What’s Next for Zend Engine? A Look at Its History and Recent Leadership Changes

Zend Engine is an open-source script engine known as the core of the PHP language. In 1999, PHP’s main contributors Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski developed the Zend Engine and founded Zend Technologies, later releasing products such as Zend Studio, Zend Framework and Zend Optimizer, earning the reputation of “PHP promoter”.

In 2015 Zend Technologies was acquired by Rogue Wave Software, and in 2016 Andi Gutmans left Rogue Wave to join AWS.

On 17 October 2018 Zeev Suraski wrote on his personal blog expressing gratitude to Rogue Wave for supporting the Zend Engine development over the past three years. Rogue Wave then announced a strategic shift to focus on the Zend Server product line, prompting Zeev and his team—including Dmitry Stogov, Matthew Weier O'Phinney and Enrico Zimuel—to leave the company and seek new opportunities.

The team also leads development of components such as Zend Framework, Apigility and Zend Expressive, all belonging to Rogue Wave. Their departure raised concerns among many PHP developers and enthusiasts about the future of PHP. Zeev replied on Twitter that they are exploring other ways to continue contributing to the Zend Engine and PHP 8.

Rogue Wave still retains many PHP experts, and a recent Zend Con conference was held three days ago.

There is anticipation that Zeev Suraski’s team will bring more valuable features to PHP.