The right time for Europe
There are moments in history when inertia breaks. Sometimes it takes a shock to reveal how dependent we’ve become, on things we thought were stable, reliable, or even neutral. For Europe, that moment is now.
From where I stand (in the field of server virtualization) it’s clear: when you don’t control the technology you rely on, you’re not in charge. You’re at best a client and at worst, a hostage.
The cost of not building
Let’s be clear: no one is saying Europe should build everything, from scratch, all the time. That’s not realistic and probably not desirable. But there’s a wide gap between mastering every layer of technology and buying everything off the shelf.
When you build nothing, you understand nothing. You can’t influence, adapt, or even assess what you're using. And when disruption comes (because it always does) you’re left waiting for someone else to fix it, or worse, tell you what your options are.
Deep tech, like a hypervisor, isn’t something you can improvise when it becomes strategic. It takes years of accumulated expertise, people and effort. That kind of mastery can’t be bought overnight. You have to build toward it. Slowly, deliberately—and starting now is better than later. That's what we started, back in 2018.
If you are interested about the challenges to build a virtualization stack, don't miss my 2 last articles about it:
Olivier Lambert
Olivier Lambert
But it’s not just about IT
This problem isn’t limited to virtualization, or even IT. During the early days of COVID-19, Europe discovered it had outsourced its entire mask supply chain to China. In the pharmaceutical world, it's not just about where drugs are manufactured: it’s also about who holds the scientific expertise to develop them in the first place. Europe has seen both production and know-how gradually shift abroad. And in defense, some European countries now rely on weapon systems that come with embedded geopolitical dependencies.
None of these dependencies are neutral. They carry consequences when interests diverge. Sometimes subtly. Sometimes very clearly.
Interests aren’t always aligned
When the source of what you depend on is distant (geographically, politically, or culturally) you take on risk. If that supplier’s interests shift, you’re exposed. Sometimes the shift is slow and predictable. Other times, like with the Trump administration or the Broadcom acquisition of VMware, it’s abrupt and strategic.
What happens when the platform you rely on multiplies its pricing five to ten times overnight? Or when it disappears from your market because someone changed their roadmap, target audience, or geopolitical strategy?
This isn’t just about avoiding worst-case scenarios. It’s about making sure your priorities are even considered.
And yes, even within the EU, we don’t always agree on everything. But we do share many common needs, and it’s far easier to coordinate around those than to bet on external actors who may have completely different agendas. Alignment isn't about perfect unity. It’s about knowing that your voice is in the room when decisions are made.
Buying is a political act
We often pretend that technology is neutral. But decisions, like what to use, who to buy from, who to support… are never neutral. They reflect priorities. And they shape the future!
In Europe, I still hear things like, “I hope product X becomes a leader… but in the meantime I’m using Y, because everyone else is.” That’s not a temporary compromise: it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you want something different to succeed, you have to help it succeed. Even partial adoption or early testing helps shift the balance.
Why it’s been so hard
This isn’t just an opinion formed in a vacuum. Over the past ten years, I’ve had thousands of conversations with people in more than 100 countries (customers, partners, sysadmins, CTOs). And over time, patterns become clear.
In Europe, the path to more technological independence has been tougher than it should be. And it's not because of a lack of talent or capability, but because of how decisions are made, and how opportunities are missed.
- We often lack clear, independent analysis of the players in a sector. Choices are still too often driven by the size of the vendor’s marketing budget rather than technical merit. And even when deeper evaluations exist (via analysts or consulting firms) they’re not always used effectively.
- European companies tend to underinvest in visibility. We’ve seen this at Vates, too. We’re painfully aware that just building good software isn’t enough: you have to show it, explain it, advocate for it. But even knowing that, changing the mindset is hard. It goes against a culture that values discretion and modesty over self-promotion. And that makes it easy to be overlooked, no matter the quality of what you’re offering.
- There’s hesitation—even fear—when it comes to trying alternatives. I’ve lost count of how many times even basic testing of new solutions has been brushed off. Not because of technical barriers, but because change feels risky. Ironically, this caution seems stronger in Europe than anywhere else, even when the same solution is already being adopted by large non-European organizations.
- And when innovation does come from Europe, it’s often met with more suspicion than curiosity. The bar is higher. Trust takes longer. Meanwhile, the same product may be embraced more readily elsewhere.
None of this is inevitable. But these behaviors slow us down. And unless we acknowledge them, we’ll keep falling behind… even when the solutions are already here!
A window we shouldn’t miss
But that’s starting to change. The combination of supply chain shocks, global instability, and strategic takeovers has made the risks more visible. People are paying attention. And in the field I know best (IT infrastructure) there’s a real opportunity to think differently.
This isn’t about isolationism or building everything locally at all costs. It’s about understanding where you want autonomy, and why. It’s about resilience. And making conscious choices, not just default ones.
Europe is not just a market. It’s a place with talent, ideas, and the ability to shape its own direction, if we choose to.
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