NEW YORK CITY-Friday morning, in the first part of this article, we discussed the threat of terrorism in the data center space. Of course, terrorism isn't the only issue facing data centers.

A recent Wall Street Journal report trumpeted the “lost favor” of data center REITs, citing such issues as declining rents and rising expenses as well as impending competition from the likes of Google and Amazon.

Neither Jeff West, director of Cushman & Wakefield's Data Center Research in the Americas, nor Alter Group senior vice president Kurt Rosene are buying. Citing a projected growth of US spending on data centers at $18 billion by 2020, Rosene believes demand for data centers is secure. “It's being driven by the trend towards backing up data in the cloud, the growth of online shopping, the advent of electronic health records and social media,” he notes.

Google and Amazon might have the financial firepower to build their own, says West, but the field is advancing rapidly enough to allow for plenty of room for a broader customer base. “The data center REITs have been strong out-performers over the past several years,” he says, “and this recent quarter's performance is more a temporary slowdown.”

“Growth in the data center market in the US is robust and should really be looked at through three lenses,” adds West. Those lenses are developer/operators, providers and users.

For the developer, he notes, “Nearly all of the markets we're tracking are seeing variable levels of new supply, where future expansion phases are shelled out and could be made client-ready typically within 180 days.” This, he notes allows for a closer tracking to client demand. He predicts growth starting at 5% in “top-tier markets to as high as 15% in emerging US markets.” These include Las Vegas and Portland.

For providers, the explosion of devices as well as the growth of the cloud and continued broadband penetration “are contributing to data-center demand and growing at rates of 15 to 20%,” says West.

Finally, for users, “The adoption of third-party or outsourcing models at the user end is really gaining traction,” West tells GlobeSt.com. “Larger enterprises are realizing the advantages and cost effectiveness of locating their mission-critical IT equipment in purpose-built data centers with redundant power and cooling rather than in in-house data centers and server rooms situated in modified office space."

Adding further fuel to the fire of data-center growth is the continued squeeze on IT budgets. “We expect strong activity in 2013 and are already seeing that prediction manifest itself in the first few months of the year,” West concludes.