Earlier today, the Eclipse Foundation together with its vendor members, partners and community has announced the release of Jakarta EE 11, the latest version of its enterprise Java platform. Building on the Core Profile (Dec 2024) and Web Profile (Mar 2025), this release brings powerful new features aimed at boosting developer productivity and simplifying cloud-native development.

Enterprise Java has powered backend systems and key applications for three decades, evolving steadily alongside application architecture trends, from on-premise monoliths and service-oriented architectures to today's cloud-first containerized microservices. Currently, developers can typically  choose from three key enterprise Java frameworks: Jakarta EE, Quarkus and Spring / Spring Boot. 

In this post, we take a practical look at two major enterprise Java frameworks: Jakarta EE, the continuation of the long-established Java EE/J2EE standard and Quarkus, a newer framework that is growing in popularity. 

Last week, we announced the new edition of the Virtual Payara Conference, going live on Tuesday the 8th of July (REGISTER HERE), where we'll help you discover some practical strategies for your Java journey.

The new edition of Virtual Payara Conference is coming on the 8th of July 2025 and this time it's all about discovering practical strategies for your Java journey – whether you use Jakarta EE, Spring, or Quarkus! 

Many of today’s applications must process enormous volumes of data while providing instantaneous responses.Traditional blocking architectures often struggle to meet these demands, leading to sluggish performance and poor user experiences. Reactive programming is a coding paradigm that can help address these issues by using asynchronous, non-blocking operations to change how systems are built.

This blog posts explores the core principles, advantages and best practices of reactive programming in Java to help you create scalable, resilient and high-performance applications. 

The June 2025 release cycle brings incremental developments across the Payara Platform family, with significant updates to our Community 6.2025.6, Enterprise 6.27.0, and Enterprise 5.75.0 editions, plus the latest alpha release of Payara 7. These releases focus on enhanced diagnostic capabilities, development workflow improvements, and modernized component upgrades.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) are revolutionizing enterprise Java applications, unlocking new capabilities, and driving unprecedented innovation and automation. But how can you bring the power of AI and LLMs like OpenAI or Ollama into your Jakarta EE/MicroProfile projects, without wrestling with complex, low-level integrations?

For developers, especially those leveraging the Payara Platform, the open-source SmallRye LLM project offers an elegant solution. It simplifies the creation of AI-powered features, often referred to as 'AI agents,' by integrating LLM capabilities through familiar Jakarta EE paradigms like CDI (Contexts and Dependency Injection).

In this blog, we’ll delve into how SmallRye LLM works and explore its integration within the Payara Platform, demonstrating how it supports the creation of AI Jakarta EE applications. We'll then guide you through a practical 'payara-car-booking' demo, showcasing AI-driven conversations and seamless backend integration."

Over the past decades, the technology landscape has undergone relentless change, with innovations rapidly reshaping how applications are developed and deployed. In such a fast-moving environment, few technologies have demonstrated true staying power. Yet, Java has defied the odds. As we mark 30 years of Java and 25 years of enterprise Java, it’s evident that these platforms haven’t just endured but have thrived—constantly evolving, adapting and proving their enduring value to developers worldwide.

After two decades as Java's dominant build tool (no offense to Gradle), Maven is undergoing its most significant evolution. While the official Maven documentation outlines the technical changes in Maven 4, this blog post focuses specifically on what these changes mean for enterprise developers working with Jakarta EE, Spring Boot and Quarkus.