The University of Sydney is preparing to extend its use of Azul’s Java platform, having migrated from an Oracle Java runtime environment approximately two years ago. According to Emiliano Fisanotti, a vendor management specialist and executive member of the university’s software licensing community, the current agreement is set to expire in the third quarter. When the university initially switched from Oracle to Azul, factors such as pricing, license structure, and support for older Java versions in production use played a role in the decision. At the time, the Council of Australasian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT) was attempting to negotiate a sector-wide offer from Oracle, which was unsuccessful. However, CAUDIT succeeded in securing an education sector offer from Azul, which the University of Sydney adopted after conducting its own due diligence. Fisanotti mentioned that the university has the flexibility to leverage central purchasing arrangements through CAUDIT, Higher Education Services (HES), or NSW government sourcing deals when suitable, but it also engages in direct contracts. Azul’s CEO and co-founder, Scott Sellers, highlighted the advantages of centralized decision-making and pricing commonality facilitated by CAUDIT, contrasting the state-based or university-by-university arrangements often found in the United States. Additionally, the University of Sydney has recently implemented a software asset management system in collaboration with Insight Australia, an Azul partner.
The University of Sydney will continue to support the Azul Java runtime
