Java was never built to run in the cloud. Controversial, but true. With slow start-up and ramp-up times, traditional Java workloads running in conventional JVMs just aren’t optimized for cloud-native distributed architectures like microservices and serverless. So, what innovations have been developed that could enable us to continue to take advantage of these powerful tools, without compromising on the advantages offered by cloud-native infrastructure?

Some may point to native images as an obvious answer, but is this really the best approach? Although resulting in smaller containers and quicker start-up, native image also has several critical setbacks: limited Java functionality, less throughput (the longer the app runs), and the need for developers to learn yet another framework. What if, instead, there was a framework that could offer broad support for a spectrum of application patterns and architectural styles, without these compromises?

In this session we’ll introduce the innovative OSS projects Eclipse OpenJ9 JVM, CRIU, CRaC, InstantOn and Open Liberty, demoing how these tools used in conjunction can offer Java at lightspeed, optimized for today’s cloud-native environments.