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Census says switching software for U.S. population count – Source Reuters Tech News

(Reuters) – The U.S. Census Bureau confirmed on Thursday it is shelving the online response software it bought from Pegasystems Inc (PEGA.O) for this year’s population count in favor of an in-house alternative the bureau believes can handle more traffic.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Census pamphlets and paperwork are pictured in this photo illustration in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., July 15, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

The switch, which comes just weeks before the decennial survey goes live, has reignited concerns among IT experts about both the cost and security of what is intended to be America’s first online census.

The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog, said in a report on Wednesday that Census made the decision after discovering an issue with the Pega platform’s ability to scale to its target 600,000 users. 

It said the last-minute change creates new challenges and that the backup system, called Primus, “was not used…

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Source Reuters Tech News

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