Azul Systems

Azul Systems, Inc. develops runtimes (JDKs, JREs, JVMs) for executing Java-based applications. Founded in March 2002, Azul Systems has headquarter in Sunnyvale, California.[1]

Azul Systems
TypePrivate
IndustryComputer Software
Founded2002
Headquarters
Sunnyvale, California
,
United States
Key people
Scott Sellers, CEO, President, and Co-Founder

Gil Tene, CTO, Co-Founder

Leonid Leniashin, VP of Engineering
ProductsComputer software
Websitewww.azul.com

Products

Azul Platform Prime (Formerly Zing)

Azul produces Platform Prime, a Java virtual machine (JVM) and runtime platform for Java applications.

Platform Prime is compliant with the associated Java SE version standards. It is based on the same HotSpot JVM and JDK code base used by the Oracle and OpenJDK JDKs, with enhancements relating to Garbage Collection, JIT Compilation, and Warmup behaviors, all aimed at producing improved application execution metrics and performance indicators.

Key feature areas delivered[2] by Platform Prime include:

  • C4 (Continuously Concurrent Compacting Collector):[3] A Garbage collector reported to maintain concurrent, disruption-free application execution across wide ranges of heap sizes and allocation rates [from sub-GB to multi-TB, from MBs/sec to tens of GB/sec]
  • Falcon:[4] An LLVM-based JIT compiler that delivers dynamically and heavily optimized application code at runtime
  • ReadyNow:[5][6] A feature aimed at improving application startup and warmup behaviors, reducing the amount of slowness experienced by Java applications as they get started or restarted

Formerly known as Zing, it first became available on October 19, 2010.[7] The company was formerly known for its Vega Java Compute Appliances, specialized hardware designed to use compute resources available to Java applications. Zing utilized and improved on the software technology initially developed for the Vega hardware.[8]

The product has been regularly updated and refreshed since.[9]

Platform Prime is available for Linux, and requires x86-based hardware powered by Intel or AMD processors.[10]

Azul Platform Core (Formerly Zulu and Zulu Embedded JVM)

Azul distributes and supports Zulu and Zulu Enterprise, a certified binary build of OpenJDK. The initial release in September 2013 supported Java 7 and ran on Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 on the Windows Azure Cloud.[11] On January 21, 2014, Azul announced Zulu support for multiple Linux versions, Java 6, as well as Zulu Enterprise, which has subscription support options.[12] Support for Java 8 was added in April 2014 and Mac OS X support was added in June 2014.[13] In September 2014, Zulu was extended to support Docker.[14] Zulu Embedded, which allows developers to customize the build footprint, was released in March, 2015.[15]

Developed for manufacturers in the embedded, mobile, and Internet of Things (IoT) markets, each Zulu Embedded build is verified by Azul using the Java Community Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) and incorporates the latest OpenJDK bug fixes and security patches.

Azul produces the jHiccup open-source performance measurement tool for Java applications. It is designed to measure the stalls or "hiccups" caused by an application's underlying Java platform.[16]

Azul Intelligence Cloud

In December 2021, Azul launched Intelligence Cloud,[17] a family of products that apply cloud resources to analyze and optimize Java fleets and provide actionable intelligence. The first offering, Cloud Native Compiler,[18] uses a cloud-centric approach that decouples Just-in-Time (JIT) compilation from the Java Virtual Machine (JVM); it is compatible with all Java applications and retains the full advantages of JIT compilation.

Company History

Azul Systems was founded by Scott Sellers (now President & CEO), Gil Tene (CTO), and Shyam Pillalamarri.

Initially founded as a hardware appliance company, Azul's Java Compute Appliances (JCAs) were designed to massively scale up the usable computing resources available to Java applications. The first compute appliances, offered in April 2005, were the Vega 1-based models.[19][20]

With the introduction of Azul Platform Prime in 2010,[7] the company transitioned to producing software-only solutions.

It retired its hardware appliance Vega product lines in 2013.

Stephen DeWitt previously held the position of CEO.[21]

Funding history

On April 1, 2020, Azul announced that it had closed a strategic growth equity investment led by London-based Vitruvian Partners and New York-based Lead Edge Capital.[22] In the agreement, Azul shareholders were expected to receive a total of approximately $340 million in consideration. Based on public filings,[23] Azul had raised more than $200M in financing to date.

References
  1. "Company Locations". Azul Systems.
  2. Zing hits the trifecta (blog entry)
  3. Tene, Gil; Iyengar, Balaji; Wolf, Michael (2011). "C4: the continuously concurrent compacting collector" (PDF). ISMM '11: Proceedings of the international symposium on Memory management. doi:10.1145/1993478. ISBN 9781450302630.
  4. Falcon: An optimizing Java JIT, The 11th meeting of LLVM developers and users Keynote
  5. Azul ReadyNow! Blasts Heat On Java "Warm-Up" Problem, Dr. Dobbs
  6. New ReadyNow From Azul Systems Solves The Java Warmup Problem, App Developer Magazine
  7. Azul Zing: moving its JVM from silicon to software, ZDNet
  8. Ryan Slobojan (December 30, 2010). "Azul Puts the Zing in Java". Retrieved March 15, 2018.
  9. Release Notes of Azul Zulu Prime Stream and Stable Builds of OpenJDK
  10. Azul Zulu Prime Builds of OpenJDK System Requirements
  11. Microsoft, Azul to put open-source Java on Azure cloud, InfoWorld, July 24, 2013 Archived October 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  12. Azul Systems press releases Azul Systems® Launches Zulu™ Enterprise, a Commercialized, Fully-Supported Version of OpenJDK™ and Azul Systems® Extends Zulu™ to Support Java 6 and Major Linux Distributions
  13. Azul Systems press releases Azul Systems Extends Zulu® Runtime for Java to Support Java 8 and Azul Systems Extends Zulu® Runtime for Java to Support Mac OS X
  14. Run anywhere again: Java hooks up with Docker, InfoWorld
  15. Java-based platforms certified for IoT, Electronics Weekly
  16. Azul Releases Open-Source jHiccup Tool to Provide Response Time Analysis of the Java Runtime
  17. Hainzinger, Brittany. "Intelligence cloud lands from Azul". App Developer Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  18. Krill, Paul (December 15, 2021). "Azul brings Java compilation to the cloud". InfoWorld. Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  19. Azul Systems at Purdue University Purdue University's S3Lab use of Vega 3 hardware platform for transactional memory abstraction research
  20. Azul Systems Vega 3 announcement, 2008
  21. DeWitt, Stephen (2003). "Commission of Corporations, State of California, Notice of Transaction Pursuant to Corporations Code 25102(f)" (PDF). San Francisco: California Department of Corporations.
  22. "Azul Systems receives growth equity investment". spglobal.com. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
  23. California Department of Business Oversight Database
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