For the past thirteen years, I've been either consuming Zend Framework or directly contributing to it. Since 2009, I've operated as project lead, and, since then, shepherded the version 2 and 3 releases, added Apigility to the ZF ecosystem, and helped bring middleware paradigms to the mainstream by assisting with the creation of Stratigility and coordination of the Expressive project. As I write this, the various ZF packages have been downloaded over 300 MILLION times, with 200 million of those being in the past 18 months!
In the last three years, I have performed this work under the umbrella of Rogue Wave Software, who acquired Zend in 2015. However, Rogue Wave has recently made a strategic decision to focus its efforts on the Zend Server product of the Zend portfolio. Consequently, this means both myself and Enrico Zimuel will be leaving the company and looking for new opportunities in the not-too-distant future, along with Zeev Suraski and Dmitry Stogov.
We all care deeply about the Zend Framework ecosystem, and we are evaluating options to ensure its continuation and longevity. These include either finding a new corporate sponsor for the project, or forming a foundation. This is where YOU come in: if you work for a company that would be interested in supporting such efforts, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to reach out to me at matthew@weierophinney.net with questions or queries.