Companies seek to improve performance, reliability and stability of PHP on Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server “Longhorn.”

Microsoft Corp. and Zend Technologies Inc. today announced a technical collaboration to enhance the experience of running the PHP scripting language on Windows Server^® 2003. The parties expect to extend the collaboration to the next version of Windows Server, code-named “Longhorn.” The resulting technology enhancements and ongoing interaction with the PHP community is expected to enable customers to take advantage of the Windows Server platform. The cooperative effort seeks to provide customers with richer functionality and better integration, resulting in improved performance and increased reliability.

The technology engagement between the two companies will include the following:

•	Technical improvements for PHP deploying on the Windows Server platform will be submitted under the PHP license to the PHP community for feedback and contribution.
•	Microsoft plans to develop and release an Internet Information Services (IIS) add-on component, FastCGI, that will serve as the interface between PHP and the IIS Web server. Microsoft expects that this FastCGI component will be made freely available from Microsoft on http://www.iis.net for users of Microsoft® Windows® XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista™ and Windows Server “Longhorn.”
•	Zend will establish a Windows testing lab and conduct regular tests and performance improvements to maintain high performance of PHP on the Windows Server platform as PHP evolves.
•	Microsoft and Zend will work to help ensure a production-quality PHP runtime environment for IIS 5.1 (Windows XP), IIS 6.0 (Windows Server 2003) and IIS 7.0 (Windows Vista and Windows Server “Longhorn”).
•	Zend and Microsoft will actively participate in the PHP community, ensuring open discussion to help developers planning to deploy PHP applications on the Windows Server platform.

“Interoperability continues to be an important requirement for our customers, particularly when it comes to open source applications that run on Windows. This announcement today continues our commitment to making it easier for partners and developers — regardless of the development model they employ — to take advantage of increased reliability of the Microsoft Windows Server platform,” said Bill Hilf, general manager of Technical Platform Strategy at Microsoft. “Zend is a clear leader in the PHP community, and we are excited to be working with it on this joint collaboration effort designed to provide developers using PHP with the best possible experience within a Microsoft environment.”

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