German energy leader standardizes Java environment across 100+ applications and tens of thousands of desktops, eliminating Oracle licensing burden
Azul, the trusted leader in enterprise Java for today's AI and cloud-first world, today announced that EWE AG, one of Germany's leading energy and infrastructure companies, has cut its Java licensing costs by 60% by migrating from Oracle Java to Azul Core standardizing its fragmented Java environment across more than 100 applications and tens of thousands of desktop endpoints in the process.
EWE AG provides critical infrastructure and energy services to more than two million customers. Java is deeply embedded across its operational and end-user systems, many of which support essential daily processes and cannot be easily replaced. Ensuring stability and consistency across this environment is central to business continuity.
Over time, however, EWE's Java landscape became increasingly fragmented, with multiple versions and distributions in use across the organization. Legacy systems, including some still dependent on Java 6, which Oracle stopped supporting in December 2018, added further complexity. This environment created additional overhead for packaging, deployment, support and governance, while new Java instances continued to be introduced through incoming applications, increasing the need for standardization.
In addition, 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.
The situation was further impacted when Oracle changed its Java licensing model in January 2023. What had previously been a manageable cost structure quickly became a significant budget concern.
"When Oracle Java changed the licensing metric, we realized it would become far more expensive for us," said Sacha Massarra, license manager at EWE AG. "That was the moment we decided to move to an alternative."
Evaluating options in a highly fragmented environment
As EWE assessed its options, it weighed the trade-offs between unsupported OpenJDK distributions and commercially supported platforms.
While free OpenJDK variants were available, EWE determined they would introduce substantial internal operational burden, particularly around patch management, version control and support escalation across a highly distributed environment. Given the scale and criticality of its systems, the organization required a stable, enterprise-supported Java platform.
"In a corporate environment, switching to a Java platform without support is not really an option," said Massarra.
EWE selected Azul Core based on its enterprise support model, compatibility across legacy and modern Java environments, and ability to support older versions such as Java 6. The company also cited faster vendor responsiveness and a clearer path toward enterprise-wide standardization.
Phased migration enables controlled rollout across the enterprise
EWE implemented a phased migration approach, beginning with small rollout waves of approximately 50 to 200 devices. This allowed teams to validate application behavior early and identify issues before broader deployment.
As confidence increased, larger migration waves followed until the rollout was completed across the organization in approximately eight to nine months.
"If you reduce twenty different Java packages down to one, the internal support effort drops significantly," said Gerold Frilling, license manager at EWE AG. "Azul's support was fast, structured, highly competent and very uncomplicated. There was no problem that wasn't immediately addressed."
Results: simplified operations, standardized environment, and reduced cost
For EWE AG, the migration delivered both operational and financial outcomes, simplifying its Java estate while reducing cost and complexity across IT operations. Key results include:
- Standardized Java environment across the enterprise, consolidating multiple distributions into a single supported standard across more than 100 applications and tens of thousands of endpoints, reducing complexity for IT operations, packaging, and support teams.
- 60% reduction in Java licensing costs, compared with the projected multi-million-euro cost of remaining on Oracle Java, achieved under a five-year agreement.
- Low-risk, phased migration across the organization, with even the most complex application migrations completed in approximately four hours.
- Improved operational efficiency and support experience, with EWE citing Azul's responsiveness, technical competence and ease of collaboration throughout the migration process.
- Reduced environmental and compute overhead, supporting EWE's broader sustainability objectives as an energy provider focused on efficiency and resource optimization.
"Nobody needs Oracle Java anymore. If you need support, the clear answer is: switch to Azul," said Massarra.
"EWE AG's transformation demonstrates the operational impact of Java fragmentation at enterprise scale," said James Johnston, vice president of EMEA at Azul. "By consolidating a highly distributed Java estate under a single supported platform, they significantly reduced complexity across critical systems while also lowering costs and improving operational control. This type of standardization is becoming increasingly important as enterprise Java environments grow more diverse and distributed."
Learn more about Azul Core here.
FAQs
How much can enterprises save by migrating from Oracle Java to Azul Core?
Savings vary based on environment size and complexity. In EWE AG's case, Java licensing costs were reduced by 96% after migrating from Oracle Java to Azul Core. The company standardized more than 100 applications across tens of thousands of endpoints, replacing a projected multi-million-euro Oracle cost structure with a predictable five-year agreement.
Can large enterprises migrate from Oracle Java without disrupting operations?
Yes. EWE AG completed its migration in approximately eight to nine months using a phased rollout approach. Initial waves of 50 to 200 devices enabled early validation before scaling across the enterprise. Even complex applications were migrated in approximately four hours.
Why choose a commercially supported OpenJDK distribution over a free alternative?
Free OpenJDK distributions typically lack enterprise support, structured patching and service-level guarantees. EWE AG evaluated these options but determined that managing updates and support internally across a fragmented environment including legacy Java 6 systems would create significant operational overhead. Azul Core provides enterprise-grade support and compatibility across both legacy and modern workloads.
About Azul
Azul is the trusted leader in enterprise Java for today's AI and cloud-first world. Its open source-based Java platform empowers organizations to optimize the entire Java lifecycle to accelerate performance, strengthen security, reduce licensing and cloud costs, and boost developer productivity. Azul powers mission-critical systems for 36% of the Fortune 100, 50% of the Forbes Top 10 World's Most Valuable Brands, and the world's top 10 financial trading companies. Learn more at azul.com and follow @azulsystems.?
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