After a turbulent start of the year, we were able to add at the end of June several important, previously missing features for more automated certificate management to the service.
The year 2025 was one of change and adaptation for Belnet’s Digital Certificates Service. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Belnet had to act quickly to ensure the continuity of its digital certificate service for approximately 150 customer organisations. The reason was the early termination of the GÉANT framework agreement by certificate provider Sectigo on January 10, 2025. As a result, Belnet had to switch to a new provider—Harica—on short notice.
This transition brought several changes, including a new customer interface and a more limited selection of certificates and functionalities. Understandably, this led to many questions and an increase in support tickets.
To support our customers as best as possible during this challenging period, we focused on transparent and regular communication. We organised an informative webinar, kept our technical FAQ page continuously up to date, and were ready to provide support where needed.
In June, we were able to take a significant step forward with the launch of several crucial features for automated certificate management. For instance, ACME support became available, making it easier to automatically renew certificates. Automated issuance of S/MIME certificates was also introduced. Thanks to this innovation, Enterprise Admins can have S/MIME certificates automatically issued to users without the need to manually enter data or upload identification documents. Please note that this feature is only available for R&E clients that are member of the Belnet R&E Federation and Edugain.
Want to know more about these new functionalities?