IBM invests more in PHP

IBM is a giant supporter of the "open source movement" and is investing in PHP in a big way.

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ARMONK, N.Y – IBM made a bold move recently by throwing its weight behind PHP (hypertext preprocessor), an open source embedded scripting language.

IBM's deal with Zend Technologies, a Cupertino, Calif.-based PHP provider, plans to create Zend Core, which will combine IBM's Cloudscape-embedded database and Zend's open source PHP platform.

IBM said that Zend Core 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.

The partnership makes IBM one of the first technology heavyweights to support both PHP and Java and is expected to help accelerate the use of open source by a wider range of developers.

PHP currently accounts for more than 40 percent of the scripting market, according to research firm Netcraft, and is increasingly being used by large and small businesses.

"The product will provide the industry's first seamless out-of-the-box, PHP development and production environment, completely supported by Zend," IBM said in a statement.

IBM and Zend are also teaming together to develop PHP database integration frameworks and enhanced PHP web services standards.

Zend is funded with investments from Azure, Index, Intel Capital, Platinum, SAP Ventures and Walden Israel. The company's founders are the architects of PHP and creators of the Zend Engine, the kernel of PHP.

IBM has also announced plans to contribute several dozen projects to SourceForge.net, a Somers, N.Y.-based open source repository.

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Fantastic company = IBM

 

I have nothing but respect for IBM

 

I think MS is the biggest market competitor of IBM. If MS stop production, then IBM can cover the whole market. And PHP is fastest growing technology. So IBM invest on PHP for win the race. Its kind of cold war.