Ever since Oracle changed its Java pricing to be employee-based two years ago, organizations that found themselves having to quickly cough up a few million dollars after being audited, have moved to viable Java alternatives. One of these is Azul Systems (Azul), a Java vendor that focuses solely on Java, and actively contributes code to the Java community, perhaps even as much as Oracle itself.

Azul Java, is a high-performance implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) that is designed to deliver superior performance, scalability and reliability for Java applications. It also addresses common Java development challenges like latency, data processing at scale, and ‘garbage’ collection.

So core is Azul’s role in the development of Java technology that it even still supports Java 6 and Java 7, two versions that Oracle has ceased providing support for in 2018 and 2022 respectively. To negate risks associated with running older versions of Oracle Java in their IT environment, organizations have the option of switching out the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) from Oracle to Azul.

Dean Vaughan

Azul’s VP in APAC, Dean Vaughan, hammered home the reality and risks of unsupported Java when he said, “If an organization has Java 6 and Java 7 in their environment, and they do not have Azul support, it is safe to say that that organization has not patched (security and bug updates) at all!”

Caught between a rock and a hard place

According to Azul’s State of Java Survey and Report 2025, the percentage of organizations considering alternatives to Oracle Java has increased from 72% to 88%. Sales tactics and restrictive policies are among the top five reasons they cite for moving away.

Dean pointed out the Oracle licensing changes had also meant costs incurred by employees and contractors using thin computing clients with non-Java applications.

“There is a Malaysian utility provider with this exact same problem.- Oracle can see that they are downloading patches and updates for Oracle Java and has sent the bill for the current year and previous years as well.

“Customers are getting bill shocks like this, because for many, many years Java support was free,” Dean said.

This accounts for the 82% of respondents who express unease with its cost model because they have Java running throughout their entire organization.

Dean shared his frank opinion that Oracle had nothing to lose as right up until they changed their licensing policy, they were not getting any revenue from their Java-based support.

Pay less and improve performance, sustainably

Dean emphasized that in Southeast Asia, particularly in countries like Indonesia, Philippines, and Japan, the partner-customer relationships can span 10 to 15 years. “When you have this, there is a lot of value there,” he recognized.

This long-standing trusted relationship that vendors have with their channel ecosystem is very valuable as it speaks to a local presence that customers are looking for; it provides assurance that the vendor they are investing in, will not easily pull out of the market, Dean explained.

Customers are getting bill shocks like this, because for many, many years Java support was free.      -Dean Vaughan

In Southeast Asia, it is crucial for Azul to have local presence and partner relationships as customers want to know there would be support and resources in the region, rather than just in the US. A significant number of leads Azul generates is through their partners; either from partners’ existing customer relationships or marketing efforts. Partners are also providing support, especially when dealing with software audits and license management.

Java – More relevant than ever

According to Azul’s State of Java Survey and Report 2025, in Southeast Asia specifically, a larger portion of organizations here than globally (45% vs 24%) have addressed cloud costs with a high-performance JDK.

“Our report shows organizations are actively seeking ways to optimize their Java deployments to drive operational efficiency and cost predictability,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO at Azul.

“As Java continues to be the backbone for business-critical applications in the enterprise, we’re seeing important trends — from the growing interest in Oracle Java alternatives to cloud optimization strategies, improvements in DevOps productivity, and innovation with AI.”