The Holyoke's High Performance Computing Center is already backed by the University Consortium, a collection of Bay State universities, which have agreed to commit $45 million to the project. The consortium is comprised of Boston University, MIT, the University of Massachusetts and recently joined by Northeastern University.

The initiative is joined by development partners EMC and Cisco, along with, of course, the City of Holyoke. UMass president Jack M. Wilson says in a statement, "We believe this strategic investment will provide real benefits to our research universities in their role as economic engines for the state, the City of Holyoke and the Commonwealth [of Massachusetts] as a whole."

The City of Holyoke boasts a low cost of energy, much provided by hydro-power, city also has a high capacity of fiber optics, making it an ideal source for a sustainable data center. The governor's office believes that this initiative will support job growth in the state and lead to future economic development. Kofi Jones from the office of Housing and Economic Development tells GlobeSt.com, "The data center] takes us to the next level of high performance computing. It's a real game-changer for western Massachusetts."

The two districts named for consideration are the Mastex and Open Square. After request for proposals are in for for design and engineering services, which are due in May 2010, the exact location for the data center will be selected.