Recognition in the 24th Annual American Business Awards validates Azul’s impact across cloud optimization, DevOps efficiency, enterprise growth and go-to-market strategy

Azul, the trusted leader in enterprise Java for today’s AI and cloud-first world, today announced four wins in the 24th annual American Business Awards, earning three Gold Stevie Awards and one Bronze Stevie Award. The recognition spans cloud innovation, DevOps efficiency, financial achievement and marketing leadership, underscoring the breadth of Azul's impact across its products, business performance and go-to-market execution.

Azul Prime: Built for the Demands of AI and Cloud-Scale Java

Azul Prime, the company’s high-performance Java platform, earned a Gold Stevie Award in the Cloud Application/Service category for “Redefining Cloud Efficiency through Intelligent Java Optimization.” Prime helps organizations reduce cloud infrastructure costs by 20%+ and increase application performance using technologies such as ReadyNow warmup acceleration, the Falcon JIT compiler and the C4 pauseless garbage collector, which together allow Java applications to run without pauses, jitters or timeouts. These capabilities are especially critical for enterprises running high-throughput, latency-sensitive workloads in the cloud, where inefficient Java execution translates directly into inflated infrastructure spend. As AI-driven applications place new demands on cloud infrastructure, Azul Prime gives organizations the performance headroom they need without requiring yet more cloud spending, costly hardware upgrades or architectural overhauls.

Azul Intelligence Cloud: Live Runtime Data, Actionable DevOps Intelligence

Azul Intelligence Cloud received a Gold Stevie Award in the DevOps Solution category, building on multiple industry recognitions. Intelligence Cloud delivers actionable intelligence from production Java runtime data, helping teams prioritize remediation by identifying which vulnerable code is actually running in production and uncovering dead and unused code that can be removed. Dead and unused code increases maintenance costs and creates a wider vulnerability attack surface, so its removal remains a top priority for developer teams. With continuous insight into what’s actually running in production, Intelligence Cloud gives teams the signal they need to act with precision — reducing risk without slowing down development velocity.

Strategic Growth and Financial Discipline

Azul earned a Gold Stevie Award for Achievement in Finance for “Achieving Rule of 50+ Performance Through Strategic Channel Transformation and Record 63% Growth.” Led by the company’s chief financial officer, Peter Maloney, the company announced a majority investment from Thoma Bravo in November 2025, with existing investors Vitruvian Partners and Lead Edge Capital also participating. Azul also subsequently acquired Payara, a global provider of enterprise-grade solutions for Jakarta EE (Java EE)-based applications and microservices for hybrid and cloud-native deployments, expanding its reach in the enterprise Java market. Together, these milestones demonstrate that Azul’s growth has been both strategic and scalable, driven by sound financial management alongside expanding market opportunity.

Marketing Leadership That Moved the Market

Andrew Savitz, chief marketing officer at Azul, received a Bronze Stevie Award for Marketing Executive of the Year. Savitz was recognized for architecting what judges evaluated as the “Puffer Fish” strategy: a go-to-market approach that enabled Azul to command category presence and attract strategic investment while competing against significantly larger rivals in the enterprise Java market. The recognition highlights how an insight-driven marketing strategy can serve as a force multiplier — helping a company punch above its weight and shape market perception in ways that directly influence business outcomes.

“These four Stevie Awards reflect the relentless focus and execution of the entire Azul team across every dimension of our business,” said Scott Sellers, co-founder and CEO at Azul. “From the significant cloud cost savings our customers achieve with Azul Prime, to the intelligence that helps development teams be more efficient and ship more secure software faster, to the financial discipline and marketing ingenuity that are fueling our growth — this recognition validates that our strategy is working. As enterprises navigate the demands of AI and cloud-first architectures, Azul is proving that Java remains the backbone of modern business, and that we are the partner best positioned to help them maximize its value.”

The full list of 2026 American Business Awards winners is available at ABA.StevieAwards.com. Azul will be recognized at the awards banquet in New York on June 9.

About Azul

Azul is the trusted leader in enterprise Java for today’s AI and cloud-first world. Its open source-based Java platform empowers organizations to optimize the entire Java lifecycle to accelerate performance, strengthen security, reduce licensing and cloud costs, and boost developer productivity. Azul powers mission-critical systems for 36% of the Fortune 100, 50% of the Forbes Top Ten World’s Most Valuable Brands, and the world’s top 10 financial trading companies. Learn more at azul.com and follow @azulsystems.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506027039/en/

"As enterprises navigate the demands of AI and cloud-first architectures, Azul is proving that Java remains the backbone of modern business, and that we are the partner best positioned to help them maximize its value.”