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March 2010

BELNET news

 

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BELNET news

 

Are you happy with BELNET? 2010 Customer Satisfaction study

Much like last year, at the beginning of 2010 we asked the independent research firm D-Sense to survey our customers on their collaboration with BELNET. This customer study assessed the level of satisfaction concerning the services provided and their importance for customers.

 

The 2010 customer satisfaction study ended on 27 February. Again, the outcome of the survey will lead to important guidelines for the future. This will allow BELNET to set the right priorities and determine the best opportunities. 

 

Your personal feedback and suggestions help us to continue to optimise our operations, and adjust our offering to the needs and wishes of our end users. Hence, we would like to extend a warm thank you to all who gave their valuable input. 

 

BELNET will soon have the pleasure of announcing its new action plan, based on the results of the study. We are again committed to translating the plan into actions that can help us improve our working relationship.

 

 

 

 

Surf to our new website and discover our detailed service offerings

BELNET launched its new site in January 2010. Most of you noticed that the previous version was due for an upgrade. Hence, we decided to modify our website in the short term where necessary. Changes were made especially in the area of usability.

 

We also focused on providing a clear overview of our services, which are available via the menu. Be sure to review our ‘standard’ services and the additional services you can order as a ‘plus’. A short description is provided for each service, as well as its benefits for your organisation. Perhaps you will discover a new or additional service that matches the needs of your organisation. The site also allows you to immediately subscribe to the service. The home page provides a quick overview, with the services grouped into themes.

 

Feel free to have a look at www.belnet.be. Comments and suggestions concerning the new site can be sent to customer@belnet.be. 

 

 

 

 

New 2010 customer policy

Since 1st January 2010, new conditions apply for acces to the BELNET network. The minimum capacity for the access circuit and internet connectivity is now 100 Mbit/s.

In this manner, BELNET hopes to respond to the ever-increasing connectivity needs as well as to encourage the use of the internet. As a consequence, some clients have had to increase the capacity of their access circuit and their connectivity, whereas for others this has simply meant increasing their internet bandwidth.

 

A smooth transition

BELNET adopted several measures to facilitate these operations. We revised our prices for internet connectivity down to make the cost of very high capacity more affordable. As far as the access circuit is concerned, we extended our service offer with the BELNET leased line which can now be ordered directly with BELNET. Thanks to this service, we reduce the number of intermediaries and we enforce the guarantee of the availability of the connection.

 

In all, 16 clients have opted for the BELNET leased line service to increase their access circuit. By 1st January 2010, 36 customers had increased the capacity of their line to 100 Mbit/s or more and 93 institutions had expanded their internet bandwidth to 100 Mbits/s or more.

 

 

New BELNET customers: more than 190 organisations now connected to the research network

Since 1 January 2010, a number of institutions have connected to BELNET or are in the process of doing so. Currently a total of 190 large or medium-sized organisations are connected. The BELNET network has expanded to include the Louvain-la-Neuve university press. Moreover, some institutions have merged and formed new entities. This is the case for several colleges of higher education in the Walloon region.

 

Education:

-          Diffusion Universitaire CIACO (DUC)

-          Haute Ecole Condorcet: a grouping of the provincial colleges of higher education of Hainaut (Haute Ecole Provinciale de Charleroi Université du Travail, Haute Ecole Provinciale du Hainaut Occidental and Haute Ecole Provinciale Mons Borinage Centre)

-          Haute Ecole de Louvain en Hainaut: a grouping of the independent colleges of higher education of Hainaut (Haute Ecole Libre du Hainaut Occidental, Haute Ecole Roi Baudouin, Haute Ecole Charleroi Europe)

-         Université de Mons: resulting from the merger of the University Mons Hainaut and the Polytechnic Faculty of Mons

 

 

E-collaboration Platform: an invitation to the pilot phase

Last month, BELNET launched the pilot phase of its new 'E-Collaboration Platform'. This service provides online communication and collaboration simply via a web browser. During an 8 month pilot phase, BELNET clients will have free access to the online collaboration and web-conferencing environment. This tool is especially useful for online teaching (white board interactivity), collaborative work (sharing of applications) and meetings and presentations (webcam, audio, slide shows).

 

For further information or to take part in the pilot phase, please do not hesitate to contact customer services by e-mail, customer@belnet.be or by phone on 02/790 33 33.

 

 

 

BELNET develops the third generation FedMAN network

Fedict (FPS for Information and Communication Technology) recently authorised BELNET that it can develop the third generation FedMAN network (FedMAN3).

 

This again confirms the excellent collaboration between Fedict and BELNET in developing the foundation for e-government in Belgium. The FedMAN network provides powerful and reliable communication between the citizen and the Federal Government.

 

Collaboration between BELNET and Fedict dates back to 2001. The FedMAN1 network was in service from June 2002 to February 2006. Its successor, the FedMAN2 network, will be active until March 2011.

 

For the new project, FedMAN3, the list of functional requirements has again increased considerably. The new network will be available from March 2011 and will be operational for 5 years.

 

 

 

BNIX celebrates 15 years with a new platform

The Belgian internet node BNIX (Belgian National Internet eXchange), also managed by BELNET, is this year celebrating its 15th birthday! With over forty participants (mainly Internet Service Providers, but also Content and Hosting Providers), the BNIX provides an exchange of internet traffic in Belgium in the form of peering agreements which increase the speed and quality of this traffic.

 

A new PoP and a new platform

More technically, the BNIX comprises two huge switches linked by two fibre-optic lines. These are geographically separated so as to guarantee redundancy. One device is located in the Level(3) data centre at Evere and a second one in the Interxion centre at Zaventem. As from April 2010, companies whose computing infrastructure is hosted in the LCL data centre at Diegem will, furthermore, be able to connect from Diegem to the BNIX switches at Evere and Zaventem.   

 

In addition, new switches have just been installed allowing the capacity of the BNIX to be increased by a factor of 4 and its speed by 5!  In 15 years, with ever increasing internet traffic in Belgium, this is the fourth upgrade of the BNIX platform. 

 

On top of these technical innovations and its 15 years anniversary, the BNIX is giving its image a make-over, starting with a more contemporary-looking logo and a new website. 

 

 

BELNET Security Conference – 6th May 2010

 

The second BELNET Security Conference will be held at Hotel Thon in Brussels on the 6th of May.

 

The target audience mainly consists of BELNET customers, who will be able to attend lectures on practical security considerations, solutions and services.  Another goal of the conference is to give our customers the opportunity to meet the staff of BELNET CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team).

 

The theme this year is "Communication, collaboration and co-operation in Security". We are still interested in talks that fit the theme of course, but even more in presentations of practical cases. You can still send propositions by e-mail to bsc@belnet.be.

 

The whole program and the possibility to subscribe will be soon available online.

 

 

Calendar

6th May 2010: BELNET Security Conference

19th November 2010: BELNET Networking Conference