On 31 March, Belnet's previous network equipment contracts will come to an end and be replaced with a new framework agreement, which will become active on 1 April.
During a lengthy process, which lasted almost 14 months, our Networks, ITSM and Purchasing teams worked together to launch a public contract that remains unprecedented in Belgium. It is indeed quite rare for a public contract to be concluded on behalf of institutions from such diverse sectors.
In fact, Belnet positioned itself as a central purchasing agency by awarding a contract on its own behalf, but also on behalf of some thirty Belgian institutions that had initially expressed their interest. These include organisations from not only the research sector and education, but also federal and local governments.
The goal was to agree the best possible conditions in terms of maintenance costs, discounts on acquisitions and quality of service. From 1 April, these institutions will be able to take advantage of the favourable conditions negotiated by Belnet and offered by Dynniq and Infradata, if they so wish.
Dynniq and Infradata, two integrators based in Belgium
Dynniq and Infradata are Dutch companies with a strong presence in Belgium, which guarantees proximity for delivery. They were chosen to ensure the maintenance and delivery of our network's optical and IP material and equipment for the next five years.
At the optical layer level, Dynniq, whose Belgian head office is located in Anderlecht, won the CIENA lot, with whom we used to have a direct contract.
Similarly, Infradata, whose Belgian head office is located in Zaventem, won the Nokia and Juniper/F5 lots.
Better day-to-day management
With this contract, Belnet wanted to standardise the contractual basis for its entire network infrastructure, including SLAs, reporting and support. Contact points, operating modes and processes have also been simplified to improve support efficiency.
This simplification will allow better day-to-day management for our teams, as the contractual conditions will be identical for both chosen integrators.
Benefit from our new framework agreement from 1 April
If you are one of the 30 institutions to have expressed interest, you will be able to place an order from 1 April onwards, should you wish to renew your network equipment.
We will provide you with all the information about the contract and the new conditions in the coming days.