Datacenter research study indicates wave of datacenter expansions in the next 12 months.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc., the owner and manager of corporate and Internet gateway datacenters, last week announced that its new research data indicates a significant increase in the number of datacenter projects being planned by U.S. corporations during the coming 12 months.

The company states that the findings are from a recently completed survey commissioned by Digital Realty Trust of senior decision makers who are either directly responsible for datacenters or influence significant decisions related to datacenter operations. The results of this new study were compared against a similar study conducted by the Company in 2007 to produce comparative metrics about the growth, and other trends, in the datacenter industry.

"This survey of Fortune 2000 companies confirms what our team has suspected based on conversations with customers.  The demand for datacenter space is, in fact, accelerating and being driven by the rapidly growing IT infrastructure needs of companies across a wide cross-section of industries. Our 2007 survey indicated that there would be a significant volume of datacenter projects on the horizon, and the increases forecasted in this year's survey are consistent with our new customer activity," said Michael F. Foust, CEO of Digital Realty Trust.

Mr. Foust added, "It is particularly significant that 86 percent of companies are planning datacenter expansions in the next 12 months, especially in the context of the current economic environment. Despite the challenging market conditions, companies are making major investments in IT infrastructure, reflecting the critical nature of these assets to today's corporations."