One of the key developments in technology in recent years has been explosive growth in the amount of data produced worldwide. For instance, more photographs have been taken this year than during the entire history of film cameras. Similarly, an estimated 306.4 billion emails and 500 million tweets are sent every day.
While much of this digital information will go straight into the electronic equivalent of the recycling bin, a significant portion will be saved. No wonder, then, that demand for data storage has been booming. Over the past two decades, this has been good news for Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), a real-state investment trust (Reit). It builds large data centres, which it then leases to companies who want to store their data.
