Yes , yes ... Oracle and Zend technologies decided to jump into a partnership that in itself made myself smile. On a recent newsletter Oracle announced the Zend Core, which is basically going to be a module or side application for oracle that will make the life of php developers way easier. I truly can tell you that 2 years ago when i decided to follow the php trend I had no idea php was going to be so successful and strong as it is today.
This fact combined with my personal decision to go for an OCP certification (Oracle Certified Profesional) as a DBA and Developer really demands the creation of the new Oracle Corner on my site. I will make sure i keep it updated since Im almost sure the new Oracle/PHP combination can easily become my new technical passion at any moment (i feel it in my gut).


Welcome Zend Core!

Im copying the full article directly from oracle.com:  
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/php/htdocs/oracle_zend_faq.html

What are we announcing?

Oracle and Zend Technologies have entered into a partnership to develop an integrated solution designed to help developers build and deploy database-driven Web applications based on the popular PHP scripting language. We will make available Zend Core for Oracle, which is a fully tested and supported PHP 5 distribution that will include integration with Oracle Database 10g client libraries and will enable developers to get up and running in minutes with PHP and Oracle.

Oracle is also announcing a PHP Developer Center on Oracle Technology Network dedicated to PHP development with Oracle.

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What is Zend Core for Oracle?

Zend Core for Oracle is a pre-built stack for PHP developers that will make it easier for them to develop and deploy applications on a robust, scalable and reliable infrastructure. The product includes tight integration with Oracle Database client libraries, and native support for XML and Web services, while also supporting increased adoption of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). It delivers a rapid development and deployment foundation for database-driven applications.

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What is PHP?

PHP is one of the most popular open-source Web languages in the world, currently accounting for more than 40 percent of the overall Web applications market; as of this date more than 19 million Web sites have been built using PHP. It has demonstrated phenomenal growth over the last four years and we expect that growth to continue.

PHP has proven it is robust, easy to use, and scalable for business-critical dynamic Web applications. For example, Lufthansa uses PHP for its e-ticketing system, Electronic Arts uses PHP for Sim City Online, Boeing uses it for a payload measurement system, and Orange uses it for its WAP portal.

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How will Zend Core for Oracle be distributed?

Zend Core for Oracle will be available as a free download via Oracle Technology Network. Support and updates for Zend Core for Oracle will be made available directly from Zend Technologies. This offering will be compatible with existing products such as Zend Platform and Zend Studio.

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How will I get support for Oracle and Zend Core for Oracle?

Zend will provide commercial support and services for Zend Core for Oracle. The offering will be consistent with other open source offerings in the market with the design goal to meet the needs of enterprise-class customers. Final details will be available at product launch. Database support will be offered by Oracle.

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When will Zend Core for Oracle be available?

Zend Core for Oracle will be available in the third quarter of 2005.

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Why should PHP developers choose Oracle?

Because Oracle is the number one choice of customers. Oracle Database, combined with Oracle Application Server and Oracle JDeveloper, offer the industry's most complete and robust infrastructure for development and deployment. As customers build more and more business critical applications with PHP, Oracle-based infrastructure offers important features and benefits such as

* Interoperability with existing applications
* High availability
* Security
* Scalability
* Performance
* Manageability
* Support for large volumes of data
* Support for data warehousing and data mining
* Support for XML data management via Oracle XML DB

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How does Oracle enable interoperability between PHP and Java?

Oracle JDeveloper is Oracle's unified developer platform. Conceptually, Zend Core for Oracle sits below JDeveloper. A JDeveloper PHP extension is already available for Oracle JDeveloper; it runs with the current discretely built PHP stack and will also work with Zend Core for Oracle. The JDeveloper PHP extension allows for interoperability between PHP and other popular technologies such as Java.
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How does the collaboration between Oracle and Zend benefit the open source community?

This collaboration reinforces Oracle's commitment to the open source PHP community. Oracle's newly introduced and optimized OCI-8 extension for PHP will be submitted back to the PHP community and integrated into Zend Core for Oracle.

This collaboration expands Oracle's investment in open source by helping developers more effectively create and deploy database-driven applications.
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Are Oracle and Zend collaborating on other projects?

Oracle and Zend are jointly working on furthering PHP technology directions to include strengthening high-level database integration frameworks and enhancing PHP Web services standards.

Why Zend?

Zend is the PHP company. Zend's co-founders, Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski, are the architects of PHP. Since 1997, when they brought PHP 3.0 to the world, they have been deeply involved with every release of PHP. Zend is responsible for creating and maintaining the Zend Engine, the heart of PHP and the critical element of each PHP distribution.
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Who is Zend?

Doron Gerstel, Andi Gutmans, and Zeev Suraski founded Zend in 1999. Zend supports PHP by writing and maintaining the Zend Engine and other PHP extensions such as the SOAP extension. All this work is open source and donated back to the PHP community. Zend also has a commercial mission to bring products and services to the market to help customers develop, deploy, and manage PHP applications. Zend's solution supports the lifecycle of business-critical PHP applications.

Zend is a privately held, venture-backed company. It recently announced strategic investments by Intel Capital and SAP Ventures.
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