“Nobody needs Oracle Java anymore. If you need support, the clear answer is: switch to Azul.”
Challenge
EWE AG, one of Germany’s leading energy and infrastructure companies, relies on Java for its critical business systems and end-user applications. Many of these systems are deeply embedded in day-to-day operations and could not be easily replaced. As the company continued modernizing its IT environment, Java remained essential.
Java security was equally essential – required by law, in fact. EWE, as an operator of critical energy infrastructure serving more than 2 million customers, is subject to the German BSI Act (BSIG) and its KRITIS framework, which requires operators of critical infrastructure to implement and demonstrate appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security and availability of their IT systems.
Then Oracle changed its Java licensing model in January 2023, which suddenly complicated EWE’s relationship with Java. What had previously been a manageable software cost suddenly became a major budget issue. According to EWE, Oracle’s new pricing would have increased license costs by roughly five times compared with prior spend. This created immediate pressure to find a better path forward.
At the same time, EWE was managing a fragmented Java landscape with multiple versions, multiple distributions, and some legacy environments still dependent on older releases no longer supported by Oracle. That complexity created extra work for packaging teams, software deployment, user support, and internal governance. New Oracle Java instances also continued entering the environment through incoming applications, making standardization even more important.
“When Oracle Java changed the licensing metric, we realized it would become far more expensive for us,” remembers Sacha Massarra, License Manager, EWE AG. “That was the moment we decided to move to an alternative.”
Solution
EWE was introduced to Azul through ProLicense, a consulting firm based in Hamburg, Germany that specializes in Oracle license audits, compliance and M&A advisory services, who advised the company on the licensing implications of switching from Oracle Java and the best path forward. After evaluating its options, EWE selected Azul Core for several reasons:
Significant cost savings compared with Oracle Java
– Commercial support suitable for enterprise environments
– Compatibility across both legacy and modern Java environments
– Support for older Java versions, including Java 6 (especially important because some legacy workloads could not be modernized immediately)
– Faster, more responsive vendor engagement
– A simpler path to standardization across the business
EWE considered using “free” versions of OpenJDK, which do not include engineering support, but determined that unsupported distributions would create too much internal overhead for a large enterprise environment. Busy internal teams could not afford the burden of managing updates for multiple distributions, zero-day patching, and addressing support escalations. The company wanted a trusted support partner with direct access to expertise when issues arose – essential for a company like EWE providing critical infrastructure and meeting the energy needs of more than 2 million customers.
“In a corporate environment, switching to a Java platform without support is not really an option,” said Massarra.
“If you reduce twenty different Java packages down to one,” noted Gerold Frilling, License Manager, EWE AG, “the internal support effort drops significantly.”
EWE then executed a phased migration in waves. Initial waves covered small groups of 50 to 200 devices, allowing early adopters to validate applications and surface issues quickly. As confidence grew, larger waves followed until the migration was broadly completed across the entire organization in approximately eight to nine months. “Azul’s support was fast, structured, highly competent, and very uncomplicated,” said Frilling. “There was no problem that wasn’t immediately addressed.”
Result
For EWE, migrating from Oracle Java was not just a licensing cost decision; it was an opportunity to modernize operations and regain control of a critical part of the IT landscape. The range of benefits from Azul include:
– 60% lower Java licensing costs by switching from the projected million-euro cost of Oracle Java to Azul Core.
– Standardized Java environment to simplify EWE’s broader Java estate by consolidating multiple Java distributions into a single supported standard, reducing complexity for IT operations, packaging teams, and user support.
– Fast, low-risk migration across more than 100 applications – even the most difficult application migration took only four hours.
– Better support experience from early discussions through production rollout, with EWE highlighting Azul’s responsiveness, competence, and ease of collaboration throughout the project.
– Sustainability benefits – as an energy company, EWE values efficiency and sustainability. Reducing unnecessary compute consumption and simplifying Java operations aligns with the company’s broader environmental goals.
