Archive for September, 2008

Webinars demonstrate the professional use of PHP applications

Munich, 26th September 2008 —- Zend Technologies, The PHP Company, continues its series of free online seminars started in early 2007.The so-called “Webinars” are aimed at anyone interested in PHP – web developers, consultants, project managers and technical decision makers. Topics include PHP as well as specific solutions and the tools Zend offers for enterprise-use of this programming language.

An overview of the upcoming webinars can be found at http://www.zend.com/en/company/events.

The following webinars are planned for October:

• Zend Cargo and Present: Using PHP to Build a Mobile Internet Platform (English)
  1st October 2008, 18:00 to 19:00 (CEST)
• Using PHP and System i to Improve Vendor Productivity (English)
  8th October 2008, 18:00 to 19:00 (CEST)
• Get Rich Quick: Building Ajax-based RIAS with Zend Framework and Appcelerator (English)
  15th October 2008, 18:00 to 19:00 (CEST)
• i5 – Application Lifecycle Management for the Enterprise (English)
  29th October 2008, 17:00 to 18:00 (CET)

Registration for one or more webinars is at the following address: http://www.zend.com/en/company/events.

In contrast to video podcasts, the participants in the live online seminars can ask questions. Each Zend webinar is followed by a question and answer session, in which the participants can have live exchanges with the webinar experts. From a technical point of view, participants simply need a fast internet connection, their browser, speakers and a microphone where appropriate.

All webinars can be downloaded after the live session via the Internet at http://www.zend.com/en/resources/webinars/. This means those who could not participate in the live webinars can still benefit from them.

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Zend – 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 websites and has quickly become the most popular language for building dynamic web applications.  Deployed at more than 25,000 companies worldwide, Zend’s family of products provides 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

Zend, Zend Technologies, Zend.com, Zend Core, Zend Studio and Zend Platform 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.

Further Information:

Zend Technologies GmbH
Jürgen Langner, Global Marketing Director
Rosenheimer Straße 145 b-c
81671 Munich, Germany

Fon +49 (0)89 516199-14
Fax +49 (0)89 516199-20

Juergen.Langner@zend.com

http://www.zend.com

Zend Hosts Fourth Annual ZEND/PHP Conference and Announces New Products and Partner Initiatives

Announcement with Adobe, New Zend Core for IBM i, New Zend Studio Version 6.1  and New Zend Engineer Certification Program for Zend Framework Highlight Start of World’s Largest PHP Conference

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA – September 16, 2008 – Today at ZendCon, the fourth annual Zend/PHP Conference, Zend took steps to further advance PHP’s capabilities as the premier platform for business-critical web applications, including an initiative to strengthen enterprise use of PHP with IBM and for building Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) in collaboration with Adobe and the Ajax community.

ZendCon is the world’s largest gathering of the PHP community and for companies using PHP to build business-critical web applications.  It is the annual meeting place for an ecosystem that includes the world’s largest software companies, innovative web start-ups and leading-edge developers from more than 30 countries.

The conference’s theme is “High Impact PHP”, with Zend’s CEO Harold Goldberg delivering the opening keynote by discussing the ever increasing impact of PHP on businesses, communities and individuals.  More than 70 sessions will discuss the business cases and best practices for using PHP to create rich internet applications, powerful web services, modern web applications for IBM i (i5/OS), optimized web applications on the Windows platform, and much more.

At the opening of the conference today Zend announced partner initiatives and product updates that underscore the increasing importance and maturity of PHP:
•    Zend announced that they will collaborate with Adobe to make it easier to develop rich Internet applications based on PHP and the free, open source Flex framework.  As part of the collaboration Adobe will help to integrate Action Message Format (AMF) support into Zend Framework, which enables high bandwidth data integration between server-side PHP and client-side Flex data and logic components. This makes it easier for PHP to be used in combination with Flex, Ajax and Adobe AIR to deliver RIAs to the desktop. The companies also plan to enhance the experience for developers using their development environments (Zend Studio and Adobe Flex Builder) and to create special websites to educate users of PHP with Flex. 
•    Zend and the Dojo Foundation are collaborating to deliver an out-of-the-box solution for building Ajax-based web applications with Zend Framework and Dojo Toolkit.  Zend Framework 1.6, which was released earlier this month, is the first version of Zend Framework to offer the Dojo integration.
•    Zend announced the immediate availability of Zend Core for i5/OS 2.6, the latest certified PHP stack specifically designed for IBM i5/OS and used to deploy business critical web applications on IBM i platforms.  This release improves security, includes the latest Zend Framework 1.6, and includes extensions that make it easier for PHP to access native resources on the i5.
•    Zend shipped a new version of Zend Studio (6.1), the leading PHP IDE that allows developers to take advantage of the sophisticated, feature-rich Eclipse framework. The new version adds support for Zend Framework & Dojo Toolkit integration, making Ajax Javascript-based rich web applications easier to build and deliver.
•    Zend also announced a new examination leading to the certification “Zend Certified Engineer (ZCE) for Zend Framework.”  ZCE for Zend Framework complements the existing ZCE for PHP certification which has already certified over 3,500 ZCEs.  Zend Certification sets the industry standard for PHP certifications, recognizing outstanding expertise and delivering a measure of distinction for PHP 5 and Zend Framework developers by utilizing exam topics specified by a neutral board of top PHP experts and community members worldwide.

”The high degree of interest for the conference matches the interest for PHP solutions we witness in the market and growing participation from major companies like Adobe, IBM and Microsoft,” said Harold Goldberg, Zend’s CEO.  “This year ZendCon will again be larger and more exciting than ever.  I’m proud that we are able to offer a PHP conference so rich in topics, covering the business and technology of PHP, from participants who are new to PHP, all the way to the world’s leading PHP experts.”

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 25,000 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 www.zend.com, or call 1-408-253-8800.

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Media Contact
Bradford Cottel
Zend Technologies
+1 408 253 8812
pr@zend.com

Zend To Collaborate With Adobe To Accelerate Rich Web Application Development Using PHP and Open Source Flex Framework

New Collaboration Combines the Flexibility, Reliability and Productivity of PHP Technology with the Powerful User Experience of Adobe Flex and Flash Technology

Zend/PHP Conference and Expo, SANTA CLARA, Calif. — September 16, 2008 — Zend Technologies today announced a collaboration with Adobe Systems Incorporated to bring together the flexibility, productivity and enterprise reliability of Zend’s PHP technologies with the user experience benefits of Adobe Flex. The two companies will deliver technologies, content and services to make it easy for enterprise developers to build rich Internet applications (RIAs) using Flex on the client and PHP on the server. These RIAs are easier to use, speed real-time decision-making and increase employee productivity.

A key deliverable of this collaboration is the integration of Action Message Format (AMF) support into Zend Framework. AMF is an open, binary, high-speed format enabling Adobe® Flash® Player and Flex-based client applications to easily and rapidly exchange rich media and other data with servers. Flex is a highly productive, free open source framework for building and maintaining expressive web applications that deploy consistently across all major browsers and operating systems using Adobe® Flash® Player and to the desktop via Adobe® AIR™. Zend Framework is an open source PHP application framework best known for its support for flexible, efficient creation of web applications. AMF support in Zend Framework delivers optimized communication between server-side Zend Framework components and client-side Adobe Flex components. Now PHP developers will be able to leverage the fast, reliable transfer of data between the server and client tiers of their web applications. More information about AMF support is available at http://framework.zend.com and http://developer.adobe.com/flex/

In addition, Zend and Adobe plan to optimize the experience for developers using their respective development environments. Zend Studio and Adobe® Flex® Builder™, both built on the open source Eclipse platform, provide robust coding, debugging, and testing tools for professional developers. Today, the two environments enable greater productivity, simplified deployment and end-to-end debugging of applications. Moving forward, Zend and Adobe plan to identify and implement cross-product integration points that optimize developer workflow and reduce development time.

“Since bringing Flex to market, we’ve seen strong uptake among PHP developers, and we’re pleased to be collaborating with Zend and the PHP community to deliver deeper integration and increased productivity,” said David Wadhwani, General Manager, Platform Business Unit at Adobe. “The collaboration with Zend furthers Adobe’s commitment to open technology initiatives. Together, we will enable developers using Flex and Zend Framework to rapidly deliver highly engaging applications to both the browser and the desktop.”

“Zend’s mission is to enable companies investing in PHP technology to deliver world-class experiences using internet-standard technologies,” said Andi Gutmans, chief technical officer and co-founder of Zend. “By working more closely with Adobe, we believe our customers will be more equipped to deliver the performance, reliability, and engaging user experience that will differentiate their products and services.”

Customers Improve Enterprise Applications With Open Source Flex, Zend Framework, and PHP

Automotive Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) provides solutions that manage data needs for automotive dealerships throughout the United States:

“By moving our dealer management system from a desktop application to a web based service, we are able to drastically cut the costs of real-time data integration, while expanding our feature set and ability to integrate third party providers,” said John Coggeshall, chief technical officer at ACS. “With this radical change to a more centralized web application for our customers, desktop-like user experience and responsiveness is a key factor for success. The AMF and Flex integration into Zend Framework enables us to more cost-effectively meet these requirements by dramatically reducing latency of service requests, giving our customers the highly responsive application they demand and the rich user experience we expect.”

Stream Energy delivers multiple energy commodities like electricity and natural gas to over 300,000 customers throughout Texas and Georgia and they are rapidly expanding into other states:

“Our need to engage and provide relevant real-time information to our customers continually accelerates in the fast-moving deregulated consumer energy markets. Our web-based customer portal provides customer account information on our services and drives revenue collections that now number over $1.2 Billion dollars over the four year life of these systems,” said Jason Forgey, Senior Director of Information Technology at Dallas-based Stream Energy. “We built our new system with PHP middleware and an API gateway using web services with an Adobe Flex/Flash front-end and an Oracle database back-end, all using Zend Solutions.  The time-to-market and performance of PHP is one reason we have chosen to build with a Zend Solution that includes Zend Platform application server to manage our applications and queue up asynchronous jobs when under load, Zend Core managed PHP environment, Zend Studio in conjunction with Adobe Flex Builder for our development environment, and a Zend Framework and Adobe Flex based application portal.”

Adobe and Zend will undertake multiple initiatives to deliver product interoperability and integration, and define best practices for customers. The two companies have created dedicated areas within their respective developer portals where they will deliver a series of articles, white papers, and online seminars educating developers on best practices for delivering enterprise-ready solutions using PHP, Zend Framework, and Zend Platform, together with Adobe Flex, Adobe Flash Player, and Adobe AIR. Future product integration plans and technical documentation will be made available there. For more information, please visit Zend Developer Zone at http://devzone.zend.com/tag/Flex and Adobe Developer Connection at http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/

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.  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 25,000 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.

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Media Contact:
Bradford Cottel
Zend Technologies
+1 408 253 8812
pr@zend.com