One • April 2014

<< Liesbeth Lemmens Marketing and Communication Manager at Group Delorge-Peerlings

Software Defined Networking A new perspective on the network

business magazine for top ICT professionals Q1 / March 2014 • www.ictnews.be/one

Unravel your network Discover Software Defined Networking Cécile Gonfroid talks about the radio and television of tomorrow • New way of working • Stayen: a football stadium and IT temple all in one • Higher productivity with videoconferencing

WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT ALWAYS WHAT YOU GET.

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editorial

Software Defined Networking

<< Liesbeth Lemmens Marketing and Communication Manager at Group Delorge-Peerlings

A new perspective on the network

business magazine for top ICT professionals Q1 / March 2014 • www.onemagazine.be

Unravel your network Discover Software Defined Networking Cécile Gonfroid talks about the radio and television of tomorrow • New way of working • Stayen: a football stadium and IT temple all in one • Higher productivity with videoconferencing

A publication of Belgacom Year 8 / number 20 / Q1 2014 Publisher: Bart Van Den Meersche Koning Albert II-laan 27, 1030 Brussels Concept and production: Propaganda nv Imperiastraat 16, 1930 Zaventem www.propaganda.be

Coordination: Charline Briot, Markus Eggermont, Robbin Sacré, Jean-Marie Stas, Dirk Van Dijck Contributors: Andrew Beavis, Klaar De Groote, Kristof De Spiegeleer, Robert Doran, Véronique Gilon, Davy Goris, Stef Gyssels, Frederic Petitjean, Anneke Stoffels, Dries Van Damme, Frank Van den Branden, Filip Van Loock For more information, contact: Robbin Sacré robbin.sacre@belgacom.be

Welcome to the future Life without IT? It’s no longer even imaginable. What’s more, we’ve come to expect applications to work flawlessly at all times. But, behind the scenes, this is leading to a rapid rise in complexity. Inside the datacenter, the need to automate management tasks is becoming increasingly urgent. SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) are the concepts that are going to streamline datacenter management – and therefore, the service to the end-user – in the future. In this issue of the magazine we present them to you.

With SDN and NFV, we’re looking ahead to the future. But it’s also rewarding to take a look back. 2014 marks the twentieth anniversary of Proximus. What an evolution it’s been: from corporate luxury product to indispensable device for all.

The mobile phone has become a multifunctional device that gives you access to a whole range of services, anywhere, anytime. And thanks to 4G, you’ll be able to use multimedia services on your device just as smoothly as on a landline Internet connection. In Belgium, we are already serving over four million customers with our 4G network. That too is the way of the future!

Envoyez un mail à robbin.sacre@belgacom.be afin d’obtenir un exemplaire de ce magazine en français.

Mail naar robbin.sacre@belgacom.be om een exemplaar van dit magazine in het Nederlands te ontvangen.

The technical specifications are indicative only.

Belgacom reserves the right to make changes without prior notification.

Bart Van Den Meersche, Executive Vice-President Enterprise Business Unit Belgacom

Read One magazine on your tablet. Go to the App Store or Google Play and download the free app or surf to www.ictnews.be/one

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rubriek column

SDN technology: opportunity or disruption?

Identikit Kristof De Spiegeleer is a serial entrepreneur in the ICT sector, specializing in the optimization of datacenter technologies. Through Incubaid, De Spiegeleer’s incubation center, the ability to combine new technologies and management know-how has formed the basis for technology start-ups such as Amplidata, Awingu, Dacentec and Racktivity. De Spiegeleer is a pioneer in the shift towards cloud computing in Europe.

Earlier this year, a Software Defined Networking (SDN) market sizing report estimated that the embryonic industry – which generated 2012 sales of around $250 million – will eventually reach $35 billion in just five years. This predicted rapid growth marks SDN as a fundamental technology shift. However, at this point in time, it is incredibly difficult to predict the accuracy of such claims or which vendors will become market leaders and which will fall by the wayside.

SDN separates decisions about where traffic is sent (called the ‘control plane’) from the underlying systems that route the data between different destinations (called the ‘data plane’). In essence, the software now becomes more vital than the proprietary hardware. In complement, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) takes many network functions such as routers, firewalls, CDN and many other functions and turns them into virtualized building blocks that can connect to build complex services. In addition, the software focus enables an entire

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orchestration layer that can potentially and automatically reconfigure, based on factors such as bandwidth demands, security issues, hardware failure or other triggers.

Software-defined does not necessarily mean open, although there are several powerful groups that are helping to promote interoperability and baseline standards.

For example, the ETSI Network Functions Virtualization Industry Specification Group (NFV ISG), founded in 2012, has grown from a handful of telecom providers to over 72 companies and industry leaders.

Another example is OpenFlow which, since its 1.1 version launch in 2011, has now gained broad vendor support including networking products from Cisco, HP, Brocade, Juniper and Extreme Networks to list just a few of over a dozen vendors that have committed to support the standard.

Although OpenFlow is gaining traction, it is still only a protocol like HTTP and it doesn’t actually dictate how an SDN deployment

should be designed. By its very nature, the move to software provides flexibility but this does not necessarily equate to more effective networks when compared to the current networking topologies.

At the moment, there is no clear SDN leader. Cisco – as the largest networking vendor – is a key influencer and the launch of its Open Network Environment (ONE) strategy and the new Nexus 9000 is a key moment. However, Cisco insists that customers must buy this new core hardware element to benefit from its software vision.

In the other camp, VMware with its NSX believes that SDN should have a core that lives close to the hypervisor on commodity servers – a vastly different concept.

For anybody building, upgrading or managing a network over the next decade, there are some tough decisions to make.

The SDN revolution may well unseat some of the current kings and create new technology leaders but for us technology innovators, the SDN disruption is a sign that our industry is still as vibrant as ever.

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contents

business magazine for top ICT professionals people & vision

30

Cécile Gonfroid: “IT needs to play an

innovative and proactive role, while maintaining the agility to respond to new challenges”

round table

22

Software Defined Networking: waiting for the first real opportunity

news & views

community

04

03 editorial Bart Van Den Meersche Welcome to the future 08 one on one Wim Van den Bossche and Thomas Vandierendonck 10 questions for 2 CIOs 32 my team STIB/MIVB Pierre-André Rulmont presents his team 40 corporate news Proximus 20 years – 4G for all, now also in Brussels – Dominique Leroy – Survey – The Night of ICT

column Kristof De Spiegeleer SDN technology: opportunity or disruption?

07 cockpit Facts & Figures 34 technology explained Unified communications and collaboration: all-in-one 39 book review ‘David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants’ How big is small, how small is big?

42 column Ludo Vandervelden SDN & NFV, the next level for virtualization

solutions 06 12 16

28 38

solutions Sixdots Easy payment by smartphone solutions Proximus 4G The reliable network products Mobile desktops & Featured Apps Discover the latest smartphones and apps for the mobile professional solutions Belgacom Engage New way of working: think first, then act solutions Belgacom Personal Video Videoconferencing on any device and via any network

cases 10 S tayen A soccer stadium for the future 14 S ITA Operational reliability via central storage 26 Delorge-Peerlings A competitive edge through technology 36 UZ Brussel Every second counts

dossier

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The network holds the key to the future: SDN & NFV one

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solutions

Sixdots, a user-friendly method for mobile payments

Easy payment by smartphone More and more Belgians are doing their shopping online. Last year, the e-commerce market grew by 30%. A logical trend, after all, because it’s a lot easier, faster and more convenient than trudging around shops. However, the payment process remains a niggling problem in this otherwise stress-free experience. There’s always a bit of a fuss with card readers and entering data online. Now that we are increasingly shopping via mobile devices, the demand is growing for a userfriendly way to pay for our purchases by smartphone.

The answer: Sixdots.

By now, one out of two Belgians owns a smartphone, and two out of three households have a tablet PC. As a result, the use of mobile apps is soaring. Sixdots is set to become the convenient new payment method for mobile and online shoppers. They simply need to download the free app and create an account, for which they will be assigned a six-digit PIN code – hence the name Sixdots.

Accessible to anyone Frederic Lhostte, Managing Director of Sixdots, explains: “Sixdots works as an open platform that’s accessible to all consumers and merchants in Belgium. The use of Sixdots is completely free for the consumer. The app is suitable for all smartphone users who have a debit card from any bank operating in Belgium, and a mobile data subscription from any Belgian telecom provider.”

Do it all by smartphone Although Sixdots will be chiefly focused on online and mobile payments, there will be other services as well such as ticket sales, coupon redemption and loyalty cards.

Thus, consumers will be able to pay at the supermarket by smartphone using Sixdots, without having to get out a debit card or a customer loyalty card. For online ticket sales, the customer can instantly pay for the ticket and digitally store it on his smartphone. An extra advantage will be the possibility of sending personal messages to a customer’s smartphone when he enters the shop.

More info?

Online payment no longer a stumbling block

For more information on Sixdots, surf to www.sixdots.be

For the merchants themselves, Sixdots offers a way to enhance customer service,

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allowing them to respond to the growing number of online shoppers who use a mobile device. This will allow them to reach an even bigger audience. This is certainly also true for webshops, because many consumers are still reluctant to enter their card details online, a stumbling block that has now been removed. In order to offer the new payment method, the merchant needs to add the MasterPass payment button to his website, which will redirect the customer to his mobile Sixdots app to enter his ID and display his payment cards.

The merchant can also opt to incorporate Sixdots into his own mobile app, giving customers access to their payment cards in the same way, for an optimal customer experience. The merchant is charged a small fee for each transaction via Sixdots.

Launching this spring Sixdots is currently conducting a number of pilot projects in preparation for the commercial launch of the service in the spring of 2014. Consumers and merchants can register via www.sixdots.be to be kept up to date on the latest developments.

Business benefits • Increased revenue via new channels • Suitable for any smartphone and bank card • A user-friendly method for mobile payments • More opportunities for customer interaction

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212 billion

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In 2020 there will be 212 billion ‘connected things’ in the world.

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In China, the volume of data generated by ‘connected things’ will reach 100 zeta bytes by 2030.

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As a percentage of overall computer purchases by companies, tablets will grow from 20% in 2014 to 38% in 2018.

In 2013 for the first time, worldwide, more smartphones were sold than ‘feature phones’: 968 million out of a total of 1.8 billion mobile phones.

Source: Gartner

Source: IDC

32 billion ictnews.be/one

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By 2020, SDN and NFV will be able to save service providers up to 32 billion dollars in their annual CapEx investments.

Source: The SDN, NFV & Network Virtualization Bible: 2014 – 2020

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7

10 questions for 2 CIOs 1

Who would you like to sit next to on an airplane and what would you ask him or her?

I’ve been traveling so much lately that the person I would really like to sit next to is my wife. But my second choice would be Rudi Peeters, CIO - Senior General Manager ICT at KBC. He has some very strong ideas. I would like to ask him about his expectations for the future.

2

“ I’m quite open, but I make a point of keeping my private life separate from work.”

In both my professional and personal life, there’s no brand that has that status for me.

It’s the price-quality ratio that counts.

3

CIO, PricewaterhouseCoopers

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What don’t your employees know about you?

I don’t think there’s much. I’m a very open person. But I think most of them don’t realize that I have been associated with PwC for 27 years already. A lot of staff only really got to know me when I became CIO five years ago. I don’t have any major secrets, but I do make a point of keeping my private life separate from work.

Wim Van den Bossche Personal: Wim Van den Bossche is an athletic manager who favors a resultsoriented approach. He’s not shy of major challenges. A quality that is just as evident in his choice of leisure activities. Last year he climbed the Mont Blanc. Next year he plans to hike the Corsican GR20 route. Career: Van den Bossche studied Applied Economic Sciences in Antwerp and also earned a diploma in Business Consulting. He has been associated for the past 27 years with the PwC network, including five years as auditor and eight years as fiscal consultant. He was made CIO five years ago. Company: PwC stands for the PricewaterhouseCoopers network and the companies that make it up. Each company operates as a separate legal entity. PwC specializes in consulting, audit, legal and fiscal services, transactions and HR. The chief target groups include: energy and utilities, financial, healthcare, pharmaceutical industry, public sector, retail and consumer, real estate, transport and logistics. Workforce: The PwC companies make up a network of companies in 157 countries with a workforce of over 184,000 employees.

In Belgium, PwC employs a staff of 1,400. The ICT department led by Wim Van den Bossche is supported by a team of 30 employees.

What brand has your undying loyalty?

4

How would you describe your job?

Highly unpredictable. The general outline of my workday is planned in advance, but how it turns out is usually quite different.

5

What person or event had a significant impact on your career?

My first meeting with consultant Frans De Vos. That must have been in 2001 or 2002.

He had barely said three words and I was already completely lost. But I instantly felt his passion for IT. He had an amazing amount of insight and this made him very helpful in 2005-2006 with the creation of the domain name ‘eu’ on behalf of the European Commission.

6

What would you have done if you hadn’t ended up doing this job?

I like working with teams. So I probably would have concentrated more on coaching.

In any case, it would have something to do with teaching, I think.

7

What (IT) book do you think everyone should read? ’Paranoia’ (2008) by Joseph Finder. It’s a thriller that tells the story of Adam Cassidy who plays a practical joke over the company network. When it comes to light, he’s forced to choose between a criminal record or spying on the competition.

8

What invention would make your life easier?

An application that would help process the huge amount of e-mails and information that we receive each day.

9

What do you think will be the next major trend in technology and IT? Processing big data. This trend is already well underway. Whoever finds an efficient way to combine the different data sources and is able to make predictions for the future based on this data, will be able to claim a very important position in the market.

10

How do you see your role as CIO evolving over the next 20 years?

What kind of leadership skills do you think will be important for CIOs? It’s difficult to look ahead 20 years. But it’s clear that in the short-term, the CIO will need to be a team player who is more able to take all parties into account. The CIO will become a multiplayer who can come up with solutions for the business.

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one on one

Each issue of One will feature a look at the person behind the position. Discover the often surprising and inspiring answers.

Who knows? Maybe you’ll be next.

1

Who would you like to sit next to on an airplane and what would you ask him or her?

Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google Inc. I’d like to ask him how he thinks new developments are going to change our lives in the next 20 years. Take for example the ‘smart’ glasses Google Glass and the self-driving car. Brin is also financing an experiment for culturing meat based on stem cells.

2

What brand has your undying loyalty?

I’ve got to say Coca-Cola, the original version. But that is really the only thing. Otherwise there isn’t a single brand that has my unconditional loyalty.

3

What don’t your employees know about you?

That up until recently I was an obsessive collector of bootlegs of Bob Dylan concerts.

I’m still a huge fan, but I’ve done my best to tone it down a little bit. I handed over my Bob Dylan site, which was getting up to 2,000 visitors a day, to someone else.

4

How would you describe your job?

Very wide-ranging. I work with platform developers, developers, infrastructure specialists and helpdesk staff. That makes it highly varied, but most of the meetings are planned in advance.

5

What person or event had a significant impact on your career?

Koen Van Loo, CIO of ADMB HR Group. In the period from 2005 to 2010 he gave me the space to discover quite a lot. What’s more, he introduced me to Junior Chamber International. JCI works worldwide and stimulates enterprising individuals from 18 to 40 to create positive change.

6

What would you have done if you hadn’t ended up doing this job?

Certainly something in IT. I would probably have been a software developer.

7

What (IT) book do you think everyone should read?

It’s not a book, but I would highly recommend InboxZero.com by Merlin Mann. On the site, you’ll find a very efficient guide to managing your e-mail traffic. InboxZero helps prevent you from getting lost in your own mailbox.

8

What invention would make your life easier?

A pair of bionic hands. A robot that could empty the dishwasher… In any case something that would free up my time to do more valuable things.

9

What do you think will be the next major trend in technology and IT? Google Glass. With this wearable computer in the form of a pair of glasses, even when you’re just walking down the street you’ll be able to Google everything and collect data on people you meet. I’m afraid, however, that this will have some impact on our spontaneity and privacy.

10

How do you see your role as CIO evolving over the next 20 years?

What kind of leadership skills do you think will be important for CIOs? Above all, the CIO is going to become a go-between for IT and business. Technology is there to improve business processes. This is going to become self-evident.

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“ I’ll always be a huge fan of Bob Dylan, but I’ve made an effort to tone it down a bit.”

Thomas Vandierendonck ICT, Onafhankelijk Ziekenfonds (OZ)

Personal: Thomas Vandierendonck has a strong belief in the benefits of new communication tools, but in order to lead an IT team, it’s essential to schedule face-to-face meetings in advance.

Creating positive change is what it’s all about. That’s why he devotes a lot of his free time to Junior Chamber International.

Career: Thomas Vandierendonck earned a diploma as a programmer analyst at the Hogeschool Gent. He soon built up solid experience as a programmer and further developed his career as a project manager for ADMB. Before joining the ICT department for the Onafhankelijk Ziekenfonds (OZ), he was adjunct ICT Director at Roularta Media Group.

Company: The OZ Group, of which Onafhankelijk Ziekenfonds is a part, aims to set the standard in supporting, insuring and promoting health. OZ is more than a mutual health insurance fund and is made up of various entities. Each entity is based on one of the four main themes: health, vacation, vitality and comfort.

The ICT operations are part of the M team, together with the Neutral and Liberal mutual health insurance funds.

Workforce: The OZ group employs a workforce of some 1,450 people. The ICT department has a staff of 18 employees.

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9

Site Manager Peter Onkelinx and IT Manager Michael Sourbron on the pitch at Stayen: the soccer venue/business center is equipped with future-proof IT infrastructure.

The new Stayen stadium is nearly complete. The construction project will result in a modern soccer venue that will also house a flourishing business center. The commercial space available at Stayen comes pre-equipped with a full solution for all IT and telecom needs.

Company profile Stayen is the home stadium of the second-tier soccer team STVV from Sint-Truiden. Aside from a soccer venue, the site also incorporates shops, a hotel, offices and an events hall, and employs a workforce of over 1,000.

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Stayen

Belgacom equips the new Stayen stadium

A soccer stadium for the future Where the complex now stands, the soccer team STVV (the Sint-Truiden Royal Football Club) built its first stadium in 1927, followed by a series of renovations and modifications over the years. The latest renovation started in 2003, with the construction of new seating. In 2009 the second phase of the project was finished, with the opening of various shops in the complex, and the launch of the grand café, the hotel and the events hall, plus two call centers which opened for business. The completion of the third phase will follow this spring: the new west wing of the stadium, including extra commercial space, a fitness center and a corporate restaurant. The plan also features 21 loges (hospitality boxes in the stand) which can be used, aside from viewing soccer, as hotel rooms or conference facilities.

The finished stadium will be able to accommodate 14,600 spectators, including standing room for 3,530.

Full package of services Stayen offers the shops – and other clients who make use of its infrastructure – a full package of services. “When a company moves in, they don’t have to concern themselves with the facilities at all,” explains Site Manager Peter Onkelinx.

“That’s especially true for anything that has to do with IT and telecom.” In order to fully cover the needs of these clients at the site, Belgacom created a private cloud, based on Dell servers and Equallogic storage. “It’s all virtualized on VMware,” explains IT Manager Michael Sourbron. “Via shared storage, we’re able to guarantee the high availability of applications and data.” The business continuity is ensured by replicating everything at an external datacenter. Sourbron: “The infrastructure has been built with future growth in mind.

That explains the choice of virtualization, for example. It simplifies not only the maintenance of the server fleet, but will also easily allow us to add or remove servers later on.”

For more cases, see

Network plays a key role Belgacom increased the capacity of the LAN to 10 Gbit. The new network is based on Cisco technology. Onkelinx: “Here too, we opted for mirroring. All the glass fiber is redundantly installed on two pathways. There are two Internet breakouts.” The high bandwidth has been extended to the business seats and the events hall as well. “This will make it possible, for example, to watch the soccer live on a tablet via streaming. The network is also already set up for IP TV.” What’s more, the network has a key role to play in the new stadium. Onkelinx: “Virtually everything is connected to the network: not just data traffic and IP telephony, but also the operation of the doors, climate control, etc.” Stayen will also offer a wireless network throughout the entire west wing.

With the new infrastructure, Stayen is opting resolutely for stability and transparency. No more tangled mess of diverse connections and maintenance contracts, but a clear, reliable service. Sourbron: “Companies who set up here will be provided with a highly convenient solution for Internet, telephony, Wi-Fi, etc. We take care of the central management and guarantee the availability of data and systems.” From now on, Stayen not only stands for soccer, but also for IT as a service …

Business benefits •C entrally managed IT infrastructure •B usiness continuity thanks to the redundant infrastructure •F uture-proof network with high bandwidth •W orry-free IT for shops and other clients

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Proximus: the reliable network MASS EVENTS

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Surf to www.belgacom.be/4G

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13

SITA revamps NetApp environment

Operational reliability via central storage SITA manages the applications and data for its Belgian, Dutch and German staff at its data centers in Beerse. To ensure optimum capacity and performance, the company switched to a new NetApp storage environment.

The IT Department of SITA NEWS, with Belgian, Dutch and German activities, has 70 members of staff. They offer support to 3,000 users, spread across 150 sites in the three countries. Like many other companies, SITA has found itself having to cope with ever increasing data volumes. “The capacity of the existing SAN environment was no longer satisfactory,” explains ICT HOSTING Manager Bart De Cuyper. “Our service contract was about to expire. The fact of the matter was that the solution had simply run its course.” In the first instance, SITA took a close look at its storage requirements and asked Belgacom to assess the situation objectively.

“We needed to know whether we could cover all our requirements with one storage environment,” continues Bart De Cuyper. We soon realized though that there had to be a better option.

“What our users need more than anything is document storage capacity. The server park – VMware virtualized – in first instance calls for performance.” SITA decided to keep both elements separate, but also needed to keep its budget under control. Bart De Cuyper: “We already had experience of NetApp and were keen to build on that expertise. Over the years, the performance of NetApp has always been consistent and we were determined to keep it like that. The storage environment is genuinely critical to our business, because when that environment is unavailable, our staff no longer have any access to their documents.”

Operational reliability Belgacom implemented a new NetApp environment at SITA, consisting of three SANs covering the two SITA data centers in Beerse. Bart De Cuyper: “The first site is equipped with two 14

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devices: one for our production data and one that is used as backup. The second site acts as failover and contains a copy of the backup.” Providing the support for this particular configuration was not a problem for NetApp. Active data, failover and backup have now been integrated into one environment. “We are delighted that we were also able to incorporate the backup into this set-up. Before that, we used to work with tapes, which was a fairly time-consuming business. We could never be 100% sure that, if the need arose, the backup would actually be usable. In that respect, the new solution has given us absolute peace of mind.”

SITA’s active production data alone account for a volume of 30 TB. The new NetApp environment is designed in such a way that it will be able to cope with an extra 70 TB over the next five years. “It goes without saying that – if need be – we will easily be able to add extra cabinets. Thus, capacity is certainly not going to be an issue again any time soon.”

The fact that SITA does not impose any storage limits on its staff, not even on their own mailboxes, speaks for itself.

SITA has contracted the maintenance of the solution out to Belgacom. “As a result, we don’t have to worry about the SAN environment anymore. The only thing that matters to us is that our staff have access to our critical data. That operational reliability has now been guaranteed.”

Business benefits •R eliable critical data storage for its 3,000 employees working across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany •C apacity for the expected data growth over the next five years •A ccurate and speedy backups •C arefree use thanks to a service contract with Belgacom

For more cases, see www.ictnews.be/one

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SITA

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Central storage is critical to our company, because when that environment is unavailable, our staff no longer have any access to their documents.â&#x20AC;?

Bart De Cuyper, ICT HOSTING Manager at SITA NEWS

Company profile SITA specializes in waste management.

The group forms part of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT. SITA is responsible for the efficient and sustainable collection and processing of waste.

The group offers solutions geared towards the conservation of raw materials and the protection of ecosystems, for consumers and industry alike.

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15

Mobile desktops Nokia Lumia 1520

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The Nokia Lumia is a great phablet for both business users and photography buffs. The latest Windows Mobile operating system guarantees the highest possible compatibility with Microsoft back-office applications.

There are many reasons why the Galaxy Note 3 could soon become an indispensable travelling companion in your professional life. The robust technical specifications combined with the handy stylus make this device a winner.

Bigger screen, higher productivity

A winner for the modern road warrior

With its 6” screen, the Nokia Lumia falls into the phablet category. These are smartphones with screens large enough to work on productively, but which are still portable enough to take anywhere. The device comes with complete 4G/LTE connectivity for both calls and web surfing. In addition to popular applications from the Windows app store like Nokia Music & Drive, the Nokia Lumia 1520 offers integration with Microsoft Office and Office 365, plus synchronization with Lync and Exchange.

It also delivers strong performance in the area of photography and supports solutions recommended by Belgacom for mobile device management (MobileIron, Vodafone VSDM-Airwatch and Blackberry BES10) which allow you to manage and provide security for your employees’ telephones.

In technological terms, the Galaxy Note 3 resembles the Nokia, but the operating system is Android. That makes the Note 3 a star player in a completely different ecosystem, based on the Google Play Store. The Galaxy Note 3 flawlessly supports all Googlebased services such as Google Docs, Google+ and Hangouts, and also the Android version of Microsoft Lync and Cisco Unified Communications tools. The screen is slightly smaller than the Lumia phones, but it has a bit more memory, an infrared port and scores points for its convenient, built-in stylus (the S Pen). Just like its rival, it also supports the MDM functions and is compatible with the high-speed 4G/LTE network.

Nokia Lumia 1520

Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Processor: Quad Core 2.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800

Processor: Quad Core 2.3 GHz Snapdragon

Operating System: Windows Phone 8

Operating System: Android 4.3 Jelly Bean

Memory: 2 GB RAM, 32 GB flash, microSD (Max 32 GB)

Memory: 32 or 64 GB (3 GB RAM)

Screen type: 6” ClearBlack, IPS LCD touchscreen

Screen type: Super AMOLED 5.7” touchscreen

Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels

Screen resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels

Battery: 3,400 mAh

Battery: 3,200 mAh

Talk time: 25 hours

Talk time: 16 hours

Stand-by time: 768 hours

Stand-by time: 809 hours

Dimensions: 163 x 85 x 9 mm

Dimensions: 151 x 79 x 8 mm

Weight: 209 g

Weight: 168 g

Connection: GSM, WCDMA, LTE, 802.11ac, NFC

Connection: GPRS, 2G, 3G, 4G, NFC, 802.11ac

SAR: 0,59 W/kg

SAR: 0,29 W/kg

Bluetooth: 4.0

Bluetooth: 4.0

Camera: 20 MP PureView, Dual LED flash, autofocus, ZEISS optics

Camera: 13 MP with Smart Stabilization

Extra: Built-in wireless charger, nano SIM, 7 GB cloud storage

Extra: S-pen, Swipe, 50 GB Dropbox

* SAR – specific absorption ratio – is the unit of measure for the amount of electromagnetic energy that is absorbed by the body during use of mobile phones.

The maximum allowable SAR in Europe is 2 Watts/kg according to guidelines issued by the ICNIRP.

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products

Putting the spotlight on Apps Directr for Business Selfie goes video

Not every company has its own production house available to create promotional videos. But with a small budget and plenty of creativity, you can still achieve exciting results. The app Directr for Business shows you how. Using your iPhone (other platforms are not yet supported), you can make HD videos to put on your website, blog or social media page.

The movies generated are usually short (about one minute long), and help keep surfers interested. Directr contains a wide range of templates that allow you to record catchy, appealing clips. These include product announcements, interviews or kickstarter videos. The final product can go directly onto YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Wistia (a site for professional video hosting).

My Measures & Dimensions A clearer frame of reference

Smartphones are useful for snapping photos and sending them instantly.

They’re often used for submitting quotes, assessing damage or giving feedback on work in progress.

My Measures & Dimensions can make this type of photo more meaningful, and prevents confusion later on. The app allows you to quickly and easily mark the dimensions of objects using arrows, angles, lines and notes in different colors and sizes. The result can be shared as a photo, PDF or a project file. For professionals, the app supports connections with the Leica Disto D8 laser meter. The app is available in Dutch, French or English, and supports not only the metric system, but also American, Chinese and Japanese measuring systems. The versions for Apple and Android cost € 2.69 and € 3.49 respectively.

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Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization

The network holds the key to the future

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dossier

Employees, customers and IT partners need digital services to be flexible. This is a need which is at odds with the rigid concept of the traditional datacenter solution. SDN (Software Defined Networking) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) can provide the answer – and new opportunities.

As IT grows in importance, the pressure on the infrastructure grows too. We are increasingly relying on digital services, round the clock. Meanwhile, datacenters are becoming more complex. IT infrastructure is, by definition, a heterogeneous mix, with numerous components – including both hardware and software – from a range of suppliers. It is also clear that many of the elements in these datacenters form separate islands, creating a patchwork of partial solutions, each with their own roles, and each running on their own platform: Internet access, firewall, routers, servers, storage, you name it. What’s more, these are partial solutions that are unaware of one another.

Each one is responsible for merely a part of the larger whole.

This evolution has led to the kind of highly complex, static, hardwired network of components that currently typifies a datacenter. The result is that the slightest change in the set-up calls for meticulous preparation. The implementation has to be carried out during off-peak hours, if there even are any. For example, adding an extra website takes hours of preparation and a very secure – manual – adjustment of the configuration of the various components. The risk of error is therefore fairly high which, in turn, requires extensive testing of the reconfiguration before the site can go live. It is a situation that is difficult to sustain. After all, what happens when there are unplanned changes? The continuity of service for customers needs to be guaranteed at all times.

Automatic reconfiguration SDN or Software Defined Networking can provide the muchneeded automation. A simple example illustrates the principle.

Imagine that the network is stable, but a particular server is not. A hypervisor such as VMware can rapidly shift the server in question to a different location, so that the new configuration once again functions properly. This is the idea behind the virtualization of the server fleet: there is no longer a need for an associated piece of hardware for each application. The hypervisor moves virtual servers from one location to another, without any need for changes in the physical network. However, reconfiguration is necessary in the other sub-solutions of the network, such as the firewall, switches, load balancers, etc. In other words: what we can currently do with servers, we cannot yet do with the network: dynamic reconfiguration. In principle, we could assume that this doesn’t have to pose a problem. However, the point is that whenever you move a server, you are moving all the traffic to and from that server as well. And that is traffic that needs to go through the firewall, routers, switches and other network components. And it’s necessary to activate or switch off certain functions in order to allow the traffic to flow smoothly.

This explains the intrinsic power and great advantage of SDN. The solution is able to reconfigure the network automatically.

SDN also adjusts the parameters of the different network components, as and when necessary. The concept offers a huge

Executive summary A small change in the datacenter – such as the transfer of a virtual server – can have a big impact on all the other elements that come into contact with that server, such as firewalls, routers, load balancers, etc. SDN (Software Defined Networking) automates this reconfiguration, managed through a single platform. At the same time, NFV (Network Function Virtualization) improves the efficiency of the datacenter. The advantages of virtualization are expanding to cover all network functions.

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advantage for the type of company that runs large datacenters, such as Google and Amazon. The size and complexity of these datacenters is directly proportionate to the complexity of the rules and policies that apply to performing reconfiguration. It goes without saying that the managers of the large datacenters themselves are the main driving force behind SDN. It is said that companies such as Google were looking for a SDN solution, but not finding any on the market, decided to build their own.

Need for compatibility Today, the market already looks somewhat different. Virtually all of the suppliers in the network market â&#x20AC;&#x201C; think of big players such as Cisco, Juniper or Checkpoint - have entered the SDN

SDN automates the reconfiguration of a datacenter set-up, while also adjusting the parameters of the various devices on the network.

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marketplace. And this brings us to the next question: what should our expectations be in terms of compatibility? Should the solutions from these suppliers be able to talk to one another?

We are currently in the early stages of development for SDN. Belgacom is closely following developments in the market. In the first place, Belgacom sees an opportunity for the use of SDN in the management of its own datacenters. But the concept can also be applied to product management, for example as a solution in combination with Explore and cloud. Finally, Belgacom is building expertise in this area in order to be able to act as a trusted advisor on SDN for its clients. The last thing a company wants to do is to make any hasty decisions about SDN. Bringing everything together on a single platform opens up attractive economies of scale, but it can also increase the risks.

The centralized management on a single platform â&#x20AC;&#x201C; of voice, data, security, video, web access, and more - can set in motion a cascade effect. This means that when something goes wrong, the consequences quickly spread.

In that case, putting out the fire, so to speak, is no longer a matter of just a single partial solution. SDN therefore calls for extra attention to the design and configuration of the management platform in and of itself. The fact that SDN will initially be offered primarily in solutions that are specifically tied to suppliers does not make things any easier. However, the market is expected to stabilize in the next two years.

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dossier

In the most complete form of NFV, the virtualized firewalls, routers and other devices are all run on a single platform.

Everything virtual In the context of SDN, the term NFV or Network Function Virtualization also crops up. This concept extends the idea of server virtualization into essentially all other devices which may be part of the network. The network is the last part of the IT environment that has not yet been virtualized. At the moment, for each network function – firewall, router, VPN, DNS, etc. – there is a specific piece of hardware and, just like in the past, each application is assigned a dedicated server.

In the most complete form of NFV, virtualized firewalls, routers and other devices all run together on a single platform. This instantly generates savings on hardware and

! s s e Succ

Jean-Marie Stas, Marketing Manager at Belgacom

energy, and also opens up new possibilities, specifically in terms of multi-tenant services. For example, a supplier of datacenter services can use a single platform to provide various customers with virtual firewalls, each with their own configuration. There is a clear parallel with server virtualization: there too, different virtual servers run independently of each other on the same physical machine.

NFV allows any network function whatsoever to be supplied in a dynamic way – activation and deactivation, expansion and reduction, transfer, etc. – just like we are accustomed to doing with virtual servers. Depending on the burden on the physical platform, the manager can easily move the virtualized functions to a different location. This brings us back again to SDN, which automatically supports the reconfiguration. We will probably have to wait a couple more years for the full breakthrough of NFV – when a single platform will be able to house virtualized functions from different suppliers. The business model of the traditional providers of firewalls and other functions is currently still very much based on the combination of hard- and software, although we are also increasingly seeing virtualized solutions being offered by various suppliers.

Meanwhile, Belgacom is also providing firewall services, whereby different virtual firewalls are run on a single platform.

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Towards a dynamic network

Waiting for the first real opportunity

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round table

With SDN (Software Defined Networking) it’s essentially a matter of managing the components of the network, for example in the event of an intervention – planned or otherwise – in the existing configuration. NFV (Network Function Virtualization) has to do with the virtualization of the various network functions. It’s about disassociating the software from the hardware. There’s a close link between NFV and SDN. In an extensive report – which you can read elsewhere in this issue of One – we explore the background of the two concepts in depth, and issues related to them. “Researchers at the university are already experimenting with SDN,” declares Herman Moons, the Head of ICT Infrastructure at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven). “We are not yet using it in our infrastructure department, but we are definitely interested.”

Epic fail In practice, a university can be regarded as a collection of semi-independent entities. Although the different departments collaborate, they also insist on their operational independence.

The impact of this reaches into the very heart of the network. “Changes are constantly being made at the datacenter,” explains Herman Moons, “resulting in reconfiguration. There is going to be a need to automate this process at some point, for sure.” In that case, SDN could

In the future, managing the network will become one of the biggest challenges in IT. This is almost universally acknowledged. But for now, opinions remain divided on how SDN and NFV can help provide a solution.

Certainly a topic for a stimulating round-table discussion, even if the participants are assuming that a revolution is not imminent.

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1

2

3 1 “The infrastructure we currently find in the

datacenter is a result of the technological evolution over the past 20 years” Jean-Marie Stas, Marketing Manager at Belgacom

2 “ We need to look at the concept of SDN as a

blueprint for what will become possible down the road. But the banks will not be the early adopters.”

4 5

Denis Neuforge, Head of Telecom & Security Services at BNP Paribas Fortis

3 “SDN will not arrive with a big bang. Companies are exploring the possibilities and, in the meantime, gaining experience.”

Herman Moons, Head of ICT Infrastructure for the KU Leuven

4 “ Right now, SDN is mostly a buzzword. Each

supplier has their own idea of what it means.”

Geert Van den Brande, IT Architect at KBC Global Services

5

“ It’s still a matter of waiting until the first real opportunity comes along.”

Marc Daemen, Team Coordinator Telecom Datacenter Services & Tooling at KBC Bank

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round table

provide extra flexibility at the same time as eliminating the risk of human error. As the complexity of the datacenter grows, so too does the chance of error during a manual intervention. Moons: “Nevertheless, at the moment it’s still too soon for SDN. Right now, I would be afraid of the scenario of an epic fail. Basically, with SDN you are creating a new single point of failure. If the SDN breaks down, everything else goes down with it.”

“It’s true that the challenges within the datacenter just keep growing,” says Marc Daemen, Team Coordinator Telecom Datacenter Services & Tooling at KBC Bank. “There is an increasing demand for faster solutions, preferably getting it right the first time. At the same time, there’s a lot of background that we need to keep in mind.” In this context, SDN is an attractive principle, but the concept does raise some concerns. Daemen: “As I see it, SDN calls for a kind of super controller. At KBC Bank we are not yet actively involved in SDN, but we are exploring the possibilities.” For example, KBC performed a market study on what SDN concretely entails. “We put the question to various suppliers,” reports Geert Van den Brande, IT Architect at KBC Global Services. “This revealed that, for the most part, SDN is a buzzword. Each supplier has their own – different – understanding of what it means.”

Automation However, these suppliers largely agree about the heart of the matter. SDN is about automation. “At first glance, IT security would appear to be the major reason for restraint,” continues Van den Brande. “The risks and threats are constantly changing. I worry that when it comes to system security, SDN doesn’t provide a sufficient answer. There are also questions about performance, certainly in a context such as banking, where large amounts of encrypted data are transmitted on the network.” The importance of the network availability and reliability is only going to increase in the future. That’s one of the reasons why BNP Paribas is building two new datacenters in the Ardennes – not just for their Belgian activities, but for the group. “In other words, a gradual, but massive migration is on the way,” claims Denis Neuforge, Head of Telecom & Security Services at BNP Paribas Fortis. “We are currently investigating how to best organize this.” Potentially, SDN could be part of the solution. “Although, I remain very careful, mainly in terms of data protection.”

Despite the reservations, the advantages that SDN brings are considerable. Thanks to SDN, the infrastructure manager will be able to respond to users’ needs more rapidly. It will allow companies to realize faster time to market. “The infrastructure we currently find in the datacenter is a result of the evolution over the past 20 years,” points out Jean-Marie Stas, Marketing Manager at Belgacom. “The agility and adaptability of this infrastructure will not be enough to meet the business needs of the future. The various components are not sufficiently coordinated with one another.” It may be exactly in this area

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that SDN can make the difference. “True,” notes Daemen, “but, in practice, we are observing that, for suppliers as well, it’s a whole new area. Everyone is working as quickly as possible on their own interfaces.” There is virtually no dialogue, apparently, which means that it will probably take quite some time before a reasonably standardized form of SDN takes shape. “In any case, the banks are not inclined to play the role of early adopters,” adds Denis Neuforge. “We need stability and system security. In the meantime, it’s a question of wait and see whether SDN – or some part of the concept – will offer an opportunity.”

Looking for stability In the context of SDN, the term NFV usually comes up as well: Network Function Virtualization. It seems that the network is the last part of the IT environment that has not yet been virtualized.

“For us, NFV offers an attractive solution,” declares Moons. “The university has grown rapidly in recent years, in part thanks to the strong collaboration within the KU Leuven Association and the various member colleges.” Collaboration in the area of IT applications certainly offers many advantages in this regard. It allows the infrastructure department of the university to act as a cloud provider for the association. NFV fits well with the concept.

“NFV offers the possibility of removing quite a lot of hardware from the production environment of the various faculties or departments. They can hold on to their own virtual firewall or load balancer, although these are actually located in our facility, in the datacenter.” Van den Brande thinks that NFV would be useful for a small or simple work environment. “But within the complex context of a bank, it probably wouldn’t work,” he points out. “In the past, we conducted a proof of concept with a cloud provider, in relation to IaaS and PaaS. It turned out not to do what it was supposed to, in practice.”

If we take a look at the hype cycle by market research bureau Gartner, then we can see that SDN is still at a very early stage in the cycle. “Later this year, there will probably be a disappointment phase,” according to Stas. “And only afterwards will there be stability – and a real solution.” The revolution that some suppliers are already touting right now does not appear to be upon us at all. “We should regard the concept of SDN as a blueprint for what will become possible down the road,” reflects Neuforge.

“But it’s not going to radically change our work in the near term.”

For now, our round-table partners are sticking to one golden rule: keep an eye on the market and watch what moves colleagues and competitors are making. The evolution of the technology will probably largely determine the next steps as well. “Let’s look at that first of all,” concludes Daemen. “But now it’s mostly a matter of waiting until the first real opportunity comes along.”

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“ We strive to provide a high-quality customer experience.

The ICT support is a part of that.”

Liesbeth Lemmens, Marketing and Communication Manager at Group Delorge-Peerlings

Belgacom supports growth plan for Group Delorge-Peerlings

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At Group Delorge- Peerlings, the network and communication are a part of all of the business processes.

There’s free Wi-Fi while customers wait, the mechanics carry tablets, and the office staff collaborate on a UC platform. one

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Delorge-Peerlings

Company profile Group Delorge-Peerlings is a fullservice dealership for Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and VW company cars.

With locations in Hasselt, Sint-Truiden, Borgloon, Lommel and Overpelt, Group Delorge-Peerlings has a workforce of 150 employees and groupwide sales of 3,500 cars annually.

In recent years, Group Delorge-Peerlings has grown considerably. The full-service dealership for Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda and VW cars was created in 2012 through the merger of Garage Delorge, with locations in Sint-Truiden, Borgloon and Hasselt, and Garage Peerlings, based in Lommel and Overpelt. Shortly after the merger, they decided to move the activities in Hasselt to a new complex of buildings. The result is the Delorge Business Park – with separate buildings for the activities of Volkswagen and Audi – located on the ring road around Hasselt. For Audi, this represents the largest private investment by a dealership worldwide. Last September, the Group

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Delorge-Peerlings started up operations at the Business Park.

Single point of contact “We were constructing a whole new facility,” explains Marketing and Communication Manager Liesbeth Lemmens. “This gave us the chance to incorporate all the equipment we could possibly need from the start, including for IT and telecom.” Because of the large scale of the project, Delorge-Peerlings decided to seek the help of a specialist.

“This quickly brought us to Belgacom.

We were looking for a single technology partner for the entire process: a company that could offer extensive expertise and a single point of contact. ”From the very beginning of the project, Belgacom sat down with the architect and the design consultants. This approach resulted in two striking new buildings, fully equipped with all the latest technology.

For Delorge-Peerlings, Belgacom took care of the development of the network and telecom infrastructure - WAN, LAN and WLAN, unified communications (UC) and data security - for all of the group’s locations. “Initially, we were only looking for a solution for Hasselt,” Lemmens recalled. “But once we discovered the possibilities of the BE6000 platform from Cisco, we decided to equip the other four locations with it as well.” The UC solution makes telephone calls between the employees working at the various locations a lot cheaper and more convenient. What’s more, the platform also helps improve the service. “We can now more easily transfer a customer to the right person, even if they are based at one of our other locations.”

Open to the future The Delorge-Peerlings employees are also saving lots of time thanks to the ‘presence’ function. Lemmens: “In the past you would often have to call around

to locate a certain staff member. Now we can instantly see who is present at which location and we can tell if he or she is available.” Another advantage of the new environment is that there is only one central communications platform required for the different sites. This is located in Hasselt. “That’s a big difference from how it used to be, when we had to maintain a telephone switchboard at each of our locations.” In this way, the new infrastructure is a good example of the evolution that Delorge-Peerlings has undergone. Five years ago, the entities which currently make up the group were each other’s competitors, based in five different locations. “The new IT and telecom infrastructure also opens up many possibilities for the future,” Lemmens concluded. “For example, we are investigating whether we can start videoconferencing soon. And later this year, when a sixth location is scheduled to open, we will be able to connect it to the network in no time.”

Business benefits • Belgacom as a single point of contact (SPOC) for WAN, LAN, WLAN, UC and network security • Only one central communications platform for the different sites • UC saves time and boosts efficiency • Future-oriented environment: new locations can easily join the network

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The three action zones for the NWOW

New way of working: think first, then act Does your staff want to work more flexibly, in order to avoid wasting time stuck in rush-hour traffic? More and more organizations are realizing that the new way of working offers major advantages for companies as well. In fact, 68% of personnel managers claim that their staff’s productivity has increased thanks to working from home and mobile working, and brief absences due to illness have decreased by 26%. So chances are, giving some serious thought to a new approach could benefit your organization as well.

The demand for a new way of working usually comes from the employees themselves. Perhaps because their new devices make it technically possible, or because they’re tired of being stuck in traffic, or because they want a better balance between work and private life. But your customers have also become more demanding. They expect quick answers and good personal contact with your company. Boosting your employees’ commitment is one way to ensure this. Meanwhile, your organization wants better performance and innovation, and to create an ideal working environment that will raise efficiency and encourage collaboration.

Personnel policy However, you can’t simply introduce a new way of working instantly. If you want

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to do it well, it takes adjustments in a range of areas: the personnel policy, the workplace and technology. In terms of HR, you need to organize the business around the people and allow them to work wherever they are best able to get the job done. Key aspects here are trusting your employees and setting clear goals.

Change management is an essential part of this. The company needs to ensure that employees can carry out their work anywhere, anytime they want to, and via any device - smartphone, tablet or PC.

Technology Technological solutions are also available that give employees the possibility of efficiently working together with their colleagues, remotely. This may involve working via a specific ‘communication and collaboration’ software program or

social business networks that make it very simple to share information. They can now be run fully independently of the device, location or connection.

Workplace Finally, the workplace also needs to be reconfigured. With ‘flexdesks’, employees can work at any desk, or telework in satellite offices. Regularly allowing them to work from home means that fewer desks are needed at work. That more than compensates for the investment in technology and the shift in corporate culture.

New work environment Belgacom is available to help with all of these aspects, from consultancy to the implementation of technology and providing services. Belgacom

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solutions

Engage contains all the technological elements necessary to set up a complete collaborative environment, such as connectivity, unified communications, collaboration, cloud infrastructure, rate plans and system security.

Assistance with every phase of the project The new way of working has also been introduced internally at Belgacom, so the company can draw upon its own experience in overseeing the transformation for customers. The project is overseen in four phases: rethinking, alignment, targeting and finally, engagement. It is important to first define the goals of the project and the KPIs. The creation of a well-thought-out business case, and support in the rollout, can help to acheive the right result.

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As for the employees and the optimization of your workspace, we share with you our experience with the digital workspace, a new corporate culture and greater productivity. Experienced HR experts as well as the best partners for the rollout of a digital workspace are available to assist you. Naturally, with Belgacom, you’re in good hands for all your connectivity, communication and collaboration software. And you can also count on advice, consultancy, training and technical support.

Business benefits • Enhance your company’s image •E fficient collaboration at any location •S atisfied employees, customers and society • Higher productivity

More info?

For more information about Belgacom Engage, please contact your Account Manager or visit www.belgacom.be/engage

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These days, we don’t just watch TV in the living room any more, but also online, on a PC, tablet or smartphone.

Who knows how we’re going to ‘consume’ radio and TV tomorrow? In any case, it’s safe to assume that IT will play a key role. The public broadcasting service is preparing as thoroughly as possible. “We need to be instantly on board,” says Cécile Gonfroid, General Director of Technologies & Exploitation at the RTBF.

Identikit Cécile Gonfroid (51) gained a Masters degree in radio and TV production at the IAD (Institut des Arts de Diffusion). After graduating, she went to work at the RTBF as a producer of sports broadcasting on TV: football, Formula 1, cycling, motocross, etc. In 2003, she became head of the TV Production Department and in 2009, she

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created the Technologies & Exploitation unit at the RTBF, thus centralizing all technological support services for the RTBF’s various media and IT. In this role, she successfully integrated broadcasting and IT, earning her the title of CIO of the Year 2013, awarded by the IT trade journal Data News.

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people & vision

Cécile Gonfroid, General Director of Technologies & Exploitation, RTBF

“ IT is the motor that drives the strategy” Nowadays, we tend to regard a radio and TV broadcast service – just like other players in the media world – as a technology company. However, what typifies a broadcast service is that there has been a parallel development over the years. On the one hand, there is the technology for the actual production and broadcasts and, on the other hand, the more general IT. When Cécile Gonfroid created the Technologies & Exploitation unit in 2009, she faced the challenge of integrating these two worlds. Her response earned her the title of CIO of the Year in 2013. “Of course I was surprised to receive the award,” she comments. “I have not been actively involved in IT for that long. Previously I was mostly a familiar face in the world of media and production.” For over 15 years, Cécile Gonfroid worked at the RTBF as producer of the live coverage of major sporting events. “There’s a certain parallel there with IT,” she jokes. “Sports is also a man’s world, where as a woman, you especially have to prove yourself.”

The next step After the European Football Championship in 2000, Cécile Gonfroid wound up in a management role. First as head of the TV Production Department, then of Technologies & Exploitation. She oversaw the digitization of the public broadcasting service. “Naturally, that would not have been possible without IT. If we had continued to allow broadcast and IT to develop on separate tracks, it would have severely hampered the development towards digitization.” Still, the integrated team for broadcast and IT is just a first step.

“That’s the big challenge now: planning what comes next.”

Gonfroid has a clear idea of what the next step will be. “I place great importance on the governance of technologies,” she says. “It’s a question of managing the projects well, defining KPIs and verifying results. At the same time, the governance of information is also a priority.” The RTBF possesses a wealth

of material. One of the current challenges is how to manage that material, to further enrich it and to put it to good use.

“Over half of what we broadcast, we produce ourselves.

That’s our major strength.” The RTBF has an archive with over 80,000 hours of material. The broadcasting service wants to do more with this in the future. “IT is the motor driving our strategy. Nobody knows how we will consume media tomorrow, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that as a broadcasting station, you need to prepare as well as possible.”

In-house support Cécile Gonfroid can rely on a team of 321 employees, distributed throughout different competency pools. This doesn’t leave much room for outsourcing. “We do use a few non-critical applications via SaaS, and sometimes work with external developers or rent technical equipment. But the most important thing is to be able to guarantee the continuity of our broadcasts. If a problem arises, we need to be able to have a solution that very minute. Besides, it’s a question of highly specific technology. That’s why we keep our helpdesk, support and maintenance entirely in-house.”

Test projects are underway at the RTBF for other major IT issues – such as the cloud. “We are looking at the cloud, for example, in terms of backing up our digital archives,” explains Cécile Gonfroid. “But there are still a lot of obstacles, in part because we have very high standards for security, the protection of source codes, etc.” Research is also underway on issues such as big data and the optimization of the network management, in relation to SDN (Software Defined Networking) for example.

In any case, there’s no shortage of projects or ideas. Gonfroid: “Of course, at the same time we are thinking about the longerterm future. Where do we want to be in 2020? The agility of the IT environment is only going to become more important, but always in combination with a stable infrastructure.”

IT is the motor for our strategy “IT drives the strategy, innovatively and proactively,” notes Cécile Gonfroid, “while we maintain the necessary agility to respond to new challenges.” In the case of the RTBF, IT needs to form a basis on which the broadcasting service will later be able to rapidly offer its content through new channels. “We consider the present situation as just the tip of the iceberg. We have no idea what is below the waterline. But, in any case, we need to take into account that the iceberg could also melt.” Things could go in

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any direction, in other words. “In terms of the content distribution, new technologies and new models will definitely appear. For us, it’s important to be able to be instantly onboard.” Identity and proximity are also keywords for the public broadcasting channel.

IT provides the support, by allowing the content to be offered transversely, across different platforms. “Viva For Life – Music For Life at the VRT – is a good example of this,” adds Gonfroid. “We combine radio, TV and Internet into one, single package.”

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Having honed his skills over the years with three employers in three different fields – telecoms, IT and ICT – Pierre-André Rulmont recently joined STIB, trading in the virtual business of data traffic for transporting people. He tells us about his amazing first six months.

An electromechanical engineer with a Master of Science in industrial robotics, Rulmont started out at Belgacom. At the age of 43, 15 years of service and two brief excursions later, he left the leading national provider to join STIB, motivated by a passion for low-impact mobility.

But what was it that appealed to him so much in STIB? Aside from the environmental project, it was the massive transformation that is underway. “In telecoms, growth of 100% in traffic isn’t a huge challenge.

But in people’s daily lives, that’s quite different. When STIB acquires a new vehicle, it needs to be equipped with 27 devices before it can be operational. When a bus is purchased, there’s a whole world of complexity that goes into it: meetings between drivers and management, maintenance, on-board electronics, new depots, cafeterias, etc.”

How does he see the challenges for STIB ?

“I’ve been both surprised and delighted at the same time. I’ve encountered a lot of goodwill and passion here, for trams, for public service. There’s a lot of commitment and positive energy to be channeled.” He is thrilled with the scope of their mission. Within five years, the metro system will be automated. It will no longer be the red lights that manage the safety of the passengers, but our computers, and there will be a tube train (or tram) every 90 seconds. The Mobib card will soon be replaced by the Belgian Mobility Card, which will require interconnected IT systems to link the intermodal partners. 10,000 cameras will be installed in the metro. “IT at STIB will shift from a back-office role to a highly critical function … IT used to be for support (emails, invoicing, payrolls), but we will become service providers. My teams will be expected to provide expertise and service on a whole new level.”

“My favorite thing? Offering an employee a project outside of his job description and watching his eyes light up.”

Identikit Pierre-André Rulmont, CIO Organization: STIB Career: Electromechanical Engineer with a Master of Science in industrial robotics.

With a track record including three employers in three different fields – telecoms, IT and ICT – Rulmont recently joined STIB. Department: IT

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my team

Getting along At STIB, Rulmont intends to manage his team with empathy and decisiveness. Accepting the diversity of backgrounds, finding the right match between the role and the person – these are the keys to success in the eyes of the CIO, who believes in discovering and harnessing potential.

After a few months of auditing and careful consideration as a team and with a few external consultants, he created a single department encompassing telecoms, office computing and industrial information technology. “Everything is going to change. The department will no longer be organized by technology, but will be given a very strong business orientation; in addition to the operational side, three teams will work in synergy – support, operations, sales and marketing – and a fifth will ensure transversality. There are currently 300 people working in this department,

including some 100 consultants. Ultimately, the aim will be to have some of these consultants join STIB. Fifteen external consultants have already joined our payroll. This is an encouraging sign.”

HR recipes The CIO relies on good, ongoing communication. Obligatory and forced?

No, he claims to enjoy it. One meeting a week, with ten random people.

Regular internal articles and emails on the status of the reorganization. Every three months, a briefing in a cafeteria.

Getting out and about, even making trips

to the depots. “They understand where I want to take them, and enjoy getting together. When we received the Data News Award, I insisted that the manager came up on stage. Acknowledgement is something that even engineers need sometimes.” Labor relations? They are in ‘transition’, he admits: “I’ve perceived a lot of frustration due to misunderstandings.

But in order to address the challenges of operational excellence, business alignment and the maximum level of security, we don’t have any choice, we have to move forward together, to share, and develop empathy …”

Company profile STIB shifts into high gear This is a company that’s exciting on the inside, but one might not realize it from the outside, says Brieuc de Meeûs, the new CEO. Will that soon change? In order to accommodate increasing numbers of passengers, the company is expanding its projects, improving safety, increasing the frequency of trams and trains and the number of buses in its fleet, recruiting 1,000 new employees and welcoming a host of new managers. Commencing in 2015, its vehicles will be ecological, a decision that won them an award in Warsaw (the European project ‘Ticket to Tokyo’).

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Unified communications and collaboration:

all-in-one

When we talk about collaboration in an ICT context, the term covers all the solutions designed to help employees, customers and project partners work together more conveniently and effectively.

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technology explained

And when we talk about collaboration, unified communications (UC) will probably be involved. Sometimes, the broader term ‘unified collaboration’ is also used. Despite the mix of terminology, the underlying idea is very much the same. It’s all about solutions that enable people to communicate and work together smoothly and efficiently. When there is collaboration combined with unified communications, this means that there is a single platform that brings together the different communication channels into a package and makes them available on all possible devices: smartphones, tablets and PCs with integration of landline telephones.

Phone or mail?

A simple way of looking at it is as follows. Unified communications gathers applications such as landline and mobile phone, SMS and instant messaging, email and voicemail, presence and videoconferencing into a single interface.

This integration is essential, and it’s what offers users the greatest advantages. Increasingly, companies are setting up virtual teams, which depend on smooth communication and close collaboration between colleagues. UC make this collaboration possible, even when the colleagues are scattered across various locations, or even on opposite sides of the world. One of the keys to this smooth collaboration is the functionality that indicates presence. This application displays when you can be reached. It ensures that if you are in a meeting, your colleagues will no longer try to phone you but may instead leave a chat message or send an SMS with a quick question.

Single interface UC also simplifies the management of the various communication channels. The solution integrates the different channels onto a single platform. And this is quite literally the case. For example, UC allows you to receive voice mail as a sound file by email. If you are using a smartphone, you can maintain an overview across all the different channels in a single interface. This also means that you never miss a call or message from a colleague or customer ever again, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Another useful

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option is integrating the platform for UC with other business applications such as CRM. If a sales representative receives a call from a client, all the relevant information about the client is readily accessible, instantly: order history, info on outstanding invoices, etc. In this way, UC can directly contribute to more efficient and productive business processes.

Document sharing Collaboration takes it all a step further. In this case, the emphasis is shifted from communication to concrete collaboration. This encompasses applications, for example, that allow virtual teams to share and edit documents remotely. Collaboration is therefore ideally suited for the growing need of organizations to allow their employees access to various professional documents and applications when they are on the road or working from home.

In this case as well, the virtual teams are often the driving force behind investing in collaboration. Employees who are based in different locations can nevertheless conveniently collaborate using the latest versions of documents. These documents are remotely accessible and can be used by anyone who has the right access privileges. They no longer have to lie idle in someone’s inbox. And here, once again, UC can provide support, for example, by enabling the shared documents to be discussed via videoconference.

Five keywords • I ntegration: access to all channels via a single interface • Efficiency: greater accessibility via the right channel at the right moment • Collaboration: including remotely, and for virtual teams • Productivity: thanks to the integration with other business applications •B usiness continuity: central management and backup of contact details and documents

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UZ Brussels aims to treat strokes faster thanks to 4G

Every second counts Some 75 people suffer strokes in Belgium every day. Their chances of recovery are best if they have access to rapid intervention by a specialized team. A pilot project at the UZ Brussels (Brussels University Hospital) is bringing the crucial expertise to the patient en route in the ambulance, via 4G.

Company profile The Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel is the teaching hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, performing an educational role as well as organizing scientific research. There are 3,400 employees associated with the UZ Brussels. The hospital has 721 beds and counts some 1,500 consultations every day.

A stroke is when there is a sudden disruption of the blood flow to a part of the brain. The cause may be the blockage of a blood vessel in the head, leading to a brain thrombosis. A blood vessel may also rupture. In that case, there is a hemorrhagic stroke. However, most strokes – some 80% of them – involve thrombosis. What matters then is to dissolve the blockage in the blood vessel as quickly as possible. This is generally done by giving anticoagulants.

“There are two crucial elements: time and competency,” explains Dr Raf Brouns of the Department of Neurology at the UZ Brussels. “Every second counts and acting quickly can make the difference between life and death, or between recovery and lasting disability.” Due

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to the time-sensitive nature of stroke treatment, the competency is also extremely important. An experienced team can take the right decisions faster, which leads to better results.

The quest to save time This insight is the basis for a project organized by the stroke unit at the UZ Brussels. If a patient believed to have had a stroke arrives at the emergency room, someone at the hospital presses a red button, so to speak, so that the entire team can immediately spring into action. “We looked at stroke treatment as a process and developed a solution to further optimize it,” recounts Dr Brouns.

“Initiating treatment during the transport of the patient is the next step.”

The aim of the research project is to save time. “This increases the patient’s chance of recovery,” notes Alexis Valenzuela Espinoza, project coordinator at the UZ Brussels. “At the same time, we also wanted to get the necessary expertise to the patient more rapidly, by bringing the doctor onboard the ambulance, virtually.”

The stroke unit at the UZ Brussels developed an application to meet this need. In simple terms, it could be described as an advanced form of mobile videoconferencing. “Inside the ambulance, there is a modern telemedicine system,” Espinoza continues.

“The doctor logs in over the Internet and can immediately communicate with the patient and the medical staff in the

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UZ Brussel

“We save time by starting treatment of the stroke in the ambulance.

During transport, the doctor, medical team and patient can communicate through a mobile form of videoconferencing.”

Alexis Valenzuela Espinoza, Project Coordinator at the UZ Brussel

ambulance.” Simultaneously, the system provides information about the patient to the doctor, such as identity, blood pressure, blood sugar and blood oxygen level. The system allows the doctor to assess the severity of the stroke, even before the patient arrives at the hospital.

Stable connection In order to be able to use the application successfully in a speeding ambulance, there was a need for a mobile connection with high availability and considerable bandwidth. The 4G network from Belgacom makes this possible. In fact, the project at the UZ Brussels functioned as a test case for the rollout of 4G in the Brussels region. “Stroke patients can usually expect a long recovery period,”

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points out Dr Brouns. “The faster the patient receives the right treatment, the smaller the chance of permanent disability or dementia. In this sense, our solution also helps to reduce the costs to society caused by strokes.” After evaluation of the ongoing pilot study, the project may be reproduced in other fields. Theoretically, the concept could be applied in a wide range of interventions where time is of the essence.

Business benefits Bi-directional audio and video communication between a specialized doctor, the emergency medical team and the patient in the ambulance, via the Belgacom 4G network: • more rapid assessment of the severity of the stroke • the specialist can examine the patient at first hand • time-saving: greater chance of recovery, lower cost to society

More info?

For more information on 4G, surf to www.belgacom.be/4G

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solutions

Videoconferencing with no upfront investment thanks to Belgacom Personal Video Do you consider flexible working hours, mobile communication and remote meetings to be major advantages for your organization? Then you’ll certainly benefit from videoconferencing.

Thanks to the new possibilities for videoconferencing via the cloud you can further enhance your employees’ efficiency and productivity on any device and via any network.

Videoconferencing on any device and via any network Collaborating with virtual teams is not always easy. Yet it is important to stay in contact with a growing network of colleagues, customers and partners. Having the right communication tools makes this collaboration more efficient.

For example, videoconferencing offers users a new way of working (NWOW) together, transforming business processes, accelerating innovation and doing more with less. You also save time and money on physical travel, which is unnecessary with videoconferencing: it combines image and sound, so nothing is lost in the communication.

can always have access to a video connection whether they are working from home, from small external offices, hotels or on the road. They can conduct a videoconference with a maximum of 100 different participants, inside or outside of their own organization. The service features optimal image quality, adjusted for the capabilities of each device and the available network infrastructure. The service can also be combined with a traditional videoconferencing system, with some participants based in a conference room, and others in remote locations.

Videoconferencing via the cloud However, setting up videoconferencing from a fully equipped conference room can be expensive, places heavy demands on network capacity and IT skills, and is tied to a specific location.

That’s why more and more organizations are feeling the need for a more flexible system for videoconferencing. Belgacom has an answer with the new Belgacom Personal Video. It combines the quality of traditional conference room-based videoconferencing with the comfort and universal access of webconferencing. This means that with Belgacom Personal Video, there’s no need to invest in expensive hardware, maintenance and management.

The system, in fact, works as a software service via the cloud.

And thanks to the attractive price-per-software license, you can use the service for all of your employees’ devices.

Optimal image quality Belgacom Personal Video increases flexibility: you can use any device whatsoever, as well as different networks: Wan, LAN, intranet and mobile 3G or 4G. That way, employees

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Business benefits • No upfront investment in hardware, management or maintenance • Cloud service charged at a fixed price per license • Work and communicate flexibly • Available via any device or network

More info?

For more information about Belgacom Personal Video, please contact your Account Manager.

Request your test account via: info.personalvideo@belgacom.be

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book review

David and Goliath are often well-matched opponents

How big is small, how small is big?

Who is the underdog and who is the heavyweight? In most situations, it seems perfectly obvious, but we are often mistaken. Malcolm Gladwell takes this as the premise for his latest book: ‘David and Goliath: underdogs, misfits and the art of battling giants’.

‘David and Goliath’ is the new book by the Canadian-American journalist and bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell (‘The Tipping Point’, ‘Outliers’ and ‘Blink’). His topics explore the intersection between sociology, psychology and social psychology, drawing heavily upon real-life examples to illustrate his theories.

Was Goliath diseased?

‘David and Goliath’ is a universal expression for when a weaker party, an underdog, does battle with a much stronger, mightier opponent and emerges victorious. According to Gladwell, however, our interpretation of the biblical story is completely wrong. David, the young shepherd who overpowers Goliath, was not at all an underdog: the sling with which he was armed was a deadly weapon capable of inflicting as much damage as a small revolver. What’s more, Goliath was not at all the mighty, fearsome warrior of legend. Gladwell points out that he probably suffered from acromegaly, a disease that leads to disproportionate growth, but is also accompanied by extreme shortsightedness. The moral of the story: David and Goliath were actually much better matched than we thought.

littlest players into an asset: they proved to be faster and more agile. As in previous works, Gladwell defends his positions here with an entertaining array of little-known stories. For example, one of them is about the size of classes. Large classes are bad for school results. But many schools go too far in reducing the size of their classes, because it seems that too-small groups are just as detrimental to scores as overly big classes.

Gladwell is often accused of oversimplification, but this type of example makes ‘David and Goliath’ yet another highly appealing and thought-provoking read.

The author expands further upon this metaphor in the rest of the book: the weak are often surprisingly strong, and the strong often turn out to be disappointingly weak. In other words, it’s wise to dare to be a David sometimes, and not constantly strive to achieve Goliath status. The extra power that we so desperately want often turns out to be more of a burden than an advantage.

Too small classes The writer supports this point with a variety of true stories from around the world and through the ages, from a French village that revolted against the Nazis during the Second World War, to the troubles in Northern Ireland and the basketball coach who turned the height of his

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For anyone who likes looking at things from a different angle.

We often don’t realize how powerful we are.

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corporate info

Proximus, 20 years as market leader

Proximus celebrated its twentieth anniversary on January 1, 2014. Since its launch in 1994, Proximus has undergone quite an evolution. Early on, the very first mobile telephone service was given a boost with the launch of prepaid cards and SMS messaging. Other milestones followed, such as mobile Internet and SMS-parking. All of these typify the pursuit of innovation that has been the hallmark of Proximus throughout this period.

Constant investment in a reliable, high-quality network and new services has resulted in transforming the mobile telephone into a multifunctional tool, giving users access to a range of services and applications, anywhere and anytime.

for all, also in Brussels

Dominique Leroy, Proximus played a pioneering role with the launch of the first 4G network in Belgium in late 2012. Now Proximus is providing ultrafast mobile Internet in 260 Belgian cities and towns. The 4G campaign recently saw a welcome extension to cover Brussels. Proximus was in fact the first operator to activate the new technology there. This is good news for thousands of private customers, companies and European institutions, since 25% of all data traffic in Belgium is generated in and around Brussels.

Even more good news for residential Proximus customers: you can enjoy a free six-month trial of 4G. That means that for six months you’ll be able to surf up to 10 times faster on your mobile device.

At the end of this period, you can choose between two different 4G experiences, according to your needs. Surfing speeds of up to 86 Mbps are included as standard in rate plans for large companies.

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the new CEO of Belgacom

For the first time, a woman is in charge of Belgacom. Recently appointed as the new CEO, Dominique Leroy will hold the position for the next six years. “We need to focus on getting more women into top jobs,” she said in a public statement several years ago. Prophetic words, it would seem.

Leroy worked for Unilever for 24 years. She joined Belgacom in 2011 and she has directed the Consumer Business Unit since then. With her strategic vision and leadership skills, she has what it takes to successfully tackle the major challenges facing the telecom sector. As she puts it: “Recent market shifts are creating new challenges for us, but I believe we are well placed to meet them, and to continue to improve the service we provide to our many customers, to meet their day-to-day needs for digital products and services. I have confidence in the future.”

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events

Survey: what you think of One magazine?

The aim of One magazine is to inspire CIOs and ICT-managers. But are we meeting this goal? It’s a question that you’re in a better position to answer than we are. That’s why we’re asking for your help via a survey. This should allow us to better tailor our communication to your areas of interest.

Concretely, we would like to hear your opinion about various aspects of One magazine. Can you relate to the content, the editorial style, the design? How much time do you spend reading our magazine? What topics do you think are not given enough coverage? What parts do you never read? Would you like to receive other information?

You can share your feedback with us on www.ictnews.be/survey.

One more thing: if you would like to share your opinions with us in person, please send an e-mail to robbin.sacre@belgacom.be.

Together, we can make One magazine even better!

Participants in the survey are eligible to win tickets for the match Belgium – Tunisia in the King Baudouin Stadium on June 7. We will be giving away 5 pairs of tickets in total. Sound appealing? Just fill in your contact details at the end of the survey.

The Night of ICT Some 600 customers, partners and employees of Belgacom gathered together at the end of last year for the fifth Night of ICT, a meet-up for CIOs and ICT-managers. The theme was ‘a new way’, a reference to a new way of working whereby the end-user is the determining factor. The message was clear: the ICT world needs to focus on user-driven ICT, with tablets and app stores as triggers. This goes beyond simply supporting the new devices. ‘The new way of working’ needs to be integrated into the business strategy. For users, the smartphone has become an indispensable link to the digital world and has become a part of their ‘egosystem’.

Companies need to find a place for these ‘egosystems’ within the organization, an area in which Belgacom can act as an end-to-end partner.

Would you like the support of an experienced and reliable guide to the “new way of working” via Belgacom Engage? Feel free to contact your Belgacom Account Manager anytime.

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column

SDN & NFV, the next level for virtualization

Virtually connected “ Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) appear to be the royal road to the new Walhalla of the C (communication) in ICT”

Identikit Ludo Vandervelden gained a degree in commercial engineering at the VUB (Free University of Brussels) and an MA from the Boston University School of Management.

After 24 years’ experience in the automotive industry with companies such as DaimlerBenz and Toyota Motor Europe, in October 2011 he made the switch to materials technology group Umicore, where he is Chief Information Officer (CIO) as well as Purchasing and Transport Director. ©lowette

Intuitively, we all sense that in an increasingly complex world, connectivity between different players is important. This means that companies and service providers need to be able to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in external factors such as economic activity and technological developments. Through software and virtualization, in the ICT sector, we have learned to adapt to a new approach to the mainframe and storage hardware. Now, the next step is connecting all the systems in your network architecture. Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) appear to be the royal road to the new Walhalla of the C (communication) in ICT, making it worth considering now, even if the knowledge of SDN and NFV within companies is still very scant.

Switch datacenters more easily Increasingly, companies are evolving towards hybrid cloud solutions for the hosting of various functions. The servers are not only run in private datacenters but also externally, through various service providers scattered around the globe. With SDN & NFV, it becomes easier for a company to move the systems from one datacenter to another more rapidly, without, for example, needing to change the IP addressing of the systems first. Moreover, SDN

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& NFV make the process simple and transparent. Anyone using this new technology can therefore respond more dynamically to the changing functional needs of the internal clients.

Implementing SDN and NFV also makes it possible to more rapidly select the right, cost-effective hosting platform.

For example, the technology lets you migrate back out of the cloud to a custom platform, in your own datacenter or elsewhere, all with a clear, transparent overview.

Higher level of service How exactly will this lead to increased productivity and cost reductions? Well, now you can assign a figure to the investment required to make your infrastructure flexible. And this technology will allow you to increase the service level, because the more complexity you can take out of transforming your connectivity, the lower the risk of error.

What solution would be right for you? Every available SDN or NFV comes as part of a different package, so it usually takes some conversion before you can compare.

That’s why it’s a good idea to start thinking about that now, so you won’t have to spend as much time choosing if you ultimately decide to take the plunge. Good luck!

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Belgacom Packs for Employees Motivate your employees with internet at home and much more!

The most advantageous incentive you can give as an employer!

Are you looking for a way to reward your employees? Do you want to offer your employees the flexibility of remote working? Good news: Belgacom Packs for Employees is not only fiscally advantageous for the employer, it is very attractive for your employees too. Belgacom Internet Everywhere is waiting for them.

Isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t this a great benefit! Moreover, your employees can upgrade their internet advantageously to a Belgacom Pack1 with fixed telephony, TV and/or mobile phones and many more benefits!

More info? Contact your Belgacom Account Manager or surf to www.belgacom.be/employeesolutions 1. Depending on the chosen internet subscription by the employer. Š Belgacom 2014. Belgacom SA under public law, 27 Bd. du Roi Albert II, B-1030 Brussels.

Each day more opportunities

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