Over the past 18 months, IBM and the ABS have developed the Web-based application in HTML and Javascript with a Java backend.

eCensus uses a WebSphere application server and is hosted on the AIX operating system by IBM in Sydney.

The "minimum system requirements" to use eCensus are IE 5.01, Netscape 7.0.2, or Firefox 1.0.

The eCensus and paper Census are then brought together and merged into one stream and processed at the ABS data processing center in Melbourne, Australia and integration is already underway.

Clark said it made sense for the ABS to outsource the project to IBM because of its "one-off" nature and the expected "high spike" in use on August 8.