux Rencontres de CIONET, le programme francophone exclusif de CIONET pour les leaders numériques en Belgique, rendu possible grâce au soutien et à l'engagement de nos partenaires de programme : Deloitte, Denodo et Red Hat. Rejoignez trois événements inspirants par an à Liège, Namur et en Brabant Wallon, où des CIOs et des experts numériques francophones de premier plan partagent leurs perspectives et expériences sur des thèmes d'affaires et de IT actuels. Laissez-vous inspirer et apprenez des meilleurs du secteur lors de sessions captivantes conçues spécialement pour soutenir et enrichir votre rôle en tant que CIO pair. Ne manquez pas cette opportunité de faire partie d'un réseau exceptionnel d'innovateurs numériques !

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Female Leadership Circle

CIONET is committed to highlighting and celebrating female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, creating a leadership programme that empowers and elevates women within the tech industry. This initiative is dedicated to showcasing the achievements and successes of leading women, fostering an environment where female role models are recognised, and their contributions can ignite progress and inspire the next generation of women in IT. Our mission is to shine the spotlight a little brighter on female role models in IT, Tech & Digital, and to empower each other through this inner network community.

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Testimonials

Geert Goethals
Geert Goethals
CIO
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Bahadir Samli
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CIO
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Bart Kerkhofs
Director Digital Technology
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Group CIO
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Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer
Chief Information Officer
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Vice President IT and CIO Medical Devices EMEA
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Stef Schampaert
Country Managing Director BeLux
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Group IT director
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Chief Digital & Information Officer
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Thomas Kessler
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Managing Director Belgium and Luxembourg
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Dirk Deridder-1
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CTO - Technology Services & Practices
SMALS
Untitled design-Sep-18-2023-11-59-29-7866-AM
Koen Vandaele
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Liesbet D'hoker
Managing Director
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steven-vermeulen
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Jack Hamande
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Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
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an swalens
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Head Of IT (CIO)
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Chief Technology & Transformation Officer
Krëfel
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Jeroen Verbruggen
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Team

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Luc Hendrikx
Partner - CEO
Inès De Bien
Inès De Bien
Partner - CCO
1-Feb-08-2022-10-22-08-68-AM
Daniel Eycken
Partner - COO
Hendrik Deckers
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Partner - Founder
foto Herman
Herman Roelandts
Tribe Master
Joseph Antoun
Joseph Antoun
Senior Programme Director
1-Dec-16-2021-02-15-57-02-PM
Eman De Sutter
Programme Manager
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Shelly Deracourt
Programme Manager
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Ivana Bradvica
Programme Manager
Vlera Berishaa (1)
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Stanislav Mosan
Stanislav Mosan
Financial Director

Contact us

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