News

Azul Teams with Qualcomm on New Java Runtime for ARM in the Datacenter

• By John K. Waters
• August 8, 2017

Java runtime solutions provider Azul Systems Inc. has collaborated with Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies Inc. on new versions of Zulu Enterprise and Zulu Embedded. The new versions of Azul's open source development and runtime platform for server-side Java applications are designed for the Qualcomm Centriq 2400 Server Processor. Both editions support Java 8 and the ARM v8-A architecture.

Zulu Enterprise is a Java platform based on OpenJDK; Zulu Embedded is a build of the OpenJDK aimed at Java developers in the embedded systems and Internet of Things (IoT) space. Both editions are 100 percent open source.

The Zulu build of OpenJDK running on the Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor includes a high-performance JIT compiler and delivers highly optimized machine code at runtime for server-based Java applications.

"Java remains the primary development and production language for server applications in corporate datacenters and the cloud," said Scott Sellers, Azul Systems president and CEO, in a statement. "By teaming with Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies Inc., we are providing enterprises with a high-performance, certified open source Java development and runtime solution to enable business-critical Java deployments on ARM processors in cost- and power-efficient datacenters."

Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies is a subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated. The Centriq 2400 is a member of a family of ARM processors introduced last year, the world's first server processor built on a 10-nanometer process node. The Centriq 2400 series supports up to 48 cores and features Qualcomm Falkor CPU, the company's custom ARMv8 CPU core optimized for server-class workloads.

Ram Peddibhotla, Qualcomm Datacenter's VP of Product Management, sees the Azul partnership as "another cornerstone of our ecosystem vision," in which enterprise Java is now enabled across a new class of ARM-based processors.

"Having Azul's Zulu certified OpenJDK build tested and optimized on the Qualcomm Centriq 2400 processor further facilitates customers' ability to innovate and develop for next generation ARM-based datacenters," Peddibhotla said.

Both Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies and Azul Systems are members of the ARM Infrastructure Developer Community (AIDC). The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Azul bills itself as the only vendor focused exclusively on the Java runtime. The company's flagship Zing JVM is based on Oracle's HotSpot JVM, a core component of Java SE. It's a "no-pause" JVM designed to eliminate Garbage Collection (GC) pauses, a long-standing challenge for Java developers. This pauselessness, which Azul calls "generational pauseless garbage collection" (GPGC), enables Java app instances to scale dynamically and reliably. Azul CEO Sellers has called GC "the Achilles heel of Java."