IBM And Zend Team to Accelerate Open Source Momentum

IBM today announced an agreement with Zend Technologies to develop the industry's first integrated solution designed to help developers build and deploy applications and services based on the popular PHP Web language. The new solution integrates IBM's Cloudscape( TM ) database based on Apache Software Foundation Derby and Zend's open source PHP environment. This agreement further expands IBM's investment in open source by helping developers more effectively create applications based on the technology of their choice.

Under the agreement, IBM will work with Zend, the leading provider of products and services for developing, deploying and managing business-critical PHP applications, to create 'Zend Core for IBM( TM ).' The product will provide the industry's first seamless out-of-the-box, PHP development and production environment, completely supported by Zend. Zend Core for IBM will feature seamless integration with IBM's Cloudscape database server and DB2( TM ) Universal Database. IBM and Zend are also jointly working on furthering PHP technology to include improved high-level database integration frameworks and enhanced PHP Web services standards.

The availability of Zend Core for IBM will significantly enhance developer support for IBM's Cloudscape database, as PHP is one of the most popular Web programming languages in the world. According to the research firm Netcraft, PHP currently accounts for more than 40 percent of the overall Web scripting language market. Additionally, PHP technology adopting into both small and medium-size business ( SMB ) and large enterprises is growing steadily. Zend and its founders are the architects of PHP and creators of the Zend Engine, the kernel of PHP.

"Our partnership with IBM further cements PHP as the language of choice for business-critical Web applications," said Doron Gerstel, CEO and President for Zend Technologies, Inc. "Zend Core for IBM is in line with Zend's goal of delivering both simplicity and robust functionality to Web-based applications."

As a result of this announcement IBM becomes the first vendor in the industry to support both major Web development languages ( PHP and Java ), with an integrated database solution.

"By partnering with Zend, we now offer our clients the broadest selection of open-source information management capabilities in the industry, with a clear path for businesses to expand their infrastructure as their needs grow," said Janet Perna, General Manager IBM Information Management. "IBM will continue to work with Zend and the PHP open source community on future technologies that further the adoption of SOA technologies such as web services and XML."

"Having out of the box solutions for dynamic database application development and deployment is tremendously significant," said Chris Stephens, lead developer, The Selling Source, Inc. "The Zend/IBM partnership demonstrates a solid commitment to organizations that have built their business around PHP. I'm excited about the possibilities that this relationship has for the open source community."

This collaboration reinforces IBM's commitment to the open source community and foundations such as Linux, Apache and Eclipse. IBM will introduce a new optimized native extension for Cloudscape and DB2 within the PHP community.

Zend Core for IBM will be a seamless, out-of-the-box PHP development and production environment, based on PHP 5 technology. The product includes tight integration with IBM Cloudscape database server, DB2 and native support for XML and Web Services - supporting increased adoption of Service Oriented Architectures ( SOA ). It delivers an unprecedented rapid development and deployment foundation for database driven applications and offers an upgrade path from the easy-to-use, lightweight Cloudscape database to the mission critical DB2, by providing a consistent API to developers.

Zend Core for IBM will be available in the second quarter of 2005 as a free download via the DB2 and Cloudscape product site and IBM's developer portal, developerWorks via this easy-to-use package, PHP development or production servers can be setup within minutes. Additionally, a new PHP technology area will be introduced within IBM developerWorks to assist developers as they adopt PHP and IBM technologies for their applications. Zend Core for IBM support and updates will be made available directly from Zend Technologies. This offering will be compatible with existing products such as Zend Platform and Zend Studio. IBM is also planning to support Zend Core for IBM with the latest version of Informix Dynamic Server ( IDS ).

About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com

About Zend Technologies, Inc.
Zend Technologies, Inc., the PHP company, is the leading provider of products and services for developing, deploying and managing business-critical PHP applications. Zend and its founders are the architects of PHP, which is used by more than fifteen million Web sites and has quickly become the most popular language for building dynamic Web applications. Deployed at more than 8,000 companies worldwide, the Zend family of products is a comprehensive platform for supporting the entire lifecycle of PHP applications. Zend, headquartered in Cupertino, California, is privately held and venture funded with investments from Azure, Index, Intel Capital, Platinum, SAP Ventures and Walden Israel. For more information, please visit www.zend.com, or call 1-408-253-8800.

IBM, IBM DB2 Content Manager, IBM WebSphere, IBM Tivoli Monitoring and the IBM e-business logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. For a list of additional IBM trademarks, please see www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml

Statements concerning IBM's pricing, future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.

Zend, Zend Technologies, Zend Store, Zend SOS, Zend.com and/or the logos and icons associated with each of these names are trademarks of Zend Technologies, Inc. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

All other company/product names and service marks may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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