In a pointer from PHP Magazine today, there's an article from the IBM WebSphere DeveloperWorks journal seeking to help you Pair PHP with J2EE to implement a common Web application infrastructure.

The Apache, MySQL, and PHP (AMP) stack of technologies, and IBM middleware, such as IBM HTTP Server, DB2 Universal Database, and WebSphere Application Server, have traditionally been thought of as competing, mutually exclusive solutions to common Web application development challenges.

However, it is becoming more common for individual software offerings from each group to be mixed with products from the other suite to fill each Web application role. [...] We will look first at the roles which compose a three-tiered Web application, and then match common implementation models to the project's requirements. We will choose specific middleware based on these business needs, then install and configure the software to support it. Finally, you will install the provided sample application in this environment and then run it.

The application (a cat & human database management tool) looks at all sides of the web application equation - content management from the outside/inside as well as the presentation of that data from both the outside/inside. Their example does require that you install quite a bit of software to make the integration possible, but nothing that's not needed for the application. They step you through the install for it all (yes, all of it), and, with the help of the WebSphere Application Server, allow you to combine the power of both languages - J2EE and PHP - into this simple appilcation.