Holyoke chosen for data center project!

[James Chevalier]

I found this article at Boston.com talking about how Holyoke has been chosen for a pretty massive data center project!

John Aubin's Holyoke 2020 plan should get a hefty boost from this...

I'm so excited I'm shaking a little bit ... or maybe that's the morning coffee I just had too much of...

[James Chevalier]

There's an article in BusinessWest about this, as well as another article at xconomy

[James Chevalier]

You can read Kevin Jourdain's thoughts on this on his blog.

[Mike McCarthy]

One of the best threads on this board in a long time. Thanks for the links.

Mike

[James Chevalier]

Deval Patrick just put out this article on the high-performance computing center, as well.

[Rebecca]

Please Join
Governor Deval Patrick
M.I.T President Dr. Susan Hockfield
UMass President Dr. Jack M. Wilson
Holyoke Mayor Michael Sullivan
And representatives from EMC and Cisco Systems
For a major innovation and economic development announcement
When: Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: Holyoke Public Library
335 Maple Street
Holyoke, MA 01040
For more information contact Kofi Jones at [phone] of [e-mail]

[James Chevalier]

Here's another article, stating that Cisco is participating in the project “not just for the center, but for the opportunity to build a district that could attract high tech by a combination of green and cost-competitive energy” as Paul Bosco, general manager and site executive for Cisco’s New England Development Center in Boxborough tells it.

[James Chevalier]

It just got EVEN BETTER
Governor Deval Patrick just announced MassChallenge, a competition to catalyze innovation & high-value job creation in MA!

The Problem and Opportunity

Fueled by the innovation engine in Massachusetts, the American entrepreneurial ecosystem is the most creative and resilient in the world. But the current economic crisis has placed our entrepreneurs and innovators in peril by eliminating funding sources and discouraging risk taking. Times of crisis are notoriously prolific periods of innovation – this is the perfect time to catalyze the enlightened, high-growth firms and industries of the future.

The Solution

We propose using a combination of public and private funds to catalyze growth and jobs by launching a $25M dollar Venture Funds Competition in Massachusetts across 6 tracks:

* Healthcare, and Life Sciences
* IT, Software, and Gaming
* Clean Technology and Energy
* Social Development and Non-profit
* Open Category, Seed Stage
* Open Category, Expansion Stage

A Venture Funds Competition combines the collaborative, educational and catalytic impact of a business plan competition with the business and job creation of a seed fund.

This is an efficient and effective form of stimulus and is an ideal means for Massachusetts to harness and showcase the expertise of our universities, VCs, lawyers, entrepreneurs and businesses – after all, we've been providing revolutionary ideas since 1776.

[Andrew Mc]

This is literally the best news I have ever heard about the redevelopment of Holyoke. The fact that it will be downtown is key. Revitalizing the city at it's core with a true growth engine. Spectacular! I was thrilled to see the news this morning and have been emailing my friends and family about the implications for our city all day.

With the artist population, Open Square, Canal Walk and commuter train service downtown Holyoke is coming back! And taking the rest of the city along.

This will add to my tours given to out of town guest and relatives’ regarding Downtown’s past and future.

[bugink]

speaking of coffee...if the data center does come to Holyoke just think of how the coffee offerings will improve!
( I just hope Starbucks doesn't follow them to town). Perhaps Holyoke will finally get it's own coffee roaster!

[daphne board]

Elizur, I doubt that your doctor would advise drinking coffee at such an advanced age.

Yay for the Yoke--good to see the rumors have some foundations!