Enterprise Java platform Azul Systems Inc. today announced the acquisition of Payara Services Ltd., a global enterprise-grade provider of Java applications and microservices, to expand the company’s Java market reach.

Azul is the provider of high-performance, enterprise-grade Java runtime solutions, focusing on the Java Virtual Machine to make applications running in the coding language faster and more cost-effective for business. Payara offers a complementary set of Java cloud-native application platforms for running and scaling enterprise Java, including Jakarta EE.

Formerly known as Java Enterprise Edition, Jakarta EE is a set of specifications for developing enterprise-level Java applications and infrastructure. It provides a standardized platform with no vendor lock-in that includes application programming interfaces for common functions such as database access, security and web services.

As a leading Java framework for building cloud-native applications, Jakarta has seen growing widespread adoption, especially driven by cloud migration and modernization with microservices. The Eclipse Foundation, the host of Jakarta EE, released version 11 in June, focusing on developer productivity and tool upgrades.

“Today, enterprises moving off traditional Java application servers like Oracle WebLogic and Red Hat JBoss EAP face significant barriers: fragmented tooling, complex cloud migration paths, inconsistent operational models, poor performance under modern workloads, and vendor lock-in to expensive proprietary ecosystems,” Scott Sellers, co-founder and chief executive at Azul, told SiliconANGLE.

An integrated offering from Azul and Payara will provide a unified, enterprise-grade Java platform to support an organization’s entire Java fleet. This includes business-critical applications to internet-of-things deployments, microservices and modern Java Frameworks. Azul’s services cover both cloud-based and on-premises deployments.

This acquisition builds on nearly eight years of collaboration between Azul Payara, which began in 2018 with an integration between the two companies. Azul’s platform provides developers a path to migrate off expensive offerings like Oracle Java to open-source equivalents.

“After a strong and longstanding partnership with Azul, combining forces is the natural next step and positions us for accelerated growth,” Steve Millidge, founder and CEO of Payara, said in a statement.

Sellers noted that Azul is already recognized as a trusted strategic vendor by nearly 1,000 enterprise businesses worldwide. He added that the acquisition of Payara will expand Azul’s offerings to provide a greater range of offerings.

The global application server market size is estimated at around $25.6 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $56.3 billion by 2030, according to a report from market analyst Grand View Research Inc. The Java-based segment accounted for the largest revenue share at over 57% and cloud-hosting represented almost 57%. The exponential growth of mobile applications led much of this opportunity in the market as they become more essential to reach customers, leading application delivery to press forward with modernization due to the need for a consistent experience.

“With two Java-focused vendors now working under one roof, current Azul and Payara customers receive a broader product portfolio and partner ecosystem across the entire Java application and runtime stack,” Sellers said.

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