Audits, Costs, & Code: How Ausgrid Locked Down Security and Saved 80% with OpenJDK

When you manage the electricity grid for 1.8 million customers, security and compliance aren’t optional—they are mission-critical. For Ausgrid, Australia’s largest electricity distributor, a complex challenge involving aging code, shadow IT, and a predatory licensing model demanded an immediate solution.

The result? A rapid, two-month migration to Azul Platform Core that simultaneously eliminated regulatory exposure, reduced Java vulnerabilities by a massive 99%, and cut potential licensing costs by 80%.

The Oracle Risk: A License to Print Money

The breaking point for Ausgrid’s team came with Oracle’s 2023 shift in Java licensing. Abandoning the instance-based model, Oracle moved to a subscription based on a company’s total employee headcount—a strategy that dramatically inflated costs for large organizations.

For Ausgrid, which relies on hundreds of applications to keep the lights on, a single instance of Oracle Java could trigger fees covering all 4,000 employees and contractors, escalating their projected annual costs to over $500,000.

As Senior Partner Solutions Manager Glen Parker noted, the aggressive and unpredictable nature of the licensing posed an unacceptable business risk.

Closing the Security Gap

Beyond the financial threat, Oracle Java presented a significant cybersecurity challenge. In a routine IT refresh project, Ausgrid discovered numerous business applications—some managed by non-technical teams (classic “shadow IT”)—relying on various, potentially outdated, versions of Oracle Java.

This scenario is common in utilities: mission-critical but decentralized applications create sprawling technical debt and compliance gaps. The older, unpatched Java versions were contributing substantially to Ausgrid’s overall volume of cyber security vulnerabilities.

The Strategic Shift to OpenJDK

Ausgrid sought a solution that offered the stability and performance of Java without the commercial and security baggage. Their strategic answer was Azul Platform Core, a commercially supported distribution of OpenJDK.

The deployment was a textbook example of successful modernization:

• Seamless Transition: Proof-of-Concept (POC) testing confirmed zero disruption to crucial energy services, proving OpenJDK compatibility.
• Rapid Deployment: The full migration was completed in just eight weeks.
• Compliance Certainty: The move immediately eliminated the risk of Oracle audits and provided transparent, predictable licensing.

This move wasn’t just about saving money; it was a foundational security upgrade. By migrating to a modern, supported Java platform, Ausgrid was able to clean up virtually all their accumulated Java-related security debt, boosting the resilience of the nation’s energy infrastructure.

As IT leaders navigate the twin pressures of rising software costs and escalating cyber threats, Ausgrid’s success demonstrates that switching to an OpenJDK alternative like Azul Platform Core is a viable, high-impact strategy for securing the enterprise stack.

Want to learn more about eliminating audit risk? Read about the OpenJDK alternative at the Azul Platform Core page.