Where Digital Realty fits
Digital Realty brings colocation and larger deployments together through PlatformDIGITAL. Its product range includes colocation, data center suites, powered base buildings and build-to-suit options. Start by choosing the product and building: a fitted cabinet and a powered shell leave very different responsibilities with the customer.
Source: Digital Realty colocation.
Digital Realty pricing from signed leases
For Q2 2026, Digital Realty reported these GAAP base-rent figures for newly signed leases, at its share of the business:
| Deployment band | Americas | All regions |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 1 MW | $293/kW-month | $280/kW-month |
| Above 1 MW | $156/kW-month | $157/kW-month |
These are transaction benchmarks, not list prices. The smaller band spans cabinets through substantial cages. GAAP rent is an accounting measure, not necessarily the opening cash invoice; interconnection is a separate reporting line.
Source: Digital Realty Q2 2026 results, leasing activity.
Do not apply a megawatt-scale rate to a single cabinet, or compare base rent with a competing quote that includes electricity and network services. Ask bidders to return the same usable power, delivery date and term.
A filed customer order shows what sits outside rent
Historical example, not current pricing. Guidance Software's December 2013 Digital Realty order for Chandler, Arizona targeted an April 2014 start and a 51-month term.
| Order component | Filed amount or basis |
|---|---|
| 18 standard 42U cabinets | $930 each/month; $16,740 total |
| Three telco racks | $200 each/month; $600 total |
| Monthly base rent | $17,340; 75 kW allocation |
| Electricity | Actual circuit energy cost plus a 0.6 cooling factor |
| Installation | $130,573 discount; net $0 |
| Concessions and escalation | Months 1-3 base rent waived; 3% annual increases |
That is approximately $231/kW-month in base rent before electricity. A $1,000 IT-energy bill would become $1,600 with the stated cooling factor. Both are our arithmetic on this historical order, not a present-day quote. The free-rent provision concerns base rent.
Source: Guidance Software SEC exhibit 10.30, order GS-001, pages 1-2.
Our recommendation: ask for rent, utility recovery and cooling charges in separate columns. A low cabinet figure is not meaningful until you know which of those costs it leaves out.
Power: compare capacity and consumption separately
A quote can charge for the right to use power and also for the energy consumed. The first is a capacity commitment, usually expressed in kW; the second is usage, measured in kWh. Confirm whether the proposal bundles either charge with space.
For illustration, a steady 10 kW IT load consumes 7,200 kWh in a 30-day month: 10 × 24 × 30. That is energy arithmetic, not a Digital Realty tariff. To cost it, you still need the contracted utility rate, the cooling or infrastructure multiplier and any minimum commitment.
| Confirm in the proposal | Why it changes the comparison |
|---|---|
| Committed IT kW versus installed circuits | A/B redundancy does not double the load you are permitted to draw |
| Meter location and measurement interval | Cabinet readings and upstream facility readings can cover different loads |
| Energy rate and adjustment mechanism | A fixed space charge can sit beside changing utility costs |
| Cooling recovery and other multipliers | The electricity invoice may exceed IT-only consumption |
| Expansion and overage | A step-up price and an excess-use charge are different terms |
Our power billing guide explains how to normalize these lines. Do not copy the cooling factor from the historical order into a new budget without a matching offer.
Physical cross-connects and ServiceFabric: price the complete path
Digital Realty's Cross Connect product joins two customer-defined endpoints inside a facility. ServiceFabric supplies virtual connectivity through a multi-service port. A physical patch, a port and a cloud connection serve different purposes; a quote should show how they fit together.
Source: Digital Realty Cross Connect.
Source: Digital Realty ServiceFabric.
| Connection layer | Request these charges |
|---|---|
| Physical connection | Install, monthly fee, media, endpoints and removal |
| ServiceFabric access | Port capacity and any minimum commitment |
| Virtual connection | Destination, speed, redundancy and term |
| Carrier or cloud side | Separate provider charges and any cloud-side data transfer |
One published billing trigger can precede activation
For connections to providers enabled by the Megaport Marketplace, Digital Realty's guide says billing starts when the request is submitted, before the provider approves it. The inventory can still show pending third-party approval.
Source: ServiceFabric guide, Megaport-enabled providers, Approvals.
Our recommendation: coordinate the far-end provider and your installation window before submitting this type of order. This documented trigger applies to that marketplace workflow; it does not establish the start date of every Digital Realty service.
Digital Internet: the published burst-billing mechanics
| Published mechanic | What the guide says |
|---|---|
| Usage samples | Approximately every five minutes |
| Billable measurement | Discard the top 5%; use the higher inbound or outbound result |
| Rounding | Round upward to a whole Mbps: 11.3 becomes 12 |
| Billing timing | Overage is billed afterward on a separate monthly invoice |
| IP addresses | Additional address blocks carry charges |
The rate description is inconsistent. The same page says overage uses the committed-data-rate price per Mbps, then says the burst price depends on the tier and differs from the internet rate. Its ordering section also mentions a 5% threshold above the commit.
Source: ServiceFabric Digital Internet guide, ordering and 95th-percentile billing.
Our recommendation: have the order state the burst price, threshold and worked calculation. Do not infer a dollar rate from these instructions. A 95th-percentile discard is a monthly measurement rule, not a guaranteed daily allowance for a scheduled traffic spike.
Remote Hands: hourly work or packages
Digital Realty describes Remote Hands as hourly work or packages with discounted rates. Its services page includes reboots, patching, equipment assistance and scheduled deployment work, with support available around the clock.
Source: Digital Realty Remote Hands documentation.
Source: Digital Realty services.
Ask for the hourly rate, minimum billing increment, after-hours treatment and package expiry. Set an approval limit for work that can be performed without another purchase order. A package saves money only if its eligible hours match the work you will use.
Renewal increases: the deployment band changes the story
Digital Realty's Q2 2026 presentation separates cash rent changes on renewed leases:
| Renewal category | Cash rent change |
|---|---|
| 0 to 1 MW | +5.2% |
| Above 1 MW | +66.7% |
| Total, including other space | +25.4% |
The measure compares starting rent on the renewed agreement with ending rent on the expiring agreement, weighted by rentable area. It is not an annual escalator.
Source: Digital Realty Q2 2026 earnings presentation, slide 10.
The smaller-deployment category tells a different story from the megawatt category. Neither promises a renewal result for your building. Request the renewal option, notice deadline and pricing method while alternative facilities are still practical.
Read the quote line by line
| Charge or term | What to compare |
|---|---|
| Space | Cabinet dimensions and count, cage layout, supplied racks and expansion rights |
| Power | Committed kW or kVA, usable load, A/B feeds, metering and overage |
| Connectivity | Every port and circuit, recurring fees and installation |
| Support | Included hours, hourly rates, response commitments and minimums |
| Setup | Cage construction, circuits, cabling, migration and deposits |
| Contract | Start date, annual increases, renewal notice and early termination |
Our recommendation: ask each bidder to return a monthly recurring total, a one-time total and a full-term schedule. Keep usage charges separate and calculate them using the same workload assumptions. Compare when billing begins with when the required power and connectivity are actually ready.
Use the colocation RFP template to collect comparable responses. For a private cage, specify the layout and growth plan alongside the power requirement.
Negotiating the whole order
A discount needs a denominator: the service scope and period it applies to. Compare the entire payment schedule, not just the percentage on the offer.
Our recommendation: compare three totals across bids: the first-year cash outlay, the recurring bill after incentives expire, and the full-term cost under stated usage assumptions. Keep deposits separate from expenses, and price migration, remote hands and removal explicitly.
For growth, negotiate the size, date and price of the next power increment. For connectivity, establish who pays while the far end is pending. For renewal, distinguish the in-term escalator from a market reset at expiry.
What the public evidence still cannot price
The sources above do not provide a universal current cabinet, cross-connect or Remote Hands rate card. The 2013 order is evidence of one deal's structure, not today's standard agreement. The quarterly figures do not establish availability or a rate at a named facility.
For a useful comparison, send the actual building, usable kW, rack layout, connections, service start and contract term. Compare Equinix and DataBank using the same scope, with the pricing guide as context.