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February 27, 2019

Azul Systems Announces Extended Java Support Offerings and New Capabilities for Open Source Zulu Enterprise

  • New Platinum-level support tier offers industry-leading 48-hour SLA for security vulnerability fixes
  • Full Java Flight Recorder functionality is now supported in Zulu builds of OpenJDK 8 onward
  • Zulu Mission Control, a supported build of the OpenJDK Mission Control project, provides monitoring and management capabilities of Zulu builds of OpenJDK 8 and OpenJDK 11
  • Verified Zulu Enterprise builds undergo license non-contamination certification and provide broad indemnification against IP contamination issues

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Azul Systems (Azul), the award-winning leader in Java runtime solutions, today announced a high-impact series of updates to its Zulu Enterprise OpenJDK support offerings. Zulu Enterprise now features the industry’s best SLA for security vulnerability fixes, the first availability of Java Flight Recorder support in an OpenJDK 8 based build, and the first commercial support offering for the OpenJDK Mission Control project. In addition, with Zulu Enterprise Azul provides the industry’s only certification against non-contamination when running on OpenJDK-based builds, as well as broad indemnification against IP contamination issues.

Background
There have been a number of changes in the Java SE ecosystem, including most recently changes to the release cadence and the end of Oracle’s public updates for Java 8, the most prevalent version of Java SE in use today. These shifts in the Java ecosystem are causing new challenges for organizations relying on Java to power their infrastructure.

Extending Zulu Enterprise Monitoring and Management Features and Support Plans
Azul is enhancing its Zulu Enterprise offerings with a new Platinum support tier, new monitoring and management capabilities for Java applications, new protections against license contamination and broader indemnification.

  • Industry-leading 48-hour SLA for security vulnerability Zulu Enterprise’s new Platinum support tier provides for updates to be released within 48 hours from the availability in the OpenJDK project for all security fixes that have an identified CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures).  Zulu Enterprise provides timely backports of security updates from newer Java releases to older supported versions, regardless of the delivery or progress made by the associated version of the OpenJDK project. These unique aspects of Zulu Enterprise give enterprises confidence, knowing they are running the most secure, stable and up-to-date versions of OpenJDK available.
  • The first availability of Java Flight Recorder functionality in an OpenJDK 8 based build. Zulu builds of OpenJDK 8 now include full support for Java Flight Recorder. This represents the first (and currently only) freely available, and free for use in production, Java Flight Recorder implementation on a Java SE 8 platform. It allows for continuous monitoring, low-overhead profiling, black box analysis and other unique debugging capabilities that were previously only available under commercial license from Oracle.
  • Introducing Zulu Mission Control. With Zulu Mission Control, Zulu Enterprise adds commercial support for the OpenJDK Mission Control project, providing monitoring and management capabilities for the Java Flight Recorder functionality in Zulu builds of OpenJDK 8 and OpenJDK 11, as well as future versions of Java, and other JDKs that include JFR capabilities.
  • Non-Contamination Certification and Indemnification. Zulu Enterprise now provides verified builds of OpenJDK that undergo detailed license topology analysis and certification to ensure non-contamination. Users are assured that running their software on Zulu Enterprise builds of OpenJDK will not incur a risk of license contamination or apply copyleft provisions to their code. Azul provides indemnification against such contamination, as well as indemnification from third-party intellectual property claims.

Putting today’s announcements in perspective
“Once Java security updates are released, they reveal vulnerabilities that expose existing, not-yet-updated Java deployments and can be ‘weaponized’ quickly,” said Gil Tene, Azul Systems CTO. “In the past, security updates for Java SE 8 and Java SE 11 have been readily available, allowing even free users of Oracle JDKs to deploy security updates rapidly as needed, following established best practices. However, with free Oracle JDK updates for Java SE 8 and Java SE 11 no longer available, users need to establish alternative means of receiving timely security updates necessary for secure operations. Zulu Enterprise customers can sleep well, secure in the knowledge that critical security updates, in forms suitable for low-risk rapid deployment, will be available in time to keep their Java-based infrastructure stable and secure.”

“Java SE 8 is by far the most widely deployed version of Java in use today, and one of the goals of Zulu Enterprise is to extend the capabilities of Java 8 while continuing to deliver a fully-supported and secure open source Java platform,” said Scott Sellers, Azul Systems president and CEO. “Today with Zulu Enterprise we’re bringing powerful new capabilities like Flight Recorder and Zulu Mission Control to Java 8 users, enhancing the capabilities of the platform, while simultaneously offering the industry’s best SLA for security vulnerability fixes and unique protection against open source license contamination.”

To download free Zulu builds of OpenJDK, visit www.azul.com/downloads/zulu. Early Access builds of Zulu Mission Control can be downloaded from www.azul.com/products/zulu-mission-control. For further information regarding specific Zulu Enterprise product features and pricing visit www.azul.com/products/zulu-enterprise.

About Azul Systems
Twitter: @azulsystems

Azul Systems, the industry’s only company exclusively focused on Java and the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), builds fully supported, certified standards-compliant Java runtime solutions that bring the power of Java to the enterprise, cloud, and embedded/IoT. Zing is a JVM designed for enterprise Java applications and workloads that require any combination of low latency, high transaction rates, large working memory, and/or consistent response times. Zulu is Azul’s certified, freely available open source build of OpenJDK with a variety of flexible support options, available in configurations for the enterprise, cloud, as well as custom and embedded/IoT devices. For additional information, visit https://www.azul.com.

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