Microsoft Corp. today divulged that it has acquired jClarity Ltd., a British provider of tools for Java software projects.

Java is one of the most popular programming languages in the enterprise and is used for building everything from mobile apps to complex back-end systems. Several of Microsoft’s own products are written in the language, including its Azure HDInsights managed analytics service.

Seven-year-old jClarity sells a pair of tools that help Java developers write better code. The company’s Censum product can identify software inefficiencies, such a module that consumes more memory than it ought to, while a second offering called Illuminate flags performance issues. Illuminate also uses machine learning to generate automated troubleshooting suggestions.

John Montgomery, the top project management executive at Microsoft’s Developer Tools and Services group, didn’t say touch upon jClarity’s products in the blog post announcing the acquisition. But he did detail that “Microsoft Azure and jClarity engineers will be working together to make Azure a better platform for our Java customers, and internal teams.”

Microsoft may be planning to make the British firm’s products available on Azure alongside the existing hosted development tools it offers to customers. Censum and Illuminate are already available in cloud-based versions. That should make the process of porting them to Azure relatively straightforward, assuming Microsoft takes this route. 

It’s also possible Microsoft was simply interested in hiring jClarity’s Java experts. The two companies’ engineering groups have a history of collaborating on software projects: Microsoft is a platinum sponsor of AdoptOpenJDK, a popular open-source version of Java that counts jClarity as its lead contributor. 

“The jClarity team will continue to work out in the open in various Java communities. With Microsoft’s support, we anticipate being able to contribute back in new and exciting ways,” jClarity Chief Executive Officer Martijn Verburg wrote in a brief post on his company’s blog. Verburg is joining Microsoft as principal engineering group manager for Java as part of the acquisition.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Photo: Microsoft