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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 23-9-25 Squad Only Virtual english

Cybersecurity Without the Burnout ; Refocusing effort when alerts, threats, and pressure won’t stop

Security teams are overwhelmed. Too many tools. Too many alerts. Too few people. And now, increasing pressure from the board to protect everything, everywhere, all the time. Expect honest reflection, shared strategies, and a conversation that cuts through compliance noise and focuses on what to do when your team is stretched and your risk is rising.

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Belgium 23-9-25 Invitation Only Physical english

Reclaim the cloud : Powering Belgian Finance with Sovereignty

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the financial services industry in Belgium faces a critical juncture regarding its cloud adoption strategy. While the allure of cloud computing – with its promise of scalability, agility, and innovation – is undeniable, the unique regulatory demands and paramount need for data sovereignty present significant challenges. This CIONET roundtable, aims to bring together Digital Leaders from the Belgian financial sector to discuss how to navigate these complexities. We will explore how financial institutions can leverage cloud technologies while ensuring complete control over their data, maintaining compliance with stringent European regulations like GDPR and DORA, and mitigating geopolitical risks.

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Belgium 24-9-25 Invitation Only Physical english

Bridging the Unbridgeable: IT Meets M(i)OT ; Converged infrastructures demand converged security

As smart devices proliferate across operational environments — from sensors on factory lines and GPS trackers in logistics fleets to wearables in healthcare and connected systems in smart cities — the integration of Managed IoT (MiOT) is accelerating. But with it comes a surge in cybersecurity risks. No longer isolated or air-gapped, OT systems are becoming fully networked, remotely accessible, and deeply entwined with IT. This creates a vulnerable, highly complex digital mesh, one where a single compromised device can trigger physical, financial, and reputational consequences.

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Upcoming TRIBE Events

 
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September 23, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english

Cybersecurity Without the Burnout ; Refocusing effort when alerts, threats, and pressure won’t stop

Security teams are overwhelmed. Too many tools. Too many alerts. Too few people. And now, increasing pressure from the board to protect everything, everywhere, all the time. Expect honest reflection, shared strategies, and a conversation that cuts through compliance noise and focuses on what to do when your team is stretched and your risk is rising.

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September 30, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english

Technical Debt: When to Pay It and When to Walk Away ; Making smart trade-offs between progress, maintenance, and risk

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.

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October 2, 2025 Squad Session Squad Only Virtual english

The Career Path of the Architect ;Great architecture begins with great architects

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.

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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

Partners

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
CTO - Technology Services & Practices
SMALS
Thierry Driesens
Thierry Driesens
CIO
TVH
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Koen Vandaele
CIO
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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
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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
christel-plessers
Christel Plessers
Head of IT European Markets
Mercedes-Benz Europe
bauduin cor
Baudouin Corlùy
Chief Market Development Officer
LCL Data Centers

Team

Luc Hendrikx
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
Hendrik Deckers
Partner - Founder
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Jelte Scheys
Tribes Sales Director Belgium
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
4-Feb-08-2022-10-22-09-03-AM
Shelly Deracourt
Programme 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
Programme Manager
ML B-W-1
Martine Lefevre
Financial Controller
Vlera Berishaa (1)
Vlera Berisha
Community Manager
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Phaedra Vanhaeren
Programme 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!