Sasol cuts Java licensing costs 92% with Azul shift

Sasol has standardised more than 150 business-critical Java applications on Azul Core as it moves away from Oracle Java. The group says the shift cut total Java licensing costs by 92% and strengthened security and compliance controls across its estate.

The energy and chemicals company completed the migration with support from Optim-G. According to Azul, the work covered about 7,000 devices and 200 servers.

Java remains a core dependency in Sasol's IT environment, supporting operational and business functions tied to roughly $14 billion in annual turnover.

Cost pressure

Sasol cited rising costs and uncertainty linked to Oracle's Java SE licensing model, as well as the operational burden of interpreting licensing terms and managing audit exposure.

Those concerns were compounded by security issues. Sasol was running legacy Java versions, including Java 6 and Java 7, and still had Java applets in its environment. Applets have largely fallen out of mainstream browser support, often requiring specialist configurations to keep older applications running.

Sasol also pointed to regulatory considerations, including the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation and South Africa's Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, as drivers for reducing exposure to unsupported or outdated software.

Technical scope

Azul Core became the standardised runtime environment. Sasol's deployment includes support for Java 6 and Java 7, as well as the Java Plugin used with applets, components that Azul said are no longer covered under Oracle Java SE long-term support.

Optim-G introduced Sasol to Azul and acted as the IT services partner for the project. It specialises in optimisation, automation and digital transformation.

Sasol ran a two-month proof-of-value before proceeding with the broader migration, which took place between April and September 2025.

Azul provided engineering support, while Optim-G handled operational alignment and service management. The companies said the work maintained continuity for production systems and other core applications throughout the transition.

Security and compliance

Moving away from older, unsupported Java distributions often sits at the intersection of vulnerability management and software asset governance. Many large organisations still run older Java-based applications for industrial systems, internal tools and line-of-business platforms with long upgrade cycles.

For Sasol, the stated aim was to reduce licensing cost exposure while strengthening control of Java versions across endpoints and servers. Standardising the runtime can reduce the number of variants in circulation and make patching and configuration management more consistent across teams and sites.

"Azul enabled us to take control of and future-proof our Java environment - reducing Java license costs by 92% while improving security and compliance," said Shailendra Nathoo, Senior Lead for IT Asset Management at Sasol.

Nathoo described the migration as "smooth and well-supported", citing Azul's engineering support and Optim-G's delivery.

Azul framed the project as part of a broader shift among large organisations seeking more predictable Java licensing and support arrangements. Java licensing has become a focus area for CIOs and IT asset management teams in recent years, as estates often include a mix of vendor-supplied and internally developed applications that depend on specific versions.

"Sasol's migration underscores the growing momentum of enterprises across EMEA moving away from Oracle's unpredictable Java licensing model," said James Johnston, Vice President of EMEA at Azul.

Johnston said the partnership delivered lower costs and stronger security and compliance while maintaining "full operational continuity". He added that the work "future-proofed" Sasol's Java environment for digital transformation initiatives.