During the night of 13 to 14 January 2020 planned work was carried out on our network. This involved a software upgrade of the optical switches in the Hasselt, Bruges and Kortrijk nodes. This work, performed by our optical supplier, resulted in an incident and these three nodes became isolated from the Belnet network. All our clients that depended exclusively on one or more of these nodes for their connectivity, lost their connection completely. This involved 17 of Belnet’s 230 clients.
Crisis procedures initiated
Belnet initiated its incident procedures immediately and all clients directly affected were informed as quickly as possible. In accordance with our procedures, we then escalated the incident to crisis level.
Our network department also carried out a step-by-step escalation to our optical supplier. In close cooperation with this supplier, various solutions were worked on in parallel to restore connectivity as quickly as possible.
Since Tuesday afternoon 14 January the Belnet team has gradually restored connectivity for the clients affected. The Belnet network was 100% operational again around 4.00 a.m.
Further steps
All planned changes to the Belnet network are carried out according to strict procedures and with advance testing. The incident of 14 January is an exceptional event.
Together with its optical supplier, Belnet is currently carrying out detailed analyses to identify the exact cause of the incident and will take the necessary measures to prevent a similar incident in the future. The affected Belnet clients have now received a preliminary detailed incident report and will be kept updated with further information.