Zend adds code tracing to PHP Web app server

PHP development tools maker Zend Technologies announced on Wednesday general availability of its Zend Server 5.0 PHP Web application server, featuring Code Tracing technology intended to improve problem resolution times.

Zend had touted the Code Tracing capability when releasing a public beta version of the Zend Server 5.0 in October. Users gain visibility into code in production environments, with the ability to pinpoint the root cause of application issues, Zend said.

"With this new version we are delivering application monitoring and diagnostics as part of the base application server at no additional cost," said Andi Gutmans, Zend CEO, in a statement released by the company. "The new Code Tracing technology revolutionizes how businesses can reduce time spent on problem resolution. This and other enhancements will help businesses deliver reliable high-performance applications and maximize end-user satisfaction while reducing development and management time and costs."

Also featured in version 5.0 is PHP caching and acceleration, to improve application performance. Zend Server 5.0 provides a PHP application stack for Windows and Linux and is integrated with the Zend Studio PHP IDE and Zend Framework for PHP, Zend said.

The Job Queue capability in verison 5.0 increases application performance and responsiveness by allowing jobs, or PHP scripts, to be performed asynchronously at recurring intervals, thus offloading tasks from client-initiated requests to secondary processing.

Version 5.0 features support for PHP 5.2 and 5.3. Developers can take advantage of language features such as closures and namespaces. Zend Server 5.0 starts in price at $1,195 for an annual subscription featuring Web-based support scaling to $3,195 for a subscription featuring 24-hour, sevens-days-a-week support for mission-critical applications.