--- 
canonical: 'https://mwop.net/blog/2018-10-17-long-live-zf.html'
title: 'The Future of Zend Framework'
author: "[Matthew Weier O'Phinney](https://mwop.net)"
created: '2018-10-17T11:30:00-05:00'
updated: '2018-10-18T13:20:00-05:00'
tags:
  - php
  - programming
  - zend-framework

---
For the past thirteen years, I've been either consuming [Zend Framework](https://framework.zend.com)
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](https://apigility.org) to the ZF ecosystem, and helped bring
middleware paradigms to the mainstream by assisting with the creation of
Stratigility and coordination of the [Expressive](https://getexpressive.org)
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](https://www.roguewave.com), 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](https://www.zimuel.it) will be leaving the company
and looking for new opportunities in the not-too-distant future, along with
[Zeev Suraski](https://zsuraski.blogspot.com) 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](mailto:matthew@weierophinney.net) with questions or
queries.