Zend Technologies today followed an earlier IBM announcement that the company is teaming with IBM to preload Zend's Web stack with every shipment of IBM i software, including all hardware that ships with IBM i. Zend's PHP-based Web solution stack lets customers Web enable IBM i assets and includes support on IBM i for rapid application development and rich Internet applications (RIAs). With PHP, IBM i users also get immediate access to a vast ecosystem of market leading PHP applications and a large professional developer community.

Since the start of IBM and Zend's joint partnership more than 12,000 IBM i customers from 150 countries have obtained Zend products for IBM i and PHP has been utilized by i customers in rolling out business-critical Web applications. With Zend Core, Zend's Web solution stack, now bundled with the IBM i operating environment, IBM customers now enjoy an out-of-the-box experience with PHP on both the IBM i 5.4 and IBM i 6.1 implementations, the company said. 

"Today's announcement is an expansion of the relationship between the two companies to further enhance PHP-based offerings for IBM i customers," said Scott Handy, vice president, worldwide marketing, strategy, and sales support with IBM Power Systems. "Our customers asked for PHP and we brought Zend PHP to the platform. The enthusiasm for-and utilization of-Zend PHP has exceeded our expectations."

PHP is the most popular Web development language due to its ease of use and enterprise-grade functionality. More than 22 million Internet domains deploy PHP including Yahoo! and Facebook. PHP's large developer community is estimated at close to 5 million and also enjoys a rich application eco-system including the popular Drupal content management system. PHP's popularity has accelerated rapidly over recent years due to its flexibility and ease of use in building modern web applications and web services, including its much heralded support on IBM i operating environments.

Zend Technologies has worked with IBM for more than three years to deliver PHP-based products, support, services, and education for IBM i. Recently, based on feedback from IBM i customers, Zend has delivered a 5250 bridge to simplify the modernization and extension of business applications. Zend Framework can also be used with IBM i to rapidly and easily build industrial-strength web applications in PHP.

"We have worked with midsize and large i clients to run PHP applications ranging from complete order management systems, to web-enabling their green screen ERP systems, to leveraging the vast open source application portfolio that continues to grow every day," said Andi Gutmans, CEO at Zend Technologies. "In addition, IBM and Zend business partners are generating revenue by web-enabling green screen applications and building new web-based applications, reducing costs and extending the long life of this powerful platform."

"We're heavy users of IBM i," said John Horner IBM Power Systems programming manager at APi Group, a billion dollar conglomerate with home security, transportation/distribution, and specialty construction interests. "Rather than move to a brand name ERP system implementation estimated to cost 8 figures+ and take 3 years to implement, we were able to significantly reduce our risk, stay on IBM Power Systems platforms, and completely modernize our applications using Zend Solutions for PHP. We completed this project at 1/10 the cost and in only 18 months!"

"Everyone knows that Business Partners-for instance VARs/SIs and consultants like myself-are experiencing margin compression and Zend's PHP solutions present an additional revenue stream for us, which is key," said Larry Nies, President of NSC. "As a whole PHP runs faster, accesses the database quicker, and is easier for the RPG-minded developer to become proficient in, than other web languages (Net.data, CGIDEV2, Java, etc.). Using Zend's solution suite we can often deliver our implementations in 50-80% less time than competing solutions."

For more information about Zend on IBM i visit: http://www.zend.com/i.

To view the IBM Announcement Letter regarding Zend on IBM i visit: http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/1/897/ENUS209-011/.

About Zend

Zend Technologies, Inc., The PHP Company, is the leading provider of products and services for developing, deploying, and managing business-critical PHP applications. PHP is used by more than twenty million web sites and has quickly become the most popular language for building dynamic web applications. Deployed at more than 27,000 companies worldwide, the Zend family of products is a comprehensive platform for supporting the entire lifecycle of PHP applications. Zend is headquartered in Cupertino, California.

For more information, please visit http://www.zend.com or call +1 408-253-8800.