Network

As part of our Service Improvement Programme, in early October we initiated a series of changes to make the Belnet network more resistant to DDoS attacks. The cooperation of all our member organisations is crucial to the success of this project.

The statistics from the DDoS Mitigation service offer us some interesting insights into the rapidly changing DDoS landscape. For example, in the first quarter of 2022, among the things we saw was an increase in the number of large-scale, targeted attacks.

Belnet is currently working on implementing a Service Improvement Programme to improve the resilience of our network to cyber-attacks. Our Technical Director Dirk Haex explains why it is crucial that the entire Belnet community is engaged with this task.

A new dynamic procurement system that went into operation in June 2021 facilitates the search for the most suitable leased line to a gateway on the Belnet network. In addition, Belnet has launched a new framework agreement for WAN connectivity in order to connect and provide connectivity to the various federal sites as efficiently as possible.

The growing digitalisation in Belgium and the recent announcement by Microsoft seemed the perfect opportunity to reiterate our commitment to the transformation towards the Cloud. Indeed, thanks to GÉANT and the OCRE framework agreement, you enjoy numerous advantages.

The pan-European research network GÉANT is a fundamental part of Europe's e-Infrastructure, connecting nearly 40 national research and education networks (including Belnet). Launched in 2019, the GN4-3N project aims to support the rapidly growing needs of the European research and education community for the next 15 years.

A few months ago, we presented you with a framework agreement for the maintenance and acquisition of optical and IP equipment from the brands Ciena, Nokia, Juniper and F5, and the associated services, intended for the Belnet community.