Release Details

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading owner and manager of corporate datacenters and Internet gateways, is reporting new research data that evaluates the future of green datacenter trends. The findings are from a recently completed survey of senior decisionmakers at North America's leading corporations who are directly responsible for strategy, planning and technology evaluation for datacenter operations.

"Our goal for this survey was to determine whether the greening of the datacenter is a passing fad or represents the emergence of a deeper trend in technology that will permeate the industry for years to come. To our knowledge, this is one of the first in-depth assessments of how deep-rooted these green initiatives are, and the findings provide compelling evidence that green initiatives will play a significant, long-term role in datacenter planning and design," said Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President of Digital Realty Trust. "At Digital Realty Trust, we are committed to developing practical standards that improve operational and capital efficiency with green techniques, design and operating philosophies -- an approach that is good for the bottom line and for the environment. This survey is part of our effort to raise awareness of these issues and provide actionable information that help companies optimize their datacenter operations."

Key findings from the research study are provided below and will be discussed in further detail in a forthcoming white paper and Webinar hosted by Digital Realty Trust:

     -- Despite the very recent emergence of green initiatives in the
        datacenter industry, 55 percent of companies polled have already
        established a detailed green datacenter strategy. This indicates that
        green initiatives are viewed as a key long-term factor in datacenter
        planning and operations.

     -- More than 80 percent of companies polled confirmed that their green
        datacenter strategies encompass not only computers and servers --
        which have been the primary focus of most coverage of green IT trends
         -- but also facility design and operations. This indicates that
        companies are taking a comprehensive approach to green datacenter
        initiatives that will maximize their energy efficiency gains.

     -- More than 60 percent of companies polled project that having a green
        datacenter strategy will become an important factor in their vendor
        selections over the next 24 months. This indicates that IT vendors and
        datacenter partners will need to adopt green strategies as rigorous as
        the corporate customers they serve in order to remain competitive in
        the marketplace. This is another indication that green datacenter
        trends will broaden rather than diminish over time.

     -- Nearly three quarters of companies polled (73 percent) said that there
        is no clear industry standard for what meets the criteria of being a
        truly "green datacenter." In the absence of a universal standard for
        green datacenters, the fact that the majority of companies have
        created their own individual, corporate green datacenter plan
        indicates that companies are filling that standards void themselves
        with self-defined green initiatives rather than waiting for
        industry-wide standards to be fully defined.

"These data points indicate that green, energy-efficient datacenter trends have been adopted more quickly and more deeply than previously believed. Even for people who have been tracking green IT trends closely, many of these metrics will be surprising," said Jim Smith, Vice President of Engineering for Digital Realty Trust. "Another key finding of the survey is the strong feedback from participants that the industry lacks codified operational standards for green datacenters. This is clearly an area where more work needs to be done, and will be a key factor in enabling companies to extend their green initiatives and establish green standards for their technology vendors and datacenter partners."

Smith added: "Although a single codified standard does not yet exist, we believe that participation in The Green Grid and in LEED certification are key best practices for implementing a green datacenter strategy. We actively participate in The Green Grid and follow LEED protocols, and they provide valuable operational guidelines for planning, designing and operating corporate datacenters that are energy efficient."

Digital Realty Trust will host a Webinar on Monday, September 10, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. EDT/ 10:00 a.m. PDT that will analyze the results of this survey in greater detail. Entitled, "Answering the Question: How Green is Green?," the Webinar will be conducted by Jim Smith, who oversees Digital Realty Trust's green initiatives in his role managing engineering for the company's 60+ datacenter facilities. Mr. Smith will provide further analysis of the results of this survey, discuss the near-term and long-term impact of green trends on datacenter decisions, and outline a number of best practices to increase the energy efficiency of datacenters.

Mr. Smith is a veteran of the data communications industry and is a widely respected expert in green/energy-efficient datacenter issues. Mr. Smith oversees Digital Realty Trust's engineering operations and its green datacenter initiatives. Prior to joining Digital Realty Trust, Mr. Smith was the Chief Technology Officer of Colo.com. He was also a datacenter consultant providing technical and feasibility assessments for corporate clients evaluating datacenter acquisitions in North America and Europe.

For more information about the Webinar and to register as a participant, visit http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com/webinar_registration.asp. Digital Realty Trust also plans to publish a white paper that analyzes the survey findings in detail. Information about obtaining a copy of that paper will be available at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.

About the Methodology

Metrics reported in this study are based on Web-based surveys of IT decisionmakers at large corporations in North America with revenues of at least $1 billion and/or a size of at least 5000+ employees. All survey participants are involved in the process of managing corporate datacenters, implementing new datacenters or expanding existing datacenters, and all participants are senior level management within their companies. More than 80 percent of survey participants are directly responsible for the final recommendations or the final decision regarding all datacenter initiatives, indicating that survey responses come from the most authoritative datacenter decisionmakers within many of North America's leading corporations. The survey was conducted in August 2007 and the sample size was more than 100 participants at companies that met the research criteria.

About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owns, acquires, repositions and manages technology-related real estate. The Company is focused on providing Turn-Key Datacenter(TM) and Powered Base Building(TM) datacenter solutions for domestic and international tenants across a variety of industry verticals ranging from information technology and internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust's 65 properties, excluding one property held as an investment in an unconsolidated joint venture, contain applications and operations critical to the day-to-day operations of technology industry tenants and corporate enterprise datacenter tenants. Comprising approximately 11.8 million rentable square feet, including 1.7 million square feet of space held for redevelopment, Digital Realty Trust's portfolio is located in 26 markets throughout North America and Europe. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust's website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. Such forward looking statements include statements related to future environmental ("green") developments in the data center industry. These risks and uncertainties include adverse economic or real estate developments in the Company's markets or the technology industry; general economic conditions; defaults on or non-renewal of leases by tenants; increased interest rates and operating costs; inability to manage domestic and international growth effectively; failure to obtain necessary outside financing; decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and completing acquisitions at acceptable return levels; failure to successfully operate acquired properties and operations; failure of acquired properties to perform as expected; failure to successfully redevelop properties acquired for such purposes or unexpected costs related thereto; failure to maintain the Company's status as a REIT; environmental uncertainties and risks related to natural disasters; financial market fluctuations; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks of operating in foreign markets; and changes in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax rates. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    For Additional Information:
    A. William Stein                     Pamela A. Matthews
    Chief Financial Officer and          Investor/Analyst Information
    Chief Investment Officer             Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
    Digital Realty Trust, Inc.           (415) 738-6500
    (415) 738-6500

    Chris Crosby
    Sales & Technical Operations
    Digital Realty Trust, Inc.
    (214) 231-1350

SOURCE Digital Realty Trust, Inc.