Zend PHP Framework 1.0 for Web development

Zend 1.0 is an application framework for building high-quality Web applications and Web services with PHP.

Zend is offering its open-source framework for free but sells ancillary support services.

Zend Technologies will offer the 1.0 version of its framework for PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) Web application development, which in pre-release forms has attracted more than 1 million downloads.

Zend Framework 1.0 will not be the only PHP development framework around as it will share the scene with frameworks like Cake and Prado. But Zend's is the first framework with support from a corporate entity and relevant contributions from companies like IBM and Google.

An upcoming version of Zend Framework will add support for Microsoft's CardSpace identity management technology. Microsoft, a Zend partner, is enabling SQL Server to work with the framework.