DFT up near 3% today!
Originally Posted By: DrRoughneck
Originally Posted By: dblshock
"because of their core (transport, infrastructure) "
Please elaborate further.
Broadly speaking there are two kinds of data centers:
The first kind is data centers which own and operate their own racks and servers and lease "cloud time" on these machines.
The second kind is data centers that provide power, fiber internet and cooling but you have to bring your own racks and servers and manage them yourself.
Digital Realty (DLR) and Dupont Fabros (DFT) are part of the second kind.
Major cloud players like Google, Amazon or Facebook have their own way of rolling out racks, their own equipment. Facebook even started designing their own switches. For these big players, the first kind of data center would be a logistical nightmare, they have to go with the second kind (the one I referred to earlier as transport/infrastructure). That's good for DLR/DFT because leases with these big guys are longer term and they pay their bills.
Also "the first kind" needs to invest significantly in R&D and cloud management software. Today there is no one right solution: VMWare, KVM, Xen etc... cloud software gets old fast then your customers leave to chase a newer shinier object. It's a drain on R&D. I think it pays off better to be a simple provider of data center real estate, power, connectivity and cooling like DFT/DLR. They may turn away the little guys but they do one thing and do it well.
Does it make sense? Anyway that's just my take on it, I'd be happy to hear what anyone else has to say on data center REITs. I'm surprised these REITs are not in the news more given the cloud-happy bonanza of things to come on display at CES right now.