Azul Honors Global Innovators with Inaugural Java Hero Awards

Open-source Java platform provider Azul just announced the winners of its first-ever Azul Java Hero Awards, which recognizes exceptional achievements in Java deployments worldwide. The company named 17 organizations and individuals who "who achieved innovative world-class results with Java to help their businesses become more cost-effective, successful and efficient."

As far as I can tell (and I've looked), Azul is the only company out there right now that is 100% focused on Java. So, even though these awards were given to users of Azul's Platform Prime, a Java virtual machine and runtime platform built on OpenJDK (formerly known as "Zing"), and not Java generally, I think it's worth giving the winners a spotlight. Lest we forget, a great big chunk of the world still runs on Java.

Among the winners highlighted in Azul announcement was a company called Workday, which snagged the award for "Application Performance in Operations & Efficiency" by leveraging Azul Platform Prime, to dramatically reduced application pause times and improved scalability, resulting in a 95% increase in operational efficiency. This transformation not only saved the company millions of dollars, Azul noted in the announcement, it also freed developers to focus on more productive tasks.

In the public sector, Newcastle City Council (NCC) was recognized for its "Best Industry Use Case." NCC, the local government authority providing services to more than 300,000 residents of Newcastle, the largest city in northeast England, addressed critical security vulnerabilities by transitioning from Oracle Java to Azul Platform Core, thereby ensuring the resilience and compliance of its Java-based systems used by more than 1,100 employees. This move significantly reduced security risks across 5,000 desktops, earning high praise from NCC’s head of ICT & Digital, Jenny Nelson.

"Through our strategic partnership with Azul, we significantly reduced our security risk level with our Java applications and Java-based infrastructure, which certainly helps me sleep better at night," Nelson said in a statement.

Travelport, a key player in the global travel technology sector, won the award for "Application Performance in Customer Experience." After implementing Azul Platform Prime, Travelport saw a substantial improvement in application response times and a significant reduction in server usage, enhancing its ability to serve travel content to customers efficiently.

SGX FX, a leading provider of foreign exchange trading technology, was honored for "Best Industry Use Case in Trading Exchanges." The company’s transition to Azul Platform Prime enabled it to handle an enormous volume of transactions with minimal latency, setting new benchmarks for speed and reliability in the industry.

Jagex, the British gaming company behind the popular MMORPG RuneScape, received the award for "Best Industry Use Case in Gaming." By utilizing Azul Platform Prime, Jagex eliminated detectable pauses during gameplay, improving performance by 20% and significantly enhancing the player experience.

Other winners include LMAX Group, recognized for its remarkable performance in high-frequency trading, and Taboola, which received the "Best Industry Use Case in AdTech" award for its success in improving the efficiency and environmental impact of its server infrastructure.

The awards also highlighted individual achievements, such as those of Jeff Korpa from Teledyne Controls, who earned the "Java Migration Trailblazer" award for his strategic move away from Oracle Java SE, resulting in significant cost savings and enhanced security for his company.

"I’m inspired to see the remarkable ways in which companies around the world are leveraging Java to drive innovation, deliver exceptional performance, and optimize costs," said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO at Azul, in a statement. "The winners of our inaugural Azul Java Hero Awards embody the best of what can be achieved with Java, showcasing its enduring power and versatility in enterprise software. Their achievements highlight why Java remains the go-to language for businesses striving for excellence and efficiency."

The Java Hero Awards span multiple categories, recognizing excellence in Java migration, cloud cost savings, application performance, and specific industry use cases. These awards underscore the critical role Java continues to play in driving innovation and efficiency in various sectors.

For a full list of winners and categories, visit Azul's website.

Posted by John K. Waters on September 3, 2024