At the beginning there was Interstis. Now there is Hexagon. And, don't laugh, Microsoft has everything to fear from this competitor dubbed by many communities, but also and above all by the French State. Particularly for internal security in the face of cybercrime. It is in Le Creusot, the stronghold of Nicolas Huez, its co-director, that Hexagone decided to settle down. With the support of the State.
The creusot-infos report at the launch of Hexagone, with the video interview with Nicolas Huez.
This Tuesday, January 7 will remain a historic date for Le Creusot. It was in fact on January 7, 2025 that the establishment, in Le Creusot, of the company, or rather of the Hexagone consortium, was made official. Hexagone is the extension, larger and more ambitious, of Interstis, the start-up developed by Thomas Balladur and Creusotin Nicolas Huez.
With Interstis, they had created a collaborative platform which offers many advantages, in particular, for sharing data and documents. A suitable and secure response for large files and sensitive data.
A solution so safe that it was adopted not only by communities, including the town of Le Creusot, the Urban Community and the Department of Saône-et-Loire, but also by the State, through several ministries and entities, including the National Gendarmerie which does not joke when it comes to internal security and cybersecurity.
With the arrival of the Hexagone consortium, optimization of Interstis, the company crosses not a threshold, but a mountain and asserts itself more than yesterday and less than tomorrow, as a serious competitor of Microsoft, which imposes its prices on world with hegemonic desires to absorb, retain, and use data.
Hexagone, which has already won over 700,000 users, therefore not only offers an alternative to Microsoft, but it is coupled with maximum security.
This is why Microsoft has everything to fear from the company established in Le Creusot. Today it has 2% of communities in its portfolio. It targets 10% within three years.
The official launch which took place on Tuesday morning on the Hub&Go technology site brought together a nice crowd. Because hopes rank among ambitions, with the promise of good results. With the added bonus of demonstrating that it is not necessary to be in Paris, or in a metropolis, to have good ideas and succeed. This is the meaning of the Territory of all possibilities.
A.B.
David Martin
Mayor of Le Creusot
President of the Le Creusot – Montceau Urban Community“With Interstis, we had a virtuous company, which avoids a lot of emails, including individuals or companies, we are all stuffed. With Hexagone, demonstration is made that here we can imagine, innovate, develop. We should not forbid anything and your installation in the territory of all possibilities demonstrates this. I am very proud that you are here, and very proud to see a local child, whom I knew when I was little, succeed.”
Yves Seguy
Prefect of Saône-et-Loire“Your digital suite, you call it Hexagon. Everything is said in this brand. You do additional things compared to other larger ones, but which do not offer the same guarantees. Having worked with the State, you have placed your talent in supporting teleworking. Your platform is used by the Ministry of the Interior. This shows the confidence placed in your product, your tools used by the security forces. You have the boldness to offer a product, which allows our country to affirm that we are on the road to defending our sovereignty. You became a winner of France 2030. You obtained state assistance of 2.2 million euros. With your consortium, you have associated French partners.
Nicolas Huez
Co-director of Hexagone“What I want to demonstrate here is that not everything is done in Paris. Yes, it is possible to innovate, to create, to prosper in the region. Being part of French Tech is a source of great pride for us. This place here is full of symbolism. Where I took my baccalaureate.
Thomas Balladur
Co-director of Hexagone“We have 1,500 customers and 700,000 users. The strength of our solution is to provide our collaborative tool to both the management of the national gendarmerie and a municipality of 500 inhabitants. We want to be close to public service stakeholders.
We can ask ourselves the question of our growth. Yes, we want to grow very quickly. Yes, we are tackling a huge global player which is Microsoft. Yes, this may seem presumptuous. But we must be able to protect the data of our economic sectors, public services and citizens. We must not leave the management of data to anyone other than ourselves.”
Pierre Caillet
RSSI d’Interstis“Do you know where the majority of cyber attacks come from? They come from the United States. 10 times a month cyber attacks are successful in communities. They are attacked because they are part of state services. In February 2023, a municipality noticed an extraction of data which was found on the internet. France is committed to maintaining the sovereignty of its data, but other European countries are less so! Our application is approved because it is sufficiently secure.
Alain BOLLERY
