Much-awaited Holyoke computing center now open

HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) - State and local officials celebrated the opening of Holyoke’s Green High Performance Computing Center Friday afternoon; a $170 million project that is the first of it's kind in the country.

The unique data center allows researchers at five of the state's most research-intensive universities to work together in solving some of science and society's biggest issues. Because of the high capacity of its broadband network, it's as if the computer is in the offices or campuses where these professors are working at Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern and UMass.

The reason why these universities chose to invest so much money 90 miles west of their campuses (with the exception of nearby UMass, of course) is because they're saving millions of dollars annually, just on energy costs.

“The Availability of Broadband, Internet fiber, hydro power, second highest solar capacity outside of Boston; those attributes make us a green community, and also cost effective for businesses to invest money here,” Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse said.

The Mayor told 22News that this project is a huge economic driver for the city, because it's going to show other companies and investors that Holyoke can handle a project of this magnitude. He said it will also show them that Holyoke's “green” features could save them big money.