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Welcome to CIONET Belgium

Realise your ambition! Connect with your local community of digital leaders.

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Upcoming Events

 
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Belgium 3-7-25 Invitation Only Physical english

CIONET Round Table - Digital Sovereignty

Digital Sovereignty - Securing Corporate Autonomy in a Fragmented World In an era marked by geopolitical instability and escalating digital dependencies, corporate leaders face a critical imperative: reclaiming control over their digital ecosystems. This exclusive CIONET executive dinner offers a platform for CIOs, CTOs, and digital leaders to delve into strategies for achieving digital sovereignty. Key discussion points include: Redefining Digital Sovereignty for Enterprises: Exploring how digital sovereignty extends beyond national borders to encompass corporate control over digital assets, infrastructure, and data. Infrastructure Independence: On-Premises vs. Cloud: Evaluating the trade-offs between on-premises infrastructure and cloud services in the context of control, scalability, and sovereignty. Sovereign AI: Building Autonomous Intelligence: Discussing strategies for developing AI capabilities that align with corporate values and operate independently of external platforms. Vendor Lock-In and Technological Autonomy: Identifying risks of dependency on specific vendors and exploring approaches to achieve technological independence. Investing in Sovereign Digital Capabilities: Strategising investments in infrastructure, talent, and processes to build and sustain digital sovereignty. Join us for an evening of insightful discussions, shared experiences, and actionable strategies to navigate the complexities of digital sovereignty. Secure your organisation's future by understanding and implementing the pillars of digital autonomy.

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Belgium 28-8-25 Country Members Physical english

20 Years CIONET - CIONET Belgium: Summer Festival

A special celebration marking 20 years of CIONET—two decades of empowering digital leaders and driving innovation in the technology landscape. This exclusive event will bring together our members to reflect on the incredible journey we've shared and look ahead to the future of digital leadership.Featuring keynote presentations from visionary CIOs, industry pioneers, and founding members, we’ll explore how far we’ve come and what lies ahead in the ever-evolving world of technology. Together, we will honour the contributions of our members who have shaped CIONET’s legacy while offering insights into how the community will continue to lead in the years to come.This is more than a celebration—it’s an opportunity to reconnect, reflect, and recharge with your fellow digital leaders. Don't miss this exclusive experience packed with inspiring talks, networking opportunities, and special recognitions that highlight the best of CIONET’s history and future.Let’s celebrate the past, present, and future of the digital community you helped build.

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Belgium 2-9-25 All TRIBERS Virtual english

What Does It Cost to Host an App? ; A practical guide to calculating hosting costs across infra, licenses, and operations

You’ve been asked a simple question: “What does it cost to host this application?” But the answer is anything but simple. The platform sits across multiple data centres. The app spans a few VMs, shares a backup system, uses licensed monitoring, and touches five different teams. Your CMDB should help, but it’s rigid, outdated, or incomplete. And yet, you still need to provide a number, clear, explainable, and grounded in reality.

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Upcoming TRIBE Events

 
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July 3, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

Własny SOC czy outsourcing? Analiza modeli operacyjnych w bezpieczeństwie IT

Zapraszamy na praktyczną dyskusję o wadach i zaletach różnych modeli utrzymania Security Operations Center. Dawid Wachowiak (TDJ) podzieli się doświadczeniami z wdrożenia i funkcjonowania modelu outsourcingowego. Porozmawiamy o tym, co wpływa na skuteczność SOC-a – od decyzji strategicznej po reakcję na incydent – i jak dopasować model operacyjny do potrzeb organizacji.

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July 14, 2025 Squad Session Invitation Only Virtual polish

Platforma KSEF – Krajowy System eFaktur

Ministerstwo Finansów zapowiedziało wdrożenie platformy KSeF na 2026 rok. Przygotowanie firm i ich systemów wymaga wiedzy o zakresie KSeF i elementach integracji na poziomie IT. Zapraszamy na kontynuację spotkania z udziałem przedstawicieli Centrum Informatyki Resortu Finansów (CIRF) i Ministerstwa Finansów.

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July 16, 2025 Squad Session Physical polish

TRIBES LEADERSHIP CIRCLE

Tribes Leadership Circle to cykliczne, wysokopoziomowe spotkania wyłącznie dla dyrektorów obszarowych, posiadających dostęp w ramach wykupionego członkostwa.

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CIONET Partner Updates

CIONET Partner Updates

Recent Cases

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Virgin Media O2 protects critical cloud service with supported foundation

Virgin Media UK, began a digital transformation project to update its business support systems (BSS) and online charging systems (OCS). The service provider chose to build the new environment for these systems, IT Private Cloud, with Red Hat cloud platform technology, backed by Red Hat® Enhanced Solution Support.

Virgin Media UK, part of Virgin Media O2 and the UK’s second-largest mobile network operator,
began a digital transformation project to update its business support systems (BSS) and online
charging systems (OCS). The service provider chose to build the new environment for these
systems, IT Private Cloud, with Red Hat cloud platform technology, backed by Red Hat Enhanced
Solution Support. With 24x7 access to Technical Account Managers (TAMs) and other support
staff, Virgin Media O2 can avoid costly delays, provide a consistent experience, and protect its
reputation by quickly troubleshooting and resolving issues.

 

Evolving services to stay ahead in a competitive market
Virgin Media O2, a joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica SA, is one of the United
Kingdom’s largest businesses, with more than 46 million broadband, mobile, phone, and home
subscribers. The service provider recently began a project to modernize its business support
systems (BSS) and online charging service (OCS) by replacing more than 80 legacy systems.
As part of this project, Virgin Media O2 sought to build a highly available on-premise platform,
IT Private Cloud, to support a variety of technology solutions, including Netcracker Customer
Journey Management, Juniper Networks Contrail SDN (software-defined networking) controller,
and VMware Avi Vantage load balancer.
Due to its broad impact on the business, the platform was rated platinum class, or requiring the
highest level of service where it required production-level support from the beginning of the
project—even during development phases. To create IT Private Cloud, Virgin Media O2 sought an
infrastructure solution that not only provided robust technology capabilities and stability but also
provided expert enterprise support before, during, and after implementation to ensure availability
and optimal performance for critical business services.


Building a stable private cloud with comprehensive expert support
Virgin Media O2 decided to use Red Hat platform technology as the infrastructure foundation for IT
Private Cloud, supported by Red Hat Technical Account Management (TAM) and Red Hat Enhanced
Solution Support. This service provides 24x7 access to engineering and other technical experts.
“Without our IT private cloud platform, we would have no business,” said Alan Bickley, Head of
Infrastructure Engineering, Virgin Media O2. “It’s critical to building, delivering, and supporting the
services that our business and our customers depend on.”
Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat OpenShift provide modular, agile IT infrastructure to
optimize IT operations for existing, traditional applications and modern, cloud-native applications
and technologies. These integrated solutions offer a consistent operational experience through
unified, automated management and elastic scalability to support changing business demands.
Red Hat Enhanced Solution Support is Red Hat’s highest support tier, providing ongoing guidance
and resources for products, integrations, and other needs across customers’ Red Hat deployments.
It includes:
- A 15-minute response time and 4-hour restoration service level agreement (SLA) for
Severity 1 incidents.
- Access to 2 Red Hat Technical Account Managers (TAMs) for Red Hat OpenStack Platform
and Red Hat OpenShift.
- Access to a dedicated team of technical support engineers.
During implementation, the TAMs helped Virgin Media O2’s teams implement the new platforms and
migrate applications, including resolving any potential delays. They now work proactively alongside
the service provider’s internal teams, including attending daily standups and weekly team meetings
to shared updates on Red Hat features that may help enhance Virgin Media O2’s private cloud.

 

Delivering reliable telecommunications services to stay competitive


Achieved rapid issue resolution with 24x7 support
If critical issues occur in its Red Hat environment, Virgin Media O2 can access its dedicated Red Hat
support team immediately through a direct hotline. For less urgent issues, cases submitted through
the web support portal receive replies within 15 minutes—no matter the day or time.
Red Hat TAMs work closely with product engineering teams to get information and guidance directly
from the experts who develop Red Hat’s OpenStack and OpenShift technology. “After all, the
resolution may lie within the product configuration or architecture design areas, which wouldn’t be
covered by traditional support models,” said Bickley.
When issues arise that create a service impact across multiple vendors, the Red Hat TAMs and
support team join calls with Virgin Media O2’s internal team and the third-party vendors to find
solutions. With this cross-team and cross-company approach, O2 UK can rely on Red Hat to quickly
mobilize the right people to resolve any issues in the infrastructure supporting IT Private Cloud.
“With Red Hat Enhanced Support Solution, we can ensure the high availability we need for our
NetCracker BSS stack that supports device purchasing, plan upgrades, and other critical business
functions,” said Bickley.


Established trusted relationship with technology experts
Working with the same group of people from Red Hat on a daily basis has helped Virgin Media O2
build confidence in their ability to not only solve problems faster and more reliably but also to look for
opportunities to align technology with the service provider’s business goals and strategy. For example,
the Red Hat team provided guidance on best practices for implementing a third-party
monitoring solution for IT Private Cloud.
“We see our Red Hat TAMs and the Enhanced Solution Support team as an extension of our internal
team,” said Bickley. “We don’t have to keep going over the same background information with
different people each time we call. That’s a key benefit for quick restoration if any issues occur.
We know each team member, and they know us and our environment, from how the implementation
went to the history of any fixes we’ve applied. Their dedication has proven invaluable.”


Avoided costly project delays with enterprise support
Using a supported, stable platform backed by enterprise support from Red Hat has helped Virgin
Media O2 avoid implementation delays that could add up to hundreds of thousands of pounds in
costs—for the service provider and other involved vendors.
“Our Red Hat technologies have been continually up and running with our platform readily
available, helping us maintain uptime and avoid delays,” said Bickley. “Taking longer to deliver
the new functionality would have meant engaging external contractors longer. The smooth
implementation supported by our Red Hat Technical Account Managers helped us avoid those
delays and related costs.”


Expanding support relationship to new projects
After its success using Red Hat services to support IT Private Cloud and its digital transformation
efforts, Virgin Media O2 is planning to expand the relationship to other critical projects, such as
network modernization.

“Red Hat Enhanced Solution Support Service is exceptional,” said Bickley. “Without keeping our
critical services running and available, we would have no business. Working with Red Hat’s experts
is key to our exploration of technology solutions to new business opportunities. We are highly
satisfied with the value of the service, demonstrated by our renewal of the contract for an additional
three years.”


About Virgin Media O2
Virgin Media O2 is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London,
England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global
and Telefónica through the merger of their respective Virgin Media and O2 UK businesses

Technologies

Red Hat OpenShift

CIONET Circles

CIONET Business Circles

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Healthcare Circle

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?

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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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Check out our latest news

Testimonials

Geert Goethals
Geert Goethals
CIO
Sibelga
Bahadir Samli
Bahadir Samli
CIO
ING Belgique
2-Feb-29-2024-11-35-00-9309-AM
Bart Kerkhofs
Vice President & Head of IT
Bridgestone EMIA
Untitled design (1)-Apr-01-2022-10-58-34-57-AM
Michał Paprocki
Group CIO
Euroclear
1-Feb-29-2024-11-34-59-8990-AM
Manfred Boudreaux-Dehmer
Chief Information Officer
NATO
Untitled design-Nov-22-2023-08-42-05-3178-AM
Annick Faes
Vice President IT and CIO Medical Devices EMEA
Johnson & Johnson
Piet_De_Ceuleners
Piet De Ceuleners
Global IT Director
Melexis
1658251930890
Dirk De Bevere
Large Enterprise Sales Leader
Telenet Business
Untitled design-7
Stef Schampaert
Country Managing Director BeLux
Red Hat
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Geert Lejon
Geert Lejon
Vice President Head of Belux / Head of Comms Benelux
Cognizant
Kevin_Ledegen
Kevin Ledegen
Group IT director
SDWorx
Gunter-Van-Craen_Small
Gunter Van Craen
Chief Digital & Information Officer
Bekaert
Thomas Kessler
Thomas Kessler
Partner | CIO Programme Leader
Deloitte
Emmanuel Gob
Emmanuel Gob
CIO
DPD
pascal pauwels
Pascal Pauwels
CIO
Colruyt
Untitled design (4)-Dec-13-2023-10-53-15-5032-AM
Koen Segers
Managing Director Belgium and Luxembourg
Dell Technologies
benoit dewaele
Benoît Dewaele
Group IT Directo
Vandemoortele
Dirk Deridder-1
Dirk Deridder
Director IT Infrastructure, Systems, Services & Support (CIO / CTO role)
SMALS
Thierry Driesens
Thierry Driesens
CIO
TVH
Untitled design-Sep-18-2023-11-59-29-7866-AM
Koen Vandaele
CIO
Delen Private Bank
Untitled design (4)-Jun-12-2023-01-23-11-7540-PM
Liesbet D'hoker
Managing Director
Kyndryl BeLux
steven-vermeulen
Steven Vermeulen
CIO
Digitaal Vlaanderen
Jack Hamande
Jack Hamande
Director General Digital Transformation
Federale Overheidsdienst Beleid en Ondersteuning
Tom Tomczak
Tom Tomczak
Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)
NRB
1726588748718
Cassandre Laurent
Directeur général
Agence du Numérique
an swalens
An Swalens
Head Of IT (CIO)
National Bank of Belgium
Untitled design (2)-Apr-01-2022-10-58-34-68-AM
Elke Laeremans
Chief Digital & Supply Chain Officer at Casa International
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Koen Van Loo
Koen Van Loo
CIO
Group S.
Peter Sany
Peter Sany
Executive Advisor
Zoom
CIONET Belgium - Advisory Board Member - Steven De Haes
Steven De Haes
Dean
Antwerp Management School
Marleen Thorré
Marleen Thorré
Head of Digital EMEA
Mitsubishi Chemical Group

Team

Luc Hendrikx
Luc Hendrikx
CEO
Inès De Bien
Inès De Bien
Partner - CCO
1-Feb-08-2022-10-22-08-68-AM
Daniel Eycken
Partner - COO
Hendrik Deckers
Hendrik Deckers
Founder - MD
Untitled design (1)-2
Jelte Scheys
Tribes Sales Director Belgium
foto Herman
Herman Roelandts
Tribe Master
Joseph Antoun
Joseph Antoun
Senior Program Director
1-Dec-16-2021-02-15-57-02-PM
Eman De Sutter
Program Manager
4-Feb-08-2022-10-22-09-03-AM
Shelly Deracourt
Program Manager
Untitled design (5)-Sep-01-2022-02-47-55-60-PM
Charlotte Coen
Partner Success Manager
Untitled design (1)-Nov-22-2023-08-56-42-6802-AM
Ivana Bradvica
Junior Event Manager
ML B-W-1
Martine Lefevre
Financial Controller
Vlera Berishaa (1)
Vlera Berisha
Junior Community Manager
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Programme & Event Manager

Contact us

Would you like to know more about CIONET Belgium, membership or partnership opportunities? Do you have feedback or any other question? Send us a message!