Skip to main content
Redhat Developers  Logo
  • Products

    Featured

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Icon
    • Red Hat OpenShift AI
      Red Hat OpenShift AI
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI
      Linux icon inside of a brain
    • Image mode for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      RHEL image mode
    • Red Hat OpenShift
      Openshift icon
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
      Ansible icon
    • Red Hat Developer Hub
      Developer Hub
    • View All Red Hat Products
    • Linux

      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      • Image mode for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      • Red Hat Universal Base Images (UBI)
    • Java runtimes & frameworks

      • JBoss Enterprise Application Platform
      • Red Hat build of OpenJDK
    • Kubernetes

      • Red Hat OpenShift
      • Microsoft Azure Red Hat OpenShift
      • Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization
      • Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed
    • Integration & App Connectivity

      • Red Hat Build of Apache Camel
      • Red Hat Service Interconnect
      • Red Hat Connectivity Link
    • AI/ML

      • Red Hat OpenShift AI
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI
    • Automation

      • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
      • Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed
    • Developer tools

      • Red Hat Trusted Software Supply Chain
      • Podman Desktop
      • Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces
    • Developer Sandbox

      Developer Sandbox
      Try Red Hat products and technologies without setup or configuration fees for 30 days with this shared Openshift and Kubernetes cluster.
    • Try at no cost
  • Technologies

    Featured

    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • Linux
      Linux Icon
    • Kubernetes
      Cloud icon
    • Automation
      Automation Icon showing arrows moving in a circle around a gear
    • View All Technologies
    • Programming Languages & Frameworks

      • Java
      • Python
      • JavaScript
    • System Design & Architecture

      • Red Hat architecture and design patterns
      • Microservices
      • Event-Driven Architecture
      • Databases
    • Developer Productivity

      • Developer productivity
      • Developer Tools
      • GitOps
    • Secure Development & Architectures

      • Security
      • Secure coding
    • Platform Engineering

      • DevOps
      • DevSecOps
      • Ansible automation for applications and services
    • Automated Data Processing

      • AI/ML
      • Data Science
      • Apache Kafka on Kubernetes
      • View All Technologies
    • Start exploring in the Developer Sandbox for free

      sandbox graphic
      Try Red Hat's products and technologies without setup or configuration.
    • Try at no cost
  • Learn

    Featured

    • Kubernetes & Cloud Native
      Openshift icon
    • Linux
      Rhel icon
    • Automation
      Ansible cloud icon
    • Java
      Java icon
    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • View All Learning Resources

    E-Books

    • GitOps Cookbook
    • Podman in Action
    • Kubernetes Operators
    • The Path to GitOps
    • View All E-books

    Cheat Sheets

    • Linux Commands
    • Bash Commands
    • Git
    • systemd Commands
    • View All Cheat Sheets

    Documentation

    • API Catalog
    • Product Documentation
    • Legacy Documentation
    • Red Hat Learning

      Learning image
      Boost your technical skills to expert-level with the help of interactive lessons offered by various Red Hat Learning programs.
    • Explore Red Hat Learning
  • Developer Sandbox

    Developer Sandbox

    • Access Red Hat’s products and technologies without setup or configuration, and start developing quicker than ever before with our new, no-cost sandbox environments.
    • Explore Developer Sandbox

    Featured Developer Sandbox activities

    • Get started with your Developer Sandbox
    • OpenShift virtualization and application modernization using the Developer Sandbox
    • Explore all Developer Sandbox activities

    Ready to start developing apps?

    • Try at no cost
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Videos

Introducing Quarkus: a next-generation Kubernetes native Java framework

March 7, 2019
Jason Greene
Related topics:
JavaKubernetesQuarkusServerless
Related products:
Red Hat build of Quarkus

Share:

    Java was introduced to the open-source community more than 20 years ago and it still remains popular among developers. In fact, Java has never ranked lower than #2 on the TIOBE Index. Java was born in the mid-1990s and has nearly 20 years of optimizations for running highly dynamic monolithic applications that assumed sole ownership of (virtualized) host CPU and memory. However, we now live in a world dominated by the cloud, mobile, IoT, and open source, where containers, Kubernetes, microservices, reactive, Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), 12-factor, and cloud-native application development can deliver higher levels of productivity and efficiency. As an industry, we need to rethink how Java can be best utilized to address these new deployment environments and application architectures.

    We’d like to introduce you to Quarkus and Supersonic Subatomic Java!

    Quarkus is a Kubernetes Native Java framework tailored for GraalVM and HotSpot, crafted from best-of-breed Java libraries and standards. The goal of Quarkus is to make Java a leading platform in Kubernetes and serverless environments while offering developers a unified reactive and imperative programming model to optimally address a wider range of distributed application architectures.

    Container First

    Quarkus delivers significant runtime efficiencies (based on Red Hat testing), such as:

    • Fast Startup (tens of milliseconds) allows automatic scaling up and down of microservices on containers and Kubernetes as well as FaaS on-the-spot execution
    • Low memory utilization helps optimize container density in microservices architecture deployments requiring multiple containers
    • Smaller application and container image footprint

    Unifies Imperative and Reactive

    Most Java developers are familiar with the imperative programming model and would like to utilize that experience when adopting a new platform. At the same time, developers are rapidly adopting a cloud native, event-driven, asynchronous, and reactive model to address business requirements to build highly concurrent and responsive applications. Quarkus is designed to seamlessly brings the two models together in the same platform, resulting in strong leverage within an organization.

    Developer Joy

    A cohesive platform for optimized developer joy:

    • Unified configuration with all configuration in a single property file.
    • Zero config, live reload in the blink of an eye
    • Streamlined code for the 80% common usages, flexible for the 20%
    • No hassle native executable generation

    Best of Breed Libraries and Standards

    Quarkus brings a cohesive, fun-to-use full-stack framework by leveraging best of breed libraries you love and use wired on a standard backbone - these include Eclipse MicroProfile, JPA/Hibernate, JAX-RS/RESTEasy, Eclipse Vert.x, Netty, and more.

    Quarkus also includes an extension framework that third-party framework authors can leverage to extend it. The Quarkus extension framework reduces the complexity for making third-party frameworks run on Quarkus and compile to a GraalVM native binary.

    Summary

    Quarkus provides an effective solution for running Java in this new world of serverless, microservices, containers, Kubernetes, FaaS, and the cloud because it has been designed with these in mind. Its container-first approach for cloud-native Java applications unifies imperative and reactive programming paradigms for microservices development and offers an extensible set of standards-based enterprise Java libraries and frameworks combined with extreme developer productivity that promises to revolutionize the way we develop in Java.

    We’d love you to join the Quarkus open-source community. If you’re interested in helping us continue to improve Quarkus, developing third-party extensions, using Quarkus to develop applications, or if you’re just curious about it, please join us at:

    • Quarkus website: http://quarkus.io
    • Quarkus GitHub project: https://github.com/quarkusio/quarkus
    • Quarkus Twitter: https://twitter.com/QuarkusIO
    • Quarkus chat: https://quarkusio.zulipchat.com/

     

    Get quarked! and let’s start building some hadrons

    Last updated: January 12, 2024

    Recent Posts

    • Alternatives to creating bootc images from scratch

    • How to update OpenStack Services on OpenShift

    • How to integrate vLLM inference into your macOS and iOS apps

    • How Insights events enhance system life cycle management

    • Meet the Red Hat Node.js team at PowerUP 2025

    Red Hat Developers logo LinkedIn YouTube Twitter Facebook

    Products

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • Red Hat OpenShift
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

    Build

    • Developer Sandbox
    • Developer Tools
    • Interactive Tutorials
    • API Catalog

    Quicklinks

    • Learning Resources
    • E-books
    • Cheat Sheets
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Newsletter

    Communicate

    • About us
    • Contact sales
    • Find a partner
    • Report a website issue
    • Site Status Dashboard
    • Report a security problem

    RED HAT DEVELOPER

    Build here. Go anywhere.

    We serve the builders. The problem solvers who create careers with code.

    Join us if you’re a developer, software engineer, web designer, front-end designer, UX designer, computer scientist, architect, tester, product manager, project manager or team lead.

    Sign me up

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • About Red Hat
    • Jobs
    • Events
    • Locations
    • Contact Red Hat
    • Red Hat Blog
    • Inclusion at Red Hat
    • Cool Stuff Store
    • Red Hat Summit

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • Privacy statement
    • Terms of use
    • All policies and guidelines
    • Digital accessibility

    Report a website issue