BELTUG Update December 2010

Lobbying
1. Consultation on Belgacom SIP certification
2. BIPT publishes its Strategic Plan 2010-2013
3. Update on phase-out of Belgacom services: Move to All IP
4. BIPT calls for candidates for spectrum licenses
5. PC Solidarity brings the Internet to another 15,000 people
6. Concerns from business users on IPv6 on our agenda

Networking
1. A new ‘home’ for our members on www.beltug.be
2. BELTUG on Linked in and Twitter
3. We welcome our new members
4. Congratulations to Daniel Lebeau, Alain Conrath, Els Blaton and Sabine Everaert

Information and vision
1. Steering Committee welcomes new member: Dirk Zegers of KBC
2. Kick-off of security activities + join the Security SIG
3. BELTUG paper on corporate GSM policy downloaded 650 times!
4. New presentations available

Agenda 

We’ve received many comments and questions on Belgacom’s certification process for equipment from different vendors. For business users, a varied offering on the Belgian market is key, and certification is a precondition to any such offering.

We have therefore compiled the issues (e.g. timing, specifications, communication of known bugs, etc.) and presented them to Belgacom. We have since received their answers, and it looks like we could help the certification process move a significant step forward.

BIPT has now published its Strategic Plan 2010-2013. The final plan was determined following an active listening phase that included input from BELTUG (The BELTUG answer).

Very briefly, our comments included:
• The lack of competition in the business market of communication services;
• The real risk of delay in the rollout of mobile broadband in Belgium;
• Whether the necessary means for the BIPT’s ambitions plans have been made available;
• Our satisfaction with BIPT’s interest in the experiences and needs of business organisations. 

Like many other European operators, Belgacom is in the process of adapting and upgrading its telecommunications infrastructure. It presented its Move to All IP plan to 80 BELTUG members , including a status update on the technological evolutions and what they will bring to customers and BELTUG members. Belgacom also explained how customers will be guided through this technological evolution.

As quite a few existing services will consequently be phased out in the coming years, BELTUG will make sure to maintain a close collaboration with Belgacom to be able to inform business users as quickly and transparently as possible.

4. BIPT calls for candidates for spectrum licenses

Companies interested in licenses for wireless frequencies such as WiMax, LTE or HSPA+, need to register their interest with the BIPT before the deadline of 4 February 2011. The BIPT will be distributing licenses for the 3410-3500 MHz and 3510-3600 MHz frequency bands. Find out more about the call for interest registration here.

PC Solidarity is the Belgian branch of Close the Gap International, a non-profit organisation that reconditions computers and then sells them at advantageous prices to communities in developing and emerging countries. Thanks to its co-operation with DNS, another 70 organisations received access to the Internet last week. BELTUG is co-founder of DNS.be.

Many BELTUG members already work with Close the Gap, and you may want to consider this solution for your used PCs that work fine but no longer meet your needs, infrastructure or company policies. 

Networking

Come home…to the new BELTUG homepage. We’ve made it more dynamic, interesting and relevant to your needs, so you can quickly find the information you are looking for. From our events agenda, to our case studies and reports, to our unique and exclusive Simbox Simulator – you’ll find it all within a click or two from the updated homepage.

We are very pleased to welcome our new members who joined since our last update: Absi, EnergyICT, Centre Hospitalier Hornu-Frameries, Oiltanking Stolthaven Antwerpen, Adecco Belgium, Tesserderlo Chemie, Sirius Legal, Tein Telecom, NEXThink.

We extend our heartiest congratulations to Daniel Lebeau, Alain Conrath, Els Blaton and Sabine Everaert, who have all been recognised by DataNews  as outstanding!

Daniel Lebeau, Vice President, Management & Information Systems, GSK Biologicals, has been named DataNews’ ‘CIO of the Year 2010’.  He, Els Blaton (CIO of Axa) and Sabine Everaet (CIO of Coca-Cola Europe) were selected as the top 3 CIOs by DataNews readers.

Alain Conrath, IT director for Mutualités Chrétiennes/Christelijke Mutualiteiten, has been named ‘ICT Manager of the Year’, thanks to his ‘REFAC’ project, an invoicing and follow-up system for hospitals.

The Steering Committee is very pleased to announce that Dirk Zegers, Head of Department Networks and Telecom, KBC, is the newest member of the Committee. He will be taking over from Johan Anthierens, who has retired, and whom we thank for his hard work and dedication.

Security: in our member survey, you let us know that it’s a hot topic, and we heard you loud and clear. So we wasted no time in getting moving on our security activities, which will continue going forward. We got off to a great start on 24 November, with our “Kick-off of BELTUG’s security activities”.
If security is a special priority for you, perhaps you would like to take part in the Security SIG? It’s open to all BELTUG members. The first topics for discussion are security as a service - including what security services are available from the cloud, and what are the benefits and issues with this approach - and cloud security. Just send us an email.

We have new presentations for you to check out this month on our website:

-From TDM to SIP: Best practices and added value
Tom Van Wint, Helpdesk & Telecom Manager, Sita recycling services/Suez

-Network transformation outlook 2011-2015 (Phasing out of Belgacom services)
Tom Wuyts, Director WAN, Internet & Security, Enterprise Business Unit products & solutions, Belgacom

-Beyond network security: Why hackers don’t care about your firewalls
Sebastien Deleersnyder, Managing Technical Consultant, SAIT Zenitel  

- BELTUG Security SIG
Wendy Brévière BELTUG, Paul De Vroede Ministerie van Bestuurszaken, Peter Debasse KBC, Carl Vanschoenwinkel Consortium voor de Vlaamse Overheid.