Digital Realty and Savvis Enter Joint Venture Partnership to Address High-Growth Hong Kong Market

SINGAPORE, April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading global data centre solution provider, and Savvis, a CenturyLink company (NYSE: CTL) and global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprises, announced today that they are under contract to acquire a 165,000-square-foot (15,247-square-meter) property in a joint venture.  Subject to certain conditions, the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.

The property is located at Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in New Territories, approximately 12 miles from downtown Hong Kong.  Upon redevelopment, the building will be capable of supporting approximately 5.76 megawatts of IT load capacity. The joint venture will provide next generation, large colocation and managed/cloud services aligned with the Hong Kong government's Digital 21 Strategy of making Hong Kong a data centre hub for cloud services.

"We are very pleased to be partnering with Savvis on this very important project.  We enjoy a global customer relationship with Savvis, and the combination of our complementary expertise will provide our other global customers with a one-stop-shop for their data centre services in Hong Kong," said Michael F. Foust, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Realty.  "Hong Kong is one of the most attractive, yet under-served, data centre markets in the world.  We look forward to working with Savvis to meet the significant demand for high quality data centre services from multi-national companies looking to expand their IT operations in one of the world's most vibrant commercial centres."

"Huge demand for managed services, colocation and cloud continues to drive our expansion efforts throughout Asia, and this joint venture helps us further address the high-growth Hong Kong market," said Mark Smith, managing director, Asia, for Savvis. "The strategic partnership with Digital Realty brings together two global companies known for enterprise-class data centre solutions, enabling international and regional organisations to secure the many benefits of IT outsourcing from a notable location within Hong Kong."

"As indicated in our recently published market survey, cloud computing and the trend towards outsourcing are continuing to drive significant demand for IT and data centre services in Hong Kong," added Kris Kumar, Senior Vice President and Regional Head, Asia Pacific for Digital Realty. "By partnering with Savvis, we will be able to deliver both high quality data centre facilities along with best-in-class IT services to this vibrant global marketplace."

For Savvis, the joint venture with Digital Realty follows recent announcements about Savvis' plans to build a second data center in Singapore, the launch of Savvis Symphony Dedicated private cloud and managed services in Hong Kong and the launch of Savvis cloud services in Japan.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. focuses on delivering customer driven data centre solutions by providing secure, reliable and cost effective facilities that meet each customer's unique data centre needs. Digital Realty's customers include domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals ranging from information technology and Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty's 102 properties, excluding three properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprise approximately 19.1 million square feet as of February 27, 2012, including 2.4 million square feet of space held for redevelopment. Digital Realty's portfolio is located in 31 markets throughout Europe, North America, Singapore and Australia. Additional information about Digital Realty is included in the Company Overview, which is available on the Investors page of Digital Realty's website at http://www.digitalrealty.com.

About Savvis

Savvis, a CenturyLink company, is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprises. Nearly 2,500 unique clients, including more than 30 of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500, use Savvis to reduce capital expense, improve service levels and harness the latest advances in cloud computing.

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States. The company provides broadband, voice, wireless and managed services to consumers and businesses across the country. It also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink™ Prism™ TV and DIRECTV brands. In addition, the company provides data, voice and managed services to enterprise, government and wholesale customers in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers. CenturyLink is recognized as a leader in the network services market by key technology industry analyst firms, and is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprises through Savvis, a CenturyLink company. CenturyLink's customers range from Fortune 500 companies in some of the country's largest cities to families living in rural America. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations.

For more information, visit www.savvis.com or www.centurylink.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on Digital Realty Trust, Inc.'s current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the joint venture, closing of the acquisition of the redevelopment property in Hong Kong by the joint venture, redevelopment plans, expected size and capacity of the redevelopment property, supply and demand in the Hong Kong market for data centre space, demand drivers, and expectations regarding survey respondents' demand for data centre space and the use of partners in data centre projects. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the following: the impact of the recent deterioration in global economic, credit and market conditions, including the downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating; current local economic conditions in its geographic markets; decreases in information technology spending, including as a result of economic slowdowns or recession; adverse economic or real estate developments in its industry or the industry sectors that it sells to (including risks relating to decreasing real estate valuations and impairment charges); its dependence upon significant tenants; bankruptcy or insolvency of a major tenant or a significant number of smaller tenants; defaults on or non-renewal of leases by tenants; its failure to obtain necessary debt and equity financing; increased interest rates and operating costs; risks associated with using debt to fund its business activities, including re-financing and interest rate risks, its failure to repay debt when due, adverse changes in its credit ratings or its breach of covenants or other terms contained in its loan facilities and agreements; financial market fluctuations; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; its inability to manage its growth effectively; difficulty acquiring or operating properties in foreign jurisdictions; its failure to successfully integrate and operate acquired or redeveloped properties or businesses; risks related to joint venture investments, including as a result of its lack of control of such investments; delays or unexpected costs in development or redevelopment of properties; decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates; increased competition or available supply of data centre space; its inability to successfully develop and lease new properties and space held for redevelopment; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and completing acquisitions; its inability to acquire off-market properties; its inability to comply with the rules and regulations applicable to reporting companies; its failure to maintain its status as a REIT; possible adverse changes to tax laws; restrictions on its ability to engage in certain business activities; environmental uncertainties and risks related to natural disasters; losses in excess of its insurance coverage; changes in foreign laws and regulations, including those related to taxation and real estate ownership and operation; and changes in local, state and federal regulatory requirements, including 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 Digital Realty Trust, Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Digital Realty Trust, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.  Digital Realty Trust, Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Digital Realty Trust, Inc.