Spotlight: Oracle Wins 5-Year Census Bureau Contract

Oracle Corp., the largest maker of database software, said the Census Bureau will use its programs to gather and distribute information on the U.S. population, including the 2000 census. The programs will carry out surveying as well as financial and administrative functions. Terms of the five-year contract weren’t disclosed. Oracle’s database sales have picked up this year after a slump, rising a better-than-expected 13% in its fiscal fourth quarter, helped by a Federal Aviation Administration contract.