Zend launches a simple cloud API

PHP SPECIALIST Zend Technologies has launched an API for using cloud-based applications services without a lot of the associated hassles.

It's not all about Zend though. Contributors to the project besides Zend itself include IBM, Microsoft, Nirvanix, Rackspace and GoGrid, a range of firms that is supposed to provide easy access to a wide array of major platforms and cloud applications and leave room for more to come.

Launched today, the Simple API for Cloud Application Services project is pitched at developers who want to use common application services in the cloud through their usual interfaces. The support of the firms engaged means that developers can unlock 'value added features' from all the players.

At launch the available features or services include file storage, including Windows Azure tables and Amazon SimpleDB and document database interfaces, and queue services from platforms including Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure, Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network and Rackspace Cloud Files. Having them already at developers' disposal should save coding time and avoid interoperability issues, according to the firm.

"Cloud computing offers irresistible value to enterprises of all sizes, but the lack of portability across cloud application services for even the most basic operations has been an impediment to broader adoption of cloud services," said Andi Gutmans, CEO of Zend Technologies. µ