{"id":17771,"date":"2023-06-27T14:15:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T12:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.data4group.com\/?p=17771"},"modified":"2026-02-10T14:44:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T13:44:47","slug":"the-marcoussis-campus-a-place-steeped-in-history-and-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.data4group.com\/en\/news-data4\/the-marcoussis-campus-a-place-steeped-in-history-and-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Marcoussis Campus: a place steeped in history and innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Data4 group’s historic site, innovation is part of the very DNA of the Marcoussis Campus, based on a strong tradition dating back to the 1950s, notably with the arrival of Compagnie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Electrique (CGE) on the site. The town is also said to be the birthplace of a famous heroine from Charles Perrault’s fairy tales: Little Red Riding Hood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the 1950s, the mayor of Marcoussis, Lucien Mass\u00e9nat-Desroche, decided to sell a vast plot of farmland to CGE, the Compagnie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Electrique. The arrival of this major industrial and technological company radically transformed the town, which had been exclusively agricultural until then. Over the years, the CGE site would become Alcatel, then Alcatel-Lucent, then Nokia. The site was subsequently bought by Colony Capital, which built data centres on the site. Since 2006, it has been managed by the Data4 group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several patents filed in the field of telecommunications<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the 1950s, when CGE first took over this agricultural site, a team of masons and engineers from the town of Ch\u00e2teauroux in the Indre region was called in to construct the buildings. This industrial transformation led to sociological changes in the area, as workers settled in Marcoussis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the construction of the Compagnie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Electrique facility, the village of Marcoussis underwent a gradual transformation and opened up to new industries: construction and technology, with the CGE R&D centre (partnerships with the CNRS and the CEA). Cilas, the Compagnie Internationale du Laser, a subsidiary of CGE, was also established on this site, leading to the development of many new technology processes in the field of lasers and a large number of patents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcoussis was also home to France’s first 100% self-sufficient house in terms of energy, powered by solar panels and a wind turbine. By the late 60s and early 70s, the Marcoussis site had already established itself as a benchmark for innovation at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The site was home to<\/em> many inventions in the telecommunications sector. Several patents were registered in the fields of superconductors, lasers, sustainable housing and under-water cables, notably through Alcatel, along with various other technological innovations that paved the way for the advent of the digital technologies we know today<\/em>“, explains Olivier Thomas, who was born Marcoussis and became the town’s mayor in 2002 (having been a councillor since 1989).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Data4 took over the site in 2006, it perpetuated its tradition of innovation. It was here that this European group \u2013 which now has operations in Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany and Greece\u2013 carried out its tests and developed a patent for its ceiling-mounted air-conditioning system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little Red Riding Hood, a child of Marcoussis <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

However, the site on which Data4’s data centers now stand is also steeped in history. Fascinated by the key events that have shaped his town, Olivier Thomas explains that, while going through the town hall archives, he found the Royal Decree giving the order to hunt down the wolf responsible for a series of attacks that had taken place in Le D\u00e9luge woods in Marcoussis<\/a> between November 1692 and March 1693. Several people had been killed in the attacks, including a 6-year-old shepherdess, called Simone Gu\u00e9rin. The villagers were deeply shocked by this terrible tragedy, but had not managed to find and kill the animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The story is said to have reached the ears of the Royal Court in Versailles, located some twenty kilometres away, and a hunt was ordered by the Intendant of Paris. “Charles<\/em> Perrault, who was a member of the Royal Court, apparently heard about the story and used it as inspiration for one of his tales<\/em>,” adds Olivier Thomas. So, if one day you take a stroll through the town of Marcoussis, you might just come across the All\u00e9e Simone Gu\u00e9rin, aka Little Red Riding Hood!\r\n\r\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Data4 group’s historic site, innovation is part of the very DNA of the Marcoussis Campus, based on a strong tradition dating back to the 1950s, notably with the arrival of Compagnie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Electrique (CGE) on the site. The town is also said to be the birthplace of a famous heroine from Charles Perrault’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":17779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-data4"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Marcoussis Campus: a place steeped in history and innovation - DATA4<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.data4group.com\/en\/news-data4\/the-marcoussis-campus-a-place-steeped-in-history-and-innovation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Marcoussis Campus: a place steeped in history and innovation - DATA4\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the Data4 group’s historic site, innovation is part of the very DNA of the Marcoussis Campus, based on a strong tradition dating back to the 1950s, notably with the arrival of Compagnie G\u00e9n\u00e9rale Electrique (CGE) on the site. 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