- French government to replace Teams and Zoom with domestic platform Visio by 2027
- Visio developed by DINUM and CNRS is currently used by 40,000 users in trial phase
- Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu praised France's move as a step toward tech sovereignty
The French government on Tuesday has announced the full rollout of Visio, a domestically developed video conferencing platform, to replace Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and other non-European tools across all state administrations by 2027. The move is a strategic effort to regain control over critical digital infrastructure and reduce reliance on foreign, particularly US, software vendors.
David Amiel, Minister Delegate for the Public Service and State Reform, formally announced the rollout earlier on Monday during a visit to the CNRS's I2BC research facility in Île-de-France. Amiel was joined by Stéphanie Schaer, director of the French Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), which developed Visio, and Alain Schuhl, Deputy Director General of CNRS.
Reacting to the announcement, Zoho founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, "France announced today it's phasing out Teams, Zoom, etc. to be replaced with a French/European solution called Visio. The very definition of a "sovereign nation" should now include "technology sovereignty. Big Tech now is the New East India company and Europeans are now waking up to it. History seems to rhyme with irony." [sic]
"France announced today it's phasing out Teams, Zoom, etc. to be replaced with a French/European solution called Visio."
— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) January 27, 2026
The very definition of a "sovereign nation" should now include "technology sovereignty".
Big Tech now is the New East India company and Europeans are now… https://t.co/IJ81oCpnOc
Vembu applauded France's move as a step towards greater technological independence and sovereignty for Europe with a hint of irony that Europeans are only now waking up to the issue of Big Tech's influence.
Last week, Vembu had also emphasised the need for tech sovereignty, saying it has become absolutely vital for nations in an increasingly technology-led world.
In an interview with PTI, Vembu said, "Today, we are in a world where we need sovereignty of technology. It is absolutely vital, because to be a sovereign nation means that you have control over the technology... it is now a technology-saturated world." The government has prioritised Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat agenda, Vembu said adding "we are very happy to play our role within this".
What Is Visio?
Launched as an experiment a year ago, 'Visio' already has 40,000 regular users and is being rolled out to 2,00,000 employees. The CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), the French National Health Insurance Fund, the Directorate General of Public Finances (DGFIP), and the Ministry of the Armed Forces are among the first government agencies to adopt the solution across the board in the first quarter of 2026. The CNRS will thus replace its Zoom licenses with Visio by the end of March for its 34,000 employees and the 120,000 researchers associated with its research units.
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