REIT Snapshot
DuPont Fabros Technology:
Constant in a Changing World
by Allen Kenney
Technology may be as
rapidly evolving as any
industry in the 21st
century, but data center
REIT DuPont Fabros
Technology (NYSE:
DF T) claims to have found a
stable toehold.
DuPont Fabros, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C.,
specializes in storing, powering
and cooling clients’ computer
servers and hardware through the
use of energy-efficient technologies. To do so, the company owns,
develops, operates and manages
wholesale data centers around the
United States. DuPont Fabros’
clients include brand names in
the technology sector such as
Microsoft and Yahoo!, as well as
non-tech tenants, including financial services company UBS.
One of the data
centers owned by
DuPont Fabros
BlackBerries, video-on-demand, social networking and
other technological innovations
continue to make DuPont Fabros’ services even more vital to
businesses and consumers alike,
says Hossein Fateh, DuPont
Fabros’ co-founder, president
and CEO.
“We hear on an ongoing basis
about a new type of business
model that we never imagined
before. All this is really changing the way we live,” Fateh says.
“What it means for us is that
more Internet data center space
is needed, which creates a very
compelling growth rate for the
company.”
While the high-tech sector
continues to experience paradigm shifts at an astounding
rate, what DuPont offers its
clients isn’t subject to the same
constant change, according
to Fateh. “What we provide
as a service and a landlord is
power, cooling and security. We
don’t provide technology that
changes,” he says.
DuPont Fabros may be a stable, growing company now, but
the REI T’s existence actually is
the result of an all-or-nothing
bet made eight years ago.
Doubling Down
In 2001, Fateh and business
partner Lammot J. du Pont,
DuPont Fabros’ co-founder and
Hossein
Fateh
VITAL STATISTICS:
DuPont Fabros Technology
ADDRESS: 1212 New York
Ave., NW, Suite 900
Washington, D.C. 20005
PHONE: (202) 728–0044
WEB: www.dft.com
KEY EXECUTIVES: Lammot
J. du Pont, co-founder and
executive chairman; Hossein
Fateh, co-founder, chief
executive officer and president;
Mark L. Wetzel, executive vice
president, chief financial officer
and treasurer.
executive chairman of the board
of directors, faced a critical decision. At the time, Fateh and du
Pont simply leased data center
properties and allowed tenants to
operate them. The pair had built
one major asset, a massive facility in Ashburn, Va., which was
leased to Internet service provider Exodus Communications.
However, Exodus folded in 2001
