Article New Oracle pricing model for JAVA has major impact on JAVA SE customers
By Insight Editor / 23 Feb 2023 / Topics: Software Asset Management (SAM)
Oracle recently introduced a new pricing model for Java SE subscriptions. This model replaces the Named User Plus Licensing (user licenses) and Processor licenses (server licensing) with a new license model called “Employee for Java SE Universal Subscription.” This is completely changing the Java licensing landscape and will have a serious impact for most organizations.
This new pricing model is based on the number of employees, with different price tiers for different ranges of employee numbers.
In practical terms this means that you will not only need to license Java users, but anyone who is included in the “employee” license definition. For example, if you require 500 user licenses for Java, but your company has 8.000 employees, you need to purchase 8.000 licenses instead of 500. Based on the pricelist, this will cost you over $1.000.000 per annum.
What happens to existing Java SE customers?
Oracle has stated that existing customers with a legacy subscription agreement for Oracle Java are allowed to renew the subscription under the old metrics and terms for at least 1 year.
Clients that do not have any entitlements in place for Oracle Java, will be confronted with the new “employee” metric.
What should existing Java SE customers do?
Review your current Java licensing estate, as many companies may not realize that they also need to license older versions of Java, such as those that have not been upgraded to Java 11 or later or have not applied security patches. Insight sees that most clients still use Java 8 applications.
Most clients are faced with a significant and unbudgeted exposure for Java.
With a clear understanding of your current Java licensing position, you can design a strategy to determine your next steps. At Insight we have Oracle Licensing Experts who can support you getting a diagnosis of your current Oracle Java estate and associated commercial risk and exposure.
In order to prevent you from spending significant annual fees to Oracle, Insight developed an Oracle Health Check which can provide you clarity and support with your Java challenges.
Joost Bakker
EMEA Executive LCS Consultant Oracle
