Azul has revealed that Newcastle City Council has deployed the Azul Platform Core to support its Java ecosystem. Many UK councils are under the twin pressures of budgetary constraints combined with the increased threat of cyber security attacks. The Local Government Association reported over 11 million attacks on UK councils in 2023. There is therefore, limited budget to replace critical systems. Which means existing legacy systems need to retain a valid security layer.
Newcastle City Council, which provides municipal services to over 300,000, found it could no longer afford the licensing costs that Oracle was charging. In 2023 Gartner identified that the changes to licensing were an increase of between 2-5 times the previous cost.
The challenge for Newcastle City Council
With Java version 8 supporting critical applications such as financial management, housing and benefits and older versions of Java supporting other applications, the council needed to find a solution. The cessation of the Java licensing deal meant that it no longer received Java security updates from Oracle. It had estimated that 80% of its security vulnerabilities were contained within its Java estate.
The options were limited. Finding the money to continue the agreement with Oracle was not a valid option. It could replace the systems, but the time scale for that was at least a year. Therefore, the scope of these large IT projects would be a risk in itself. It could look to move to a free distribution of OpenJDK. But it would need a commercial platform to ensure security, stability and support.
After reviewing the market, the council selected the Azul Platform Core. Azul provides an OpenJDK alternative to Oracle Java. The Azul platform would provide the support it needed to maintain the Java estate and keep it secure. With access to critical patch updates (CPU), which include security fixes, ensuring that the 1,100 employees could continue to work without disruption.
The project
The Azul platform supports more Java versions than any other commercial platform, including Java 6 and 7. This led to a phased approach by the council to secure its estate and migrate to the Azul platform.
Enterprise Times asked James Johnston, Vice President of EMEA at Azul, how NCC approached the project. He replied, “NCC picked a few critical applications that they knew may have issues to start with first – these included apps that used WebStart or Applets and/or Java 6. It was key that these applications could still run and receive security updates.”
The council did start with a pilot, with Johnston explaining, “Yes, we did a pilot with them that lasted two months. It was important for NCC to see Azul’s ability to provide engineering support quickly and efficiently. As well as fixes to address their issues. This was key to their decision-making process.”
The Azul Platform Core goes live
As NCC rolled out the platform to support other applications, the Azul platform ensured that the Java environment, in use across over 5,000 desktops, was better secured. The IT environment is now compliant with the UK’s Public Services Network (PSN) requirements.
As with any project, there were challenges. I asked Johnston what these were. He answered, “NCC had Java 6 applications running on X86 and SPARC/Solaris that we needed to ensure worked efficiently. They also used Applets, which we helped them address with our Hybrid-Applet approach.”
The Azul Platform Core now covers applications used by over 1,000 employees. Importantly, the transition was completed with no impact on performance and no complaints from the user base. The council now has a secure and supported Java environment. It can plan future changes in the confidence that over 80% of the security risks have been remediated.
Jenny Nelson, the council’s head of ICT & Digital, commented, “Through our strategic partnership with Azul, we significantly reduced our security risk level with our Java applications and Java-based infrastructure. Which certainly helps me sleep better at night.
“In addition, the benefits of switching to Azul Platform Core as our JVM are clear. Our Java estate is now consistent, standardised, easier to maintain. This has brought a level of simplicity that’s a huge benefit to our organisation.”
A look back at the project
Other councils facing a similar challenge may be concerned about the reliance on professional services required by the new Azul platform. I asked Johnston about the training NCC needed to continue supporting the Java applications and the Azul platform internally.
He answered, “NCC gained a lot of insight and learnings during the pilot phase. Once the pilot proved successful, NCC was pretty self-sufficient. And were able to move forward with the migration with help from our support team when they faced technical challenges.”
Johnston commented, “We are proud to support Newcastle City Council in its mission to secure critical municipal services by helping to eliminate over 80% of NCC’s IT security risks.
“The council’s successful implementation of Azul Platform Core is a testament to our unwavering commitment to help customers maintain the integrity and performance of their critical Java applications. While advancing their overall security posture and without impacting service levels or performance.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Councils across the UK are facing huge challenges to balance budgets. With geopolitical instability and threats increasing, they must ensure that services are protected and able to function within their regions. Price increases, such as those implemented by Oracle, have left councils with tough decisions. Especially around legacy solutions that have become too costly to support and too expensive to replace. The Azul platform provides one route to ensuring that legacy and even more modern Java applications can take advantage of the latest Java has to offer. While also ensuring that their systems are secure.
