Azul & JetBrains boost Kotlin app speed & scalability

Azul and JetBrains have announced a technical collaboration to improve the performance and scalability of web and server-side applications built with the Kotlin programming language.

The partnership aims to address how Kotlin-generated bytecode interacts with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which underpins the execution of Kotlin applications. Azul, which focuses on Java, is working with JetBrains, creator of Kotlin and provider of software development tools, to optimise performance across the execution stack used by modern applications.

Kotlin is used for a range of applications and is designed to interoperate fully with the JVM. The runtime environment plays a critical role in the performance and scalability of Kotlin-based solutions. The collaboration leverages Azul's Platform Prime, which incorporates enhancements including the Falcon LLVM-based JIT compiler and the C4 garbage collector.

Benchmark results released as part of the collaboration indicate that when running Kotlin applications on Azul Platform Prime, throughput was improved by 30.5% and latency reduced by 23.9% compared to running the same applications on standard OpenJDK, as measured by the TechEmpower Web Framework Benchmarks.

Azul Platform Prime is available for x86 and ARM64 processors running Linux and has been tested for enterprise workloads, maintaining full compliance with Java SE standards. Platform Prime is built on the HotSpot JVM and JDK code base from the OpenJDK project but features specific enhancements to just-in-time compilation, garbage collection, and application startup characteristics.

Azul's Falcon JIT compiler optimises application code during runtime, while the C4 garbage collector maintains concurrent and continuous application execution across varying heap sizes and memory allocation rates. The goal of these improvements is to raise application throughput and lower response times while reducing infrastructure and cloud costs for business workloads.

Vsevolod Tolstopyatov, Kotlin project lead at JetBrains, said: "From its inception, Kotlin was designed with the goal of building robust applications, including server-side solutions where performance is critical. Performance has always been a priority for us because it's essential to our users."

He continued, "Kotlin incorporates specific language features, such as inline functions and inline classes, which directly enhance performance. We've developed the Kotlin Coroutines library to facilitate concurrency and asynchronous programming, enabling efficient, scalable applications. Recognizing that the JVM runtime is one of the most critical elements in application performance, we believe our collaboration with Azul will unlock new opportunities to further elevate the performance capabilities of Kotlin applications."

Gil Tene, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Azul, commented: "The Azul JVM is the fastest and cheapest way to run Kotlin applications. Azul Platform Prime is built to solve the performance challenges enterprise applications face at scale. By providing a runtime that significantly improves the execution of JVM-based applications, which includes Kotlin-based applications, organizations can deploy applications more rapidly, with less tuning and ensure scalability as demands grow."

He added, "Through our strategic collaboration with JetBrains, we help Kotlin teams to significantly boost their DevOps productivity and runtime application efficiency, which enables them to achieve their business priorities while improving the bottom line."

Kotlin development teams interested in evaluating performance improvements can download Azul Platform Prime Stream Builds, which are available for evaluation and development purposes to assess the benefits when running Kotlin workloads on the Zing JDK.