News

Oracle Announces Java SE Subscription Service

• By John K. Waters
• June 27, 2018

Oracle unveiled a new subscription Java SE service last week aimed at enterprise Java users. The service "removes enterprise boardroom concerns around mission critical, timely, software performance, stability and security updates," the company said. The new service will be offered as a complement to Oracle's existing free releases and OpenJDK ecosystem.

Dubbed Java SE Subscription, the new service provides commercial licensing, including commercial features and tools, such as the Java Advanced Management Console, to identify, manage and tune Java SE desktop use across the enterprise. It also includes Oracle Premier Support for current and previous Java SE versions.

The new subscription service complements Oracle's Java SE releases and stewardship of the OpenJDK ecosystem, where Oracle now produces open source OpenJDK binaries. The aim is to support "developers and organizations that do not need commercial support or enterprise management tools," the company said.

"Companies want full flexibility over when and how they update their production applications." said Georges Saab, VP of Oracle's Java Platform Group, in a statement. "Oracle is the world's leader in providing both open source and commercially supported Java SE innovation, stability, performance and security updates for the Java Platform. Our long-standing investment in Java SE ensures customers get predictable and timely updates."

Java SE Subscription is monthly subscription ($2.50 per month per user) that includes Java SE Licensing and Support for use on Desktops, Servers, or Cloud deployments. It follows a commonly used model, popular with Linux distributions, and provides access to tested and certified performance, stability, and security updates for Java SE, directly from Oracle. It also includes access to My Oracle Support (MOS) 24x7, support in 27 languages, Java SE 8 Desktop management, monitoring, and deployment features, among other benefits. The standard term is one year, with two- and three-year terms available

James Governor, analyst and co-founder of RedMonk, sees the move as nothing new, and even a natural reaction to evolving enterprise customer expectations and their relationship to the software and services they rely on.

"The subscription model for updates and support has been long established in the Linux ecosystem," Governor said. "Meanwhile people are increasingly used to paying for services, rather than products. It's natural for Oracle to offer a monthly Java SE subscription to suit service-based procurement models for enterprise customers."

More information about the new Java SE Subscription is available on the company's information page.