Amid a period of intense scrutiny around the world, technology giant Huawei has opened a cyber security transparency centre in Brussels.
The new building is located at the intersection of Rue Guimard and Rue du Commerce of the Belgian capital.
The new Cyber Security Transparency Centre aims to offer government agencies, technical experts, industry associations, and standards organisations a platform to communicate and collaborate to balance security and development in the digital era, said Huawei.
Spread over two floors, the centre comprises an information area where the Huawei will set out both its security strategy and action to sector players. According Huawei, the centre will have three main functions.
Firstly to showcase its own “end-to-end cyber security practices, from strategies and supply chain to R&D and products and solutions,” which it says will allow “visitors to experience cyber security with Huawei’s products and solutions, in areas including 5G, IoT, and cloud.”
Secondly, the centre will facilitate communication between Huawei and what it describes as “key stakeholders on cyber security strategies and end-to-end cyber security and privacy protection practices”. The company said it will work with industry partners to explore and promote the development of security standards and verification mechanisms, to facilitate technological innovation in cyber security across the industry.
Finally, the centre will provide a product security testing and verification platform and related services to Huawei customers.
For several months now the administration of the US President, Donald Trump, has been attempting to persuade US allies not to use Huawei equipment when implementing 5G technology. In August of 2018, Huawei was banned from being US government or public sector contractors. Canada and Australia have made similar moves.
Then in February, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the United States would not share information with countries or allies that used Huawei equipment in 5G networks.
Pompeo highlighted the fact that Europe had both Ericsson and Nokia Networks as alternatives.
