Azul Systems Releases Zulu, an OpenJDK Build for Windows Azure, in Partnership with MS Open Tech
Today I’m happy to report the news that our Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc., (MS Open Tech) partner Azul Systems has released the technology preview for Zulu, an OpenJDK build for Windows Servers on the Windows Azure platform. Azul’s new OpenJDK-based offering has passed all Java certification tests and is free and open source.
Azul’s new build of the community-driven open source Java implementation, known as OpenJDK, is available immediately for free download and use under the terms of the GPLv2 open source license.
Built and distributed by Azul Systems, Zulu is a JDK (Java Development Kit), and a compliant implementation of the Java Standard Edition (SE) 7 specification. Zulu has been verified by passing all tests in the Java SE 7 version of the OpenJDK Community TCK (Technology Compatibility Kit).
Azul has a lot of information about this exciting news on their website, including this press release that we would like to share.
With the support of Azul Systems and MS Open Tech, customers will be assured of a high-quality foundation for their Java implementations while leveraging the latest advancements from the community in OpenJDK. The OpenJDK project is supported by a vibrant open source community, and Azul Systems is committed to updating and maintaining its OpenJDK-based offering for Windows Azure, supporting current and future versions of both Java and Windows Server. Deploying Java applications on Windows Azure will be further simplified through the existing open source MS Open Tech Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java .
Key details of Azul Zulu include:
- Free and open source offering, based on OpenJDK
- Compatible with Java SE 7, verified using Java SE 7 OpenJDK Community TCK
- Integrated with MS Open Tech’s Windows Azure Plugin for Eclipse with Java tooling
- Patches and bug fixes contributed back to the OpenJDK community by Azul
- ISV-friendly binary licensing for easy embedding with 3rd party applications
- Availability for download and immediate use
Executives of both companies highlighted the benefits of this new effort:
Jean Paoli, president of MS Open Tech said, “Java developers have many development and deployment choices for their applications, and today MS Open Tech and Azul made it easier for Java developers to build and run modern applications in Microsoft’s open cloud platform.”
Scott Sellers, president and CEO of Azul Systems said, “Azul is delighted to announce that Zulu is fully tested, free, open source, and ready for the Java community to download and preview – today. We are looking forward to serving the global Java community with this important new offering for the Azure cloud.”
Zulu is available for download at www.azulsystems.com/products/zulu. Zulu Community Forums are listed on the Stack Overflow website under the tags “azure zulu” and “azul zulu.”
MS Open Tech and Azul Systems first announced our partnership on July 24, 2013
Customers and partners of Microsoft and Azul interested in participating in future Zulu tech previews are also invited to contact Azul at AzureInfo@azulsystems.com for additional information. And of course, please send questions and feedback to our MS Open Tech team directly through our blog.
Gianugo Rabellino, Senior Director of Open Source Communities, MS Open Tech