Long awaited computer center breaks ground

Date: 10/13/2010

Oct. 13, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

HOLYOKE -- So what will the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center actually look like and what will happen there?

Those were two of the questions asked at what was described as a "town meeting" conducted on Oct. 5 at the city's new intermodal and educational center.

State and city officials joined members of the educational and business community, as well as members of the general public for the event, which featured a brief appearance by Gov. Deval Patrick.

Ground was broken earlier that day at the location of the former Mastex textile plant for the construction of the center and Patrick said it will "serve as a magnet on a whole host of levels."

Executive Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialeki said, "It should be the catalyst for other things going on."

Those other "things" include the "Connected Cities" project Cisco Systems will announce on Oct. 14, Kathy Anderson, the director planning and economic development, told the audience. Other projects the city is undertaking at this time include planning for the location of a new train station. Amtrak's Vermonter is being re-routed through the city and a pedestrian walkway to connect the intermodal center to the site of the train station is also planned.

She said the city's master plan "is coming to fruition" with the projects such as the Hope Six housing area a success and the first phase of the canal walk completed.

It was also announced the state would grant $10,000 to funda series of events to show what is happening in the city with start-up companies as well as present the city's potential to prospective entrepreneurs in conjunction with Holyoke business owners Web site designer Brendan Ciecko and John Aubin of Open Square.

When asked what the center would look like, John Goodhue, the interim executive director of the new center, said, at this point, he didn't know. The architects who will design the building have yet to be hired and they will plan the building from "the inside out." Goodhue explained the look of the building must serve the arrangement of the facility's computer resources.

The exterior appearance will be "the last thing," he added.

Although earlier estimates of the cost for the center have been reported at $100 million the figure now being used in published reports is $168 million. Bialeki said the construction should take two years to complete.

Goodhue said what will happen at the center is complex but essentially the computers there will be powerful and fast enough to create simulations and models on a wide range of scientific questions and issues.

The partners in the center The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Massachusetts, Boston University, EMC and Cisco Systems will be conducting research there.

Goodhue said, "In 30 years of working in high tech, this is one of the most exciting things I've been part of."