PHP Magazine has this new post today with a pointer to this iSeries article (registration req.) about IBM wanting to include a PHP installation on every eServer platforms by the end of the year.

IBM is working on a deal that could make Web developers' lives so much easier, it would put TV dinners to shame. Big Blue wants to distribute Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP), a Web development scripting language, with all of its eServer platforms by the end of the year. It just has to pen a deal with Zend, the distributor of PHP, before it can do that. Such a deal would provide developers with support, save them from having to download the open-source language, and could open doors to hundreds of applications based on PHP that aren't available on the iSeries.

"Customers have been asking for a simple-to-program, simple-to-deploy, get-to-the-Web-quick environment," says Jim Herring, director of product management and business operations for the iSeries. "Lots of companies are hiring programmers out of college, and programmers out of college know PHP, so it's a natural strategy." Read more (requires registration)

It's wonderful to see a company as large as IBM really getting behind PHP like this. Half of the problem with PHP not being as popular as other language is that it's just not out there in front of people as much - hopefully, more arrangements like this will help that situation immensely.