Zend (company)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Andi Gutmans, Zeev Suraski |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Andi Gutmans (co-founder, former CEO), Doron Gerstel (former CEO), Mark Burton (executive chairman) |
| Products | Zend Studio, Zend Server, Zend Guard, PHP Certification Test |
| Parent | Perforce (since 2019) |
| Website | www |
Zend, previously known as Zend Technologies, is a software firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing on solutions such as Zend Studio that facilitate the development, deployment, and administration of web applications based on PHP.
The company was founded in 1999 by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski. In 2019, Zend became part of Perforce when the latter acquired Zend’s parent company, Rogue Wave Software.
History
Zend Technologies was created by Gutmans and Suraski, graduates of the Israeli Technion, who significantly contributed to advancing PHP following its original creation by Rasmus Lerdorf. The company's name is a fusion of their first names: Zeev and Andi.
In 1997, they redesigned the parser for PHP-FI, resulting in PHP 3, and in 1998 they developed the Zend Engine, which became the foundation for PHP 4. Zend Technologies officially launched in 1999 with investments from Israeli venture capital firms Platinum Neurone Ventures and Walden Israel. Doron Gerstel was appointed as CEO to guide the company.
In August 2006, Zend raised $20 million in a Series D financing round. By February 2009, co-founder Andi Gutmans took over as CEO after previously serving as vice president of research and development. Around this period, Mark Burton, formerly EVP of global sales at MySQL, joined Zend as executive chairman.
In October 2015, Louisville-based software company Rogue Wave Software acquired Zend. Following this transition, co-founder Gutmans left the company in February 2016.
Perforce, a Minneapolis-based application software firm, purchased Rogue Wave Software in January 2019. Afterward, Perforce separated the Zend Framework into an independent project under the Linux Foundation, renaming it Laminas.
Products
Zend’s product lineup supports PHP developers throughout the application lifecycle and includes Zend Server, Zend Studio, Zend Guard, and PHP certification exams.
Zend Server
Zend Server is a web application server designed to run and manage PHP applications. It offers integrated features such as monitoring, diagnostics, caching, performance optimization, and a web-based administrative console. The product provides native installers for various operating systems (RPM/DEB/MSI) bundled with a validated PHP distribution, Zend Framework integration, connectivity to popular databases and Java environments, along with a scalable PHP-integrated download server available on Linux only.
Included with Zend Server is Z-Ray, a tool aimed at enhancing PHP debugging and developer productivity.
A Community Edition is available supporting Linux, Windows, iSeries i5/OS, and Mac OS X platforms with optional paid upgrades.
Zend Studio
Zend Studio is a proprietary commercial integrated development environment (IDE) tailored specifically for developing PHP applications.
Zend Guard
Zend Guard provided protection for PHP 4 and 5 source code against unauthorized use. Its development ceased in 2016 and it does not support PHP 7.
Zend Certification Test
Zend administers a PHP Certification Test that awards successful candidates the title of Zend Certified PHP Engineers (ZCE), maintaining a directory of certified professionals.
Sponsored projects
Zend Technologies supports initiatives aimed at assisting PHP developers.
Zend Engine
The Zend Engine, developed by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski and introduced with PHP4, continues to serve as the core component of PHP. Zend sponsors contributors involved in its ongoing evolution alongside the wider PHP community.
Laminas
Laminas, previously known as Zend Framework, is a PHP5-based, open-source, object-oriented framework designed for web application development and distributed under the BSD license. In April 2019, it was transitioned to the Linux Foundation. Alongside this, Apigility—Zend's tool for streamlining API development and management—was also transferred and rebranded as Laminas API Tools.