On a block-long industrial site, once home to an air bag maker and water filter manufacturer, an advanced computing center is taking shape. When the facility begins operating in November, thousands of networked computers will allow researchers to crunch vast amounts of data to sequence genes, model the ocean, or study the effects of new drugs on patients.
The $95 million center is a joint venture of MIT, Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston University, and Northeastern University, as well as the technology giants EMC Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc. Its site in downtown Holyoke, bracketed by canals that helped to power mills, was selected in 2009. Construction started in the summer 2011.