French cloud giant launches a sovereign workspace to rival Microsoft 365
But where is the office suite?
Image by Photo by Gary Hershorn via Getty Images
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- OVHcloud will launch OVHai Workspace in beta on November 19, 2026, during its AI Summit.
- The workspace is positioned as a European alternative to Microsoft 365 for collaboration and productivity.
- It will offer email, cloud storage, video meetings, AI agents, search, and optional end-to-end encryption.
- It remains unclear whether OVHai Workspace will include word processing and spreadsheet tools.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
OVHcloud, the largest European cloud provider, is launching a sovereign workspace, which will include email, AI agents, and encryption tools.
Octave Klaba, the CEO of OVHcloud, confirmed to BFM Tech that the productivity suite, called OVHai Workspace, is “on the way” and will be launched as an alternative to Microsoft 365.
It will be officially released in beta version on November 19th, 2026, during the OVHcloud AI Summit.
The open, collaborative agentic AI platform was already discussed in the summer of 2026 when it was launched in preview.
OVHcloud then said that the workspace would include key collaborative tools, such as email, cloud storage, and video conferencing.
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Despite its positioning as an alternative to Microsoft 365, previous statements don’t mention the office suite, which includes tools like a word processor and a spreadsheet.
While Klaba spoke about document creation, according to Fandroid, it remains unclear which tools will be offered as part of OVHai Workspace.
However, the system will remain open to partner applications from other European countries, aiming “to bring a European ecosystem of productivity and collaboration applications together within a unified experience.”
In addition, the workspace will incorporate a search engine combined with agentic AI capabilities and offer a native end-to-end encryption option.
According to OVHcloud, when encryption is enabled, search and agentic AI features run directly on the user’s computer or mobile device, allowing sensitive data to be processed locally.
The European market is becoming crowded
While OVHai Workspace is poised to challenge Microsoft 365, it will also face competition from a growing number of local contenders, although their products offer a narrower range of features.
Euro-Office, an open-source collaborative document-editing tool developed by a consortium of European companies, will soon launch a desktop application, closing “one of the last gaps between Euro-Office and Microsoft Office,” according to the company.
The latest version of LibreOffice, a free, open-source office suite deliberately released free of AI, was downloaded 2 million times in the first weeks after its release, its developer, the Open Document Foundation, said.
The success of LibreOffice may be attributed to its anti-AI stance amid a widespread AI fatigue, but it also reflects Europe’s digital sovereignty agenda.
Governments and institutions have been replacing or exploring alternatives to Microsoft’s productivity suite and operating system, Windows, with open-source alternatives such as openDesk and Linux.
The Dutch government is developing its own sovereign workspace, called Digital Autonomous Government Work Environment (DAWO), for the public sector.
The system is based on the Dutch Linux distribution NixOS, and will include software for office work and collaboration, online storage, backup, and system administration by the IT department.
