zend

Zend targets Java with growing PHP community

Leave it to Zend to kick Java-loving Sun Microsystems when it's down.

PHP has become one of the hottest programming languages in technology, and the engine behind the little scripting language that could is Zend Technologies. Back in 2000 Zend released its Zend Framework to facilitate PHP development, and it's now taking this Java-bashing crusade a step further with the release of its new Zend Server, as The Register reports.

As Dave Rosenberg notes over on CNET's Software Interrupted blog, Zend Technologies is making available its Zend Server on Tuesday as both a commercial product and one … Read more

Q&A: Zend CEO talks up latest server releases

Zend is widely known as "The PHP Company," and this week, it's announcing new products that further its mission to make PHP the most popular language for building dynamic Web applications.

I spoke with company co-founder and recently appointed CEO Andi Gutmans about the upcoming product launch and the rise of PHP in the enterprise.

Q: What is Zend announcing this week? Gutmans: We're announcing the general availability of Zend Server and Zend Server CE. We released the beta in February and have been working diligently over the last couple months to put the finishing touches on both products.

Zend Server is an enterprise-ready Web application server for running and managing business-critical PHP applications that require a high level of reliability, performance, and security. Zend Server CE is our first-ever community version of Zend Server that gives developers a complete, simple, and faster way to develop and deploy PHP applications. We're very happy with the end results!

When you start talking about high reliability, security, and performance, it sounds like you're working to disrupt traditional Java environments? Is my hunch correct? Gutmans: The Java disruption by PHP is well under way.

PHP is everywhere, and Zend's solutions are being used in business-critical deployments by companies such as Tagged, Fiat, BNP Paribas, and Fox Interactive Media, to name a few. The strategic adoption of Zend in larger accounts, often in favor of Java, is related to our strong return on investment and shorter time to market.

The business is growing as a result of the maturation of Zend and the PHP ecosystem, which includes enterprise-grade frameworks such as Zend Framework and standardized tooling such as the Eclipse-based Zend Studio. We've also done a great deal of work with large vendors such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and Adobe Systems to successfully interoperate in enterprise environments.

With Zend Server, we're taking this maturity to the next level and addressing the increasing market demand we see for a production environment that can support PHP developers and administrators. … Read more

Sun gets its marketing right with 'Open Web'

I just received an e-mail from Sun Microsystems' marketing department, and I really like the message:

Very clear, and something Sun is particularly well-suited to deliver. The question for me is, what comes next? Right now its message mostly centers around MySQL, and that's great. But there's more to building out a Web presence than the database.

Sure, Sun is building out its cloud strategy, adding Q-layer to its arsenal Wednesday, but the "Open Web" idea is both bigger and smaller than cloud computing.

Would a Zend acquisition make sense, to bring in strong PHP expertise … Read more

Executive moves: Sonatype and Novell upgrade their open-source execs

Sometimes social networks are the first to know. In this case, LinkedIn had a big batch of people-related news stories to offer, one of which - Mark de Visser's move to Sonatype to become its new CEO - is out in front of the press release.

Mark is still listed as Zend's chief marketing officer as of 7:16 AM Pacific Time, but LinkedIn knows the truth: de Visser has accepted the role of CEO at Sonatype, the company helping to drive the Apache Maven project. The formal announcement is expected shortly.

Other news that LinkedIn's update … Read more

Why is Zend raising more money?

I just saw the news that Zend has raised $7 million more, in its fifth (Series E) round of funding. Zend last raised $20 million in August 2006. Zend has raised so much money that it must be bought for a bazillion dollars for its investors to get a good return from it.

There are good reasons to raise money heading into a downturn: The justification noted in the press release is to use the funds "as needed." That sounds like "in case things go awry during a recessionary period." This is smart.

One of two … Read more

Rumor: Zend for sale, with IBM a likely buyer?

TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld notes that Zend's recent layoff of 25 percent of its R&D team could be a prelude to an acquisition. Schonfeld suggests Oracle and Microsoft as potential suitors, but I think Sean Michael Kerner's speculation (IBM) rings true.

Regardless, Zend would be a great prize. I'm not privy to the company's financial information but don't need to be to believe that Zend's position vis-a-vis PHP (the primary "P" in the LAMP stack) makes it a prime target. It's surprising that no one has picked it … Read more

Open-source fans mixed on Microsoft move

Open-source fans can be a skeptical bunch, but I've seen their collective opinions shift--for example in the gradually diminishing loathing for Sun Microsystems as that company stopped deriding Linux and started moving its portfolio to open-source software.

So it's not a surprise that various representatives had a mixed reaction to Microsoft's move Thursday to share details of its technology with open-source programmers.

The move could make it easier for many projects to work well with Microsoft products and potentially replace them--for example the Thunderbird e-mail software could communicate better with Microsoft Exchange servers and also displace Microsoft … Read more

Maybe Red Hat can be acquisitive, after all

I wouldn't have believed it, but Matthew Aslett has the numbers to prove it:

Red Hat is a consolidating force in the open-source world, after all.

One trend that emerged very quickly is how much of a driving force... Red Hat has been [a driving force in] acquiring both open source and proprietary vendors.

There have been 72 mergers and acquisitions involving an open source software acquirer or target (or both) according to [The 451 Group's] figures.… Read more

ZendCon: How to Web-optimize your tech show

I've been to dozens and dozens of trade shows in my nine years (gasp!) at CNET News.com, but the introductory remarks at ZendCon on Tuesday were unlike anything I've heard before.

Instead of the usual welcome statements and corporate self-congratulation, the audience was given a brief instruction in how to extend the conference activities beyond the San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency to many corners of the Internet. Specifically, Zend set up ways to deal with Twitter, Technorati, Yahoo Flickr, Yahoo Upcoming and IRC, which despite being long in the tooth retains geek retro cred in the Linux … Read more