White House wants Apple, Google to upgrade federal agencies

To help the US federal agencies upgrade its digital infrastructure and embrace cloud computing, the White House has asked Apple, Amazon, Oracle and Qualcomm to offer their digital expertise.

According to a report in ReCode on Thursday, top advisers to the president, including Jared Kushner, announced on a private call with major tech companies that the White House would form small "centres of excellences," to get federal agencies embrace cloud computing.

The White House intends to make more of their data available for private-sector use to boost the transparency.

The 'centres of excellence' is believed to include engineers from tech companies, who would serve 'tours of duty' in cooperation with Kushner's Office of American Innovation.

Apart from tech upgradation at the White House, the tech majors were told by Trump's top tech aide Reed Cordish that the White House would continue its efforts to boost computer science education.

When Trump hosted the top tech honchos of Silicon Valley in June, Apple CEO Tim Cook raised the issue of computer science with the US President and floated coding education as a requirement in schools.

According to the report, the administration is investigating ways to expand the president's executive order regarding apprenticeship programmes.

--IANS

qd/na/vm