BIRT iHub requires a 64-bit version of the JAVA SE Development Kit (JDK) version 1.6 or higher. The BIRT iHub installation process installs the 64-bit JDK version 1.7 if it does not detect a suitable JDK already installed in the environment. The installer checks for a Java installation using the JAVA_HOME environment variable. On Windows, the installer also checks the registry. If both Java 1.7 and Java 1.6 are available, BIRT iHub uses Java 1.7.