Summer Fete

 

This year’s STC “grande summer fête” grouping our present and past collaborators and partners, got us back once again in Rosette’s garden for (lots of) drinks and food, and was preceded by a wonderful tour on bicycle in the beautiful surrounding countryside, that drew great enthusiasm… and wetted the appetites!

MEMBERS of SERVICE TELEMATIQUE ET COMMUNICATION

Antal BULANZA, Ali HACHAMI, Ines MARTINEZ MORENO, Nadia PARONI, Manuela PROFILI, Krzysztof SOCHA, Clémentine VALAYER, Paul VAN BINST, Fuhua YIN.

 

Our VUB collaborator:

Rosette VANDENBROUCKE

(for all of the above, e-mail is: surname@helios.iihe.ac.be)

 

Secretariat:

Daisy PIRNAY (IIHE/VUB-ULB)  (pirnay@hep.iihe.ac.be)

 

Other regular collaborators:

André-Robert GRIVEGNEE (Institut Bordet), Joël CANNAU (ULB), Georges ROUSSEAU, Edwin TORISAEN (ULB-VUB /IIHE), Bridie NATHANSON.

 

Contact:

Service Télématique et Communication - Professor Paul VAN BINST

ULB - CP230 - Boulevard du Triomphe - 1050 Brussels – Belgium

Tel.: + 32 2 629 3211 or 3209 - Fax: + 32 2 629 3816

 

Rosette VANDENBROUCKE

VUB - ELEM - Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Brussels – Belgium

Tel.: + 32 2 629 3210 - Fax: + 32 2 629 3816

 

World Wide Web Address:

http://www.iihe.ac.be

 

The ADONIS Project: Pilot Trials and Workshops

ADONIS, "Application Development Outsourcing to the New Independent States", is a project that proposes to enhance the benefits of the Information Society for Europe by assisting European organisations and enterprises in the development of their software programmes and products in collaboration with the programmers in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, primarily in Russia, Ukraine and Armenia. 

In order to pursue the following goal of the project - set-up and trial ADONIS as a pan-European service of software outsourcing to the NIS - Partners are using the project deliverables (Guidelines and Evaluation of the Pilot Trials and the Project Center) for coordinating several Pilot Trials and providing training sessions in the NIS.  Workshops have recently been organised in Berlin (April) and in Kiev (June), the next one being planned in Helsinki in November. The latest Adonis project Steering Committee meeting took place in Brussels on the 1st of September 2003. See www.ist-adonis.org and www.newadonis.com.

ADONIS Workshops

BERLIN                                                                             KIEV

                                                                        

Belgian Teleworking Association future activities

After the summer holidays and with some new Members in our Board, BTA is getting ready for new activities; planned for this autumn is a seminar on the new “PC Privé” law, as well as a presentation of the results of the study that was carried out for the Belgian federal government by HIVA (University of Leuven) and STC (ULB) on the evolution and take-up of telework  in

Belgium in SMEs (complementing the data from the EMERGENCE project), with also some case studies from the banking and health sectors.

And there will be a commercial seminar organised by IIR on December 9 and 10, with support from BTA, on Teleworking and Mobility.

Stay tuned to www.bta.be for further information.

 

DAMOVO

Nowadays, a security solution is mandatory for any company's network. But with so many varieties and brands of products available in the market, it can be difficult and daunting for an organization to choose the best solution for its needs.

Service Télématique et Communication made a study of some security products (Software, Check Point, NetScreen) that DAMOVO commercializes. The aim of the study is to define the situations in which to use each of the products under consideration.

 

Enhanced collaboration with OGNETs

Collaboration with OGNETs on an e-government best practices handbook for the European Committee of the Regions carried on with the organisation of a workshop on the 15th of September: “The Common Assessment Framework : a Benchmarking Tool”.

Formerly known as OGM, OGNETs is a centre of excellence in public sector consulting, in the domain of analysis, definition and organisation of public services.

Another best practices project of OGNETs, carried out for the Walloon Region, is about benchmarking the management of Structural Funds.

A central tool in this project is the web site, with an on-line questionnaire allowing easy data collection. The site was implemented and is hosted by the STC team, which also manages the statistical analysis of the collected data. The web site provides partners with a forum and separate access rights for management purposes. This type of tool proves to be very useful for such a kind of project involving distant partners with a common and well defined expertise; further collaboration between STC and OGNETs on similar types of projects is foreseen. For more information, see http://www.ognets.be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Belgian Broadband Platform

The yearly symposium of the Belgian Broadband Platform takes place at the Diamant Centre, A. Reyerslaan 80, 1020 Brussels, on January 23, 2004.

The general theme of the day is "Broadband for E-services". More detailed information can be found at http://www.broadbandplatform.be/.


6NET Dissemination

The 6NET project has built and operates an international native IPv6 network, and uses this network to check that the demands for the continuous growth of the global Internet can be met with the new IPv6 technology. The European Commission co-finances the 6NET project in the scope of the IST programme and 35 partners collaborate to achieve the objectives, since January 2002.

In June 2003 (half-way through the three years project), Service Télématique et Communication produced the new version of the “Dissemination and Use Plan”. This is a key document which describes the Partners’ activities in spreading the information related to their accomplishments.

Service Télématique et Communication also publishes the 6NET Newsletter and is more generally involved in results dissemination; this represents a major aspect for a large and ambitious project such as 6NET, where private companies, universities, research centres and public authorities work in close co-operation but with rather heterogeneous information dissemination policies (or none at all).

All information and documents describing the work realised by the 6NET Partners are available on the website www.6net.org.

 

 

6NET Workshop

The 6NET project organised a workshop on IPv6 co-located with the TERENA Networking Conference 2003. This open event drew 84 participants.

The workshop discussed various aspects of IPv6 deployment and how to make the transition from legacy networks. It focused on the current state of the technology, with particular reference to multicasting, security and mobility.

In addition, it considered the leading role that 6NET and related projects such as Euro6IX play in the development of the next generation of networks.

See http://www.6net.org for more information on this project.

                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belnet Grid Initiative

BEgrid, the Belnet Grid Initiative has well progressed since its start in February. Grid middelware has been successfully installed on a first computing cluster and connection tests with grids in other countries have been made. More computing clusters (CIRB in the Brussels Region and CETIC in the Walloon Region) will be added in the coming weeks.

The Flemish government has shown a strong interest in BEgrid and will most probably add computing nodes and storage elements before the end of the year.

The progress of the Belnet Grid Initiative and other grid initiatives will be detailed at the BELNET Grid symposium that takes place on the 29th of October at the ULB, Salle Dupréel.

For more information go to http://grid.belnet.be.

 

e-Democracy: slow to develop, but destined for the national agenda

The STC research project on “Democracy, governance and ICTs” has now completed its research phase, presenting its findings in a report to the Brussels Region. Looking at over 20 countries, this is the first mapping exercise in the complete e-democracy area ever undertaken. The report provides an overview of thinking on and activities in e-democracy, across most of the OECD member countries.

Unsurprisingly, most governments are still more focused on e-government, but e-democracy is now emerging as a distinct field.  There is a wide but albeit general awareness and understanding of e-democracy among all countries surveyed, and it has even entered into the discussion at national level in some countries, in the form of policy or project commitments.

Definitions of e-democracy, however, are blurry ranging from simple online information provision to e-voting, e-consultation or online participation.

Given this absence of formal internationally accepted definitions in e-democracy, the study

has developed a framework for analysis which will allow for future benchmarking of both policy and activities

This includes the identification of development phases (just as with the e-government sector), according to which the countries have been plotted.

In nearly all countries surveyed, some (and often multiple) e-democracy activities have taken place within the last two years. These tend to be locally initiated, driven and focused, ad hoc experiments rather than overall strategies or policies.  Occasionally there is evidence of national level activity, but these are occurring in the more ‘advanced e-democracy’ countries. Details of good practice in the various areas of e-democracy (e-consultation, e-participation, e-voting, etc.) are provided in the form of case studies from several local projects.

In addition to the research results, the study provides guidelines for policy and decision makers responsible for or involved in e-democracy, for developing policies and strategies in e-democracy in the future. Now the project will enter its practical application phase, examining how the Brussels Region may take advantage of these opportunities.

 

Brussels Teleport Lunch Time Conferences

″Les Midis du Téléport/De Middagen van Telepoort″ are once again scheduled this autumn : the dates are October 23, November 20 and December 18. See www.teleport-brussels.be for details.