A datacentre in a church: Welcome to the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre

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MareNostrum: Why build a datacentre in a church?

Source:  Caroline Donnelly

But why, when the team behind BSC were looking for a suitable site for their super computer, did they opt for a chapel and not a purpose built facility? BSC operations director, Sergio Girona Turell, has the answer.

“Just imagine you have the mandate from your government that you need to fit this machine, and you have to install [it in] the facility in four months,” he said.

“You asks for the specs, which suggests it needs to be about 160-180 square metres, and the specs are for a system that has never been built [before].”

The desired facility would have to have high ceilings, and need an open floor plan, and – given the time constraints – would need to be readily available too, he continued.

“So that is the reason we are in the chapel. It was the best place to have the computer in this place in time,” he added.

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