Belgium 25-9-25 Invitation Only Physical english
As AI shapes our future, the time is now to address and correct its inherent biases. Join leading female voices in tech as we explore how to undo past mistakes, champion neutrality, and feed AI systems with inclusive, unbiased data. This conference is a call to action for female leaders in AI and tech to ensure the next generation of intelligent systems reflects fairness, diversity, and equity. Together, let’s set things right and redefine the future of AI.
Read MoreBelgium 25-9-25 Invitation Only Physical english
On 25th September, during the Red Hat Summit: Connect 2025 in Brussels, CIONET is hosting an exclusive, invitation-only round table for leading CIOs, CTOs, and digital leaders. While the Summit offers a broad programme, this CIONET session is a separate, distinct event, conducted in its own dedicated room with private catering, ensuring a focused and confidential peer-to-peer discussion. This round table will delve into why certain cloud-native techniques offer undeniable benefits, irrespective of where your applications are deployed, be it on-premise, in a hyperscale cloud, or a hybrid environment. Even outside public clouds, these modern, modular architectures consistently deliver increased agility, enhanced scalability, and quicker time-to-market. The real power behind these advantages lies in automation. When done properly, automation significantly boosts team efficiency, improves system quality, and drastically cuts risks from slow systems or downtime. However, achieving truly effective automation comes with its own set of challenges, which we'll address head-on. Key Discussion Points Include: "No-Regret" Cloud-Native Pillars: We'll try to pinpoint essential techniques every organisation should adopt, such as microservices architecture, containerisation (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), API-first design, stateless application design, and immutable infrastructure. Why are these crucial for modern applications, no matter the deployment location? Strategic Vendor Lock-in: How to judiciously manage vendor lock-in. For new innovations and applications with a relatively short life expectancy, leveraging the latest unique features of a hyperscale cloud might be beneficial. For long-lived applications (expected to be live for decades), the focus might shift to limiting exposure by utilising generally available technologies. Automation Anywhere: How can organisations effectively implement automation strategies to unlock the full potential of cloud-native initiatives across diverse infrastructures? What are the biggest hurdles, and how are leaders overcoming them? This CIONET round table offers a unique and intimate setting for digital leaders to gain critical insights, exchange perspectives, and shape the strategic path towards application modernisation that truly offers no regrets.
Read MoreBelgium 30-9-25 Squad Only Virtual english
Everyone has technical debt. The question is what to do with it. Refactor now? Wait for the next feature? Build on it and hope it holds? If you’re tired of debating whether to clean up or move on, this session helps you frame the debt conversation in a way that supports both speed and stability.
Read MoreSeptember 30, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english
Everyone has technical debt. The question is what to do with it. Refactor now? Wait for the next feature? Build on it and hope it holds? If you’re tired of debating whether to clean up or move on, this session helps you frame the debt conversation in a way that supports both speed and stability.
Read MoreOctober 2, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english
Architecture doesn’t happen in diagrams. It happens in minds, seasoned, curious, sharp minds that understand how the pieces fit. But who’s shaping these minds? Who’s growing the next generation of digital architects? If you’re responsible for complex systems, and for the people designing them, this session is for you.
Read MoreOctober 14, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english
Agile delivery often collides with inflexible infrastructures. One team wants to release weekly. Another is waiting six months for a new test environment. Sounds familiar? If your infra team is tired of being the bottleneck, and your devs are tired of waiting, this session opens a path forward.
Read MoreAPA-IT simplifies access to diverse content with single sign-on
Austria's national public broadcaster sought to make it simple for Austrian citizens to access and share media services. Read this customer case study to find out why APA-IT recommended Red Hat's SSO technology, a Keycloak enterprise-level sister product, for this successful venture.
Austria’s national public broadcaster wanted to make it easier for Austrian people to access
media services and share their preferences between media providers. The broadcaster needed
a single sign-on (SSO) solution and turned to its technology partner, APA-IT, for help. APA-IT
offers full-service solutions focused on the areas of media solutions and outsourcing. The solution needed to be ready quickly, work across all popular media channels, and cope with peak
loads. Because the broadcaster’s experience with Keycloak had been positive, APA-IT recommended Red Hat’s SSO technology, Keycloak’s enterprise-level sister product. Red Hat’s SSO
technology easily integrates and customizes for all of Austria’s media providers, scales to meet
peak loads, and makes it more efficient for Austria’s media consumers to access content from
different providers.
Simplifying access to streaming services
Recent years have seen a significant upsurge in people accessing media services. During the
pandemic lockdowns, for instance, streaming services helped people pass the time of day. In Austria,
people access the media services of the national public broadcaster through their bespoke identity
management solution. But regulatory changes meant the broadcaster needed to upgrade that solution. Working closely with almost all of Austria’s major media companies, it initiated the MediaKey
project to make it more efficient for people to access media services and share their preferences
between media providers.
The broadcaster turned to technology partner APA-IT for help building a SSO experience for
Austrian citizens. “They wanted to implement an identity management system for almost all major
media companies in Austria,” said Clemens Prerovsky, CEO of APA-IT. “Customers already logged in
could consume media across different providers from 1 account.”
The solution needed to be ready in less than 6 months, work across all popular media channels—
including TV, streaming, and websites—and cope with peak loads during popular events, especially
Austria’s ski races. “MediaKey would need to manage 2 million users and manage 400 logins per
second,” said Christoph Kofler, Innovation Manager at APA-IT’s implementation partner, Gepardec.
“We started in April 2021, and our goal was to have MediaKey ready by September.”
Implementing a highly scalable and extensible SSO solution
APA-IT and Gepardec worked closely with the broadcaster to identify a robust, reliable, and highly
scalable identity management solution. The broadcaster already had experience with Keycloak, a
single sign-on identity and access management product from the open source community. “The
broadcaster’s experience with Keycloak showed it to be a mature and scalable product, making Red
Hat’s SSO technology—its enterprise-level sister product—a good choice for mission-critical projects,
such as MediaKey,” said Kofler.
As the broadcaster’s long-term technology partner, with extensive knowledge of its technology and
business, APA-IT managed the project. Architects from Gepardec designed and implemented the
solution, which runs on-premise in 1 of APA-IT’s datacenters. Although the partners had different
roles, they collaborated closely as a single team.
With MediaKey such a huge and mission-critical project, designing an optimal architecture was
quite a challenge. APA-IT and Gepardec turned to Red Hat for help. “There are few Red Hat’s SSO
technology installations as large as MediaKey,” said Kofler.“ Red Hat Consulting’s input during the
design phase was really important for creating an architecture for the long-term success of MediaKey,
ensuring it is scalable, maintainable, upgradable, and extensible in the future.”
Red Hat’s SSO technology Product Management team helped the implementation teams gain a clear
picture of the technology’s future direction—insight that would be essential for APA-IT and Gepardec
to guide the broadcaster into the future evolution of MediaKey. “The upgrade path includes a cloudnative version of Red Hat’s SSO technology, based on Red Hat build of Quarkus, that can run in Red
Hat OpenShift, which will be of interest to us,” said Kofler.
Offering peace of mind at peak times for media companies and users alike
Scaled to meet peak loads of 400 logins per second
Since its launch, MediaKey has kept pace with demand. With Red Hat’s SSO technology at its core, it
scaled throughout Austria’s ski season—coping with 400 logins per second at peak times.
“Red Hat’s SSO technology is very scalable,” said Kofler. “It’s a mature piece of software that is very
good in peak load scenarios. It’s, therefore, a good choice for critical applications.”
Eased integration thanks to support for open standards
Red Hat’s SSO technology supports open standards to ensure media providers across Austria could
join the MediaKey initiative. “Red Hat’s SSO tehcnology conforms to open standards, such as OpenID
Connect,” said Kofler, “which made it very easy for all the media providers to integrate it with
their own systems.”
While each media provider has its own login system, MediaKey provides an additional way for
customers to log on and access providers’ content. Once registered with MediaKey, Austria’s media
customers can log onto any media site that supports the access management solution and then
quickly and easily access any other site that supports it.
Simplified customization thanks to its open source roots
The high levels of extensibility and flexibility offered by Red Hat’s SSO technology proved to be critical to the project’s success. “Red Hat’s SSO tehcnology has great capabilities to be extended,” said
Kofler. “Being open source, you can look into the source code to understand how it works, which is
important when building custom extensions.”
Gepardec adapted Red Hat’s SSO technology to include an age verification system and provide
some custom key performance indicators (KPIs). The age verification system, which runs in Red Hat
OpenShift®, checks that users can only access age-appropriate content. The KPIs, which include
logins per second, the total number of users, and new registrations per day, help the broadcaster
understand how MediaKey is performing at a business level.
Kofler also commented on the importance of Red Hat’s SSO technology conforming to open standards, such as OpenID Connect. “Conformance to open standards was extremely important because
it made it very easy for the media providers to integrate with their own logins.”
Extending project successes
Today, MediaKey is the broadcaster’s main solution for customer logins, respecting users’ privacy by
storing vital information—namely, their login details and nothing more. More major media sites across
Austria have even implemented it as an add-on to their core identity and access management
solution. With the success of MediaKey to date, the broadcaster plans to take advantage of the solution for its new media streaming platform.
Together, APA-IT and the broadcaster are exploring Red Hat’s SSO technology for Red Hat
OpenShift—a cloud-native version of single sign-on technology—as a likely upgrade path for
MediaKey.
“Red Hat’s SSO technology is really important for the long-term success of the MediaKey solution,”
said Kofler. “Red Hat’s technology ensures MediaKey is maintainable, extendible into the future,
and upgradeable.”
About APA-IT
APA-IT offers full-service media and outsourcing solutions. A subsidiary of APA-Austria Press
Agency, it manages IT systems of not only the agency but also numerous publishing houses and
companies carrying out media-related tasks. APA-IT develops and tailors solutions to individual
customer needs.
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Digital Transformation is redefining the future of health care and health delivery. All stakeholders are convinced that these innovations will create value for patients, healthcare practitioners, hospitals, and governments along the patient pathway. The benefits are starting from prevention and awareness to diagnosis, treatment, short- and long-term follow-up, and ultimately survival. But how do you make sure that your working towards an architecturally sound, secure and interoperable health IT ecosystem for your hospital and avoid implementing a hodgepodge of spot solutions? How does your IT department work together with the other stakeholders, such as the doctors and other healthcare practitioners, Life Sciences companies, Tech companies, regulators and your internal governance and administrative bodies?
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreDécouvrez 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 !
Read MoreCIONET 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.
Read MoreWould you like to know more about CIONET Belgium, membership or partnership opportunities? Do you have feedback or any other question? Send us a message!
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!