SAN FRANCISCO and LONDON, September 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- This BREEAM Certification for Design and Procurement is Industry First for Green Datacentres

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), the leading owner and manager of corporate and Internet gateway datacentres, announced today that a datacentre it is building for HSBC (NYSE: HBC) has earned the first BREEAM 'Excellent' rating in the United Kingdom under the Building Research Establishment's prestigious environmental certification program. The 'Excellent' rating for bespoke design and procurement is the highest available rating through BREEAM certification. This certification -- the first in the UK datacentre industry -- recognises the energy efficiency and environmentally sound construction and operations practices of a new 10,000 square metre datacentre being built for HSBC, the global banking and financial services institution. The development site in the South of England was acquired by Digital Realty Trust in April 2007 and the datacentre facility is being developed by Digital Realty Trust to support HSBC's global computing infrastructure. Digital Realty Trust partnered with CHt Data Solutions of the Laing O'Rourke Group (http://www.laingorourke.com) to construct the facility.

BREEAM is a leading environmental assessment method for buildings in the UK. This recognition for the HSBC datacentre has followed two years of assessments on sustainability initiatives, innovative design and project management. Digital Realty Trust and HSBC estimate significant energy savings and resultant reduction in power cost and CO2 emissions from this datacentre.

"We are very proud of this datacentre and proud that it has been recognised as the first to meet the very high environmental standards of the BREEAM 'Excellent' rating. The collaboration between HSBC, Digital Realty Trust and the Laing O'Rourke Group has been excellent on this important project, and we believe this facility sets a new standard for datacentres in Europe," said Bernard Geoghegan, Senior Vice President of Digital Realty Trust Europe. "This is the latest in a long list of industry firsts that Digital Realty Trust has achieved for energy efficiency and environmental responsibility in the datacentre field. We were the first company to achieve LEED Gold certification for a datacentre in the United States, the first company to adopt the Green Grid's PUE energy efficiency measurement protocol, and the first company to publicly publish energy efficiency data about its facilities. We continue to be a leader in educating datacentre professionals about best practices that achieve dramatic energy savings and cost savings for their companies."

The building initially consisted of a pad foundation arrangement requiring extensive excavation and transport of virgin material. Re-use of the existing ground slab from a previous building became a possibility soon after project commencement, offering significant recycled aggregate benefits. Fill material produced on site could be utilised in conjunction with the existing slab, thereby reducing waste, material usage and costs. Materials for the project were responsibly sourced both on site via fill recycling and from audited suppliers. Tracing the project supply chain back to materials source and ensuring those suppliers held ISO14001 certification, secured additional BREEAM points.

Digital Realty Trust has built custom datacentres for numerous global companies, including financial services companies that have very specific, complex datacentre requirements for the high-volume, low-latency computing systems. Digital Realty Trust manages all build-to-suit datacentre projects using its proprietary Gating Process(TM) which ensures delivery of custom datacentre projects through the timely, efficient coordination of all processes involved in design and construction while optimising costs. Unlike traditional development methods for build-to-suit projects, Digital Realty Trust's Gating Process(TM) provides customers with transparency and inputs at key stages of the project -- from scope and schematic through commissioning and completion -- ensuring that the finished datacentre facility supports the unique needs of each organisation.

About HSBC Holdings plc

HSBC Holdings plc serves more than 100 million customers worldwide through 9,500 offices in 85 countries and territories in Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of some US$2,547 billion at 30 June 2008, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organisations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as 'the world's local bank'.

About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owns, acquires, redevelops, develops and manages technology-related real estate. The Company is focused on providing Turn-Key Datacentre(TM) and Powered Base Building(TM) datacentre solutions for domestic and international tenants across a variety of industry verticals ranging from information technology and internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust's 74 properties, excluding one property held as an investment in an unconsolidated joint venture, contain applications and operations critical to the day-to-day operations of technology industry tenants and corporate enterprise datacentre tenants. Comprising approximately 12.9 million rentable square feet as of August 6, 2008, including 1.9 million square feet of space held for redevelopment, Digital Realty Trust's portfolio is located in 27 markets throughout North America and Europe. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust's website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.

About Laing O'Rourke

Laing O'Rourke is a total solutions provider to the built environment operating across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australasia, with an order book in excess of pounds Sterling 10 billion. Through its 31,000-strong directly employed labour force, Laing O'Rourke provides programme leadership and innovative technology-led delivery resources to some of the most challenging construction projects in the world including Heathrow Terminal 5, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (St Pancras) and Al Raha Beach, Abu Dhabi. CHt Data Solutions was established as a business in December 2006. With a unique reputation for being different and capable, it has an extensive portfolio of major data centres. It is part of Crown House Technologies -- the international building technologies business within the Laing O'Rourke Group. For more information visit http://www.laingorourke.com.

Safe Harbor Statemen

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements regarding potential energy savings. These risks and uncertainties include adverse economic or real estate developments in the Company's markets or the technology industry; general economic conditions or recession; construction and development delays, termination of leases by tenants; increased interest rates and operating costs; inability to manage domestic; failure to obtain necessary outside financing; decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and completing acquisitions at acceptable return levels; failure to successfully operate acquired properties and operations; failure of acquired properties to perform as expected; failure to successfully redevelop properties acquired for such purposes or unexpected costs related thereto; failure to maintain the Company's status as a REIT; environmental uncertainties and risks related to natural disasters; financial market fluctuations; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; risks of operating in foreign markets; and 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 the Company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and the Company's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008 and June 30, 2008. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A. William Stein Pamela A. Matthews Chief Financial Officer and Investor/Analyst Information Chief Investment Officer Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. +1-415-738-6500 +1-415-738-6500 Chris Crosby Sales & Technical Services Digital Realty Trust, Inc. +1-214-231-1350 Web site: http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com http://www.laingorourke.com

A. William Stein, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Investment Officer, or Pamela A. Matthews, Investor-Analyst Information, +1-415-738-6500, or Chris Crosby, Sales & Technical Services, +1-214-231-1350, all of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.