With limited asset management capabilities and experience dealing with Oracle Java inquiries, companies can make multi-million-dollar mistakes. ITAM experts got together recently to discuss steps for Oracle Java pricing changes and how to deal with them, and they listed six steps every organization should be ready for.
“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” This is an old saying that your parents probably told you and that you may have told your kids. If you’re managing Oracle Java licenses, you should thank your parents for this lesson. Azul Vice President of Worldwide Partnerships Simon Taylor and Jeff Seltzer, Global ITAM Service Delivery & Product Management from SHI, discussed six strategies for managing Oracle Java pricing and license changes in a recent webinar.
The discussion is relevant because with limited asset management capabilities and experience dealing with Oracle Java inquiries, companies can make multi-million-dollar mistakes. Jeff recounts his journey from a developer to a CIO and the challenges he faced with an Oracle audit. He described the impact of an Oracle audit, including a $52 million out-of-compliance letter. The experience shifted his focus to managing Oracle compliance, leading him to become an ITAM practitioner.
6 steps for Oracle Java pricing changes
The six steps for managing Oracle Java pricing and license changes are:
- Understand your new Oracle licensing risk by looking at how your employee count relates to Oracle licensing.
- Identify the amount of Oracle Java in use within your software estate.
- Determine if you are at risk from an Oracle Java audit.
- Understand your critical applications and your key Java dependencies.
- Determine the Java skills you have internally and your ability to move to alternatives.
- Choose the right OpenJDK alternative vendor.
Explaining the six steps of managing Oracle Java
Understand your new Oracle licensing risk by looking at how your employee count relates to Oracle licensing.
A common error organizations make is engaging at Oracle’s first outreach. Jeff and Simon recommend not responding to Oracle until you’ve got the facts. That’s when people first realize they have a problem. Maybe they didn’t pay Oracle for Java use, or they didn’t know what the risk was. Limited internal IT asset management (ITAM) and software asset management (SAM) capabilities can produce financial risk.
Identify the amount of Oracle Java in use within your software estate.
Focus on the type and version of Java license, such as server, desktop, cloud, or virtual instance. A good SAM tool like Flexera or a partner specialist can conduct a thorough discovery and inventory of Java installations across the organization.
Determine if you are at risk from an Oracle Java audit.
The next step is to understand where you could be at risk. Evaluate your existing Oracle Java SE contract and its limitations. Identify exceptions such as third-party ISV application support to understand your critical applications and your key Java dependencies. You can quickly determine where you’re covered and whether there are existing third-party dependencies on other licenses that would enable you to have coverage in that area.
Understand your critical applications and your key Java dependencies
This is the biggest area that organizations frequently miss. Without a deep understanding, it’s easy to keep paying for licenses you don’t need or cancel licenses that support your most critical applications. ITAM and SAM professionals can do this discovery work for you.
Determine the Java skills you have internally and your ability to move to alternatives.
Do you have the skills in-house to support Java 6 and 7 if your company is using them? If not, you need to find the resources or upgrade to later versions. This is just one example of how critical the discovery process is. It’s important to examine the cost and risk of change as you engage an ITAM or SAM professional. Azul is the only Java provider that supports Java 6 and 7, and both Azul and SHI can help you upgrade to a later version.
Choose the right OpenJDK alternative vendor.
- Six reasons to choose a trusted OpenJDK provider are:
- License savings and support
- Ongoing security updates: PSUs vs CPUs
- Access to security expertise
- Critical 24/7 response times
- Java-specific expertise
- Understanding regulatory compliance
Learn more about ITAM and SAM practices
Oracle changed its pricing and licensing model for the fourth time in four years in January 2023, and companies that use Java have decisions to make. ITAM and SAM professionals should be part of those decisions and part of the team that helps yiu migrate from Oracle Java if you decide to.
Learn much more about the challenges that ITAM and SAM professionals face and the expertise they bring to the table. The ITAM Java Licensing Playbook explains how to balance software licensing costs and compliance with risk management and IT’s need for security across the entire asset portfolio.
You can also listen to the entire discussion between Simon and Jeff in the webinar on-demand, 6 Steps for Managing Oracle Pricing and Licensing Changes, available now on Azul.com.
More ITAM
Watch the Azul-SHI ITAM webinar on-demand.
