engage in certain business activities; and changes in local, state, federal and international laws and regulations, including related to taxation, real estate and zoning laws, and increases in real property tax rates.
While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, they are not guarantees of future performance. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.
The risks included here are not exhaustive, and additional factors could adversely affect our business and financial performance, including factors and risks included in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to identify all such risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all such risk factors on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results.
Occupancy percentages included in the following discussion, for some of our properties, are calculated based on factors in addition to contractually leased square feet, including available power, required support space and common area.
As used in this report: “Ascenty entity” refers to the entity, which owns and operates Ascenty, formed with Brookfield Infrastructure.
Business Overview and Strategy
Digital Realty Trust, Inc., through its controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and its subsidiaries, delivers comprehensive space, power, and interconnection solutions that enable its customers and partners to connect with each other and service their own customers on a global technology and real estate platform. We are a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions for customers across a variety of industry verticals. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, and our Operating Partnership is the entity through which we conduct our business and own our assets.
Our primary business objectives are to maximize:
| (i) | sustainable long-term growth in earnings and funds from operations per share and unit; |
| (ii) | cash flow and returns to our stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders through the payment of distributions; and |
| (iii) | return on invested capital. |
We expect to accomplish our objectives by achieving superior risk-adjusted returns, prudently allocating capital, diversifying our product offerings, accelerating our global reach and scale, and driving revenue growth and operating efficiencies. A significant component of our current and future internal growth is anticipated through the development of our existing space held for development, acquisition of land for future development, and acquisition of new properties.
We target high-quality, strategically located properties containing the physical and connectivity infrastructure that supports the applications and operations of data center and technology industry customers and properties that may be developed for such use. Most of our data center properties contain fully redundant electrical supply systems, multiple power feeds, above-standard cooling systems, raised floor areas, extensive in-building communications cabling and high-level security systems. Fundamentally, we bring together foundational real estate and innovative technology expertise around the world to deliver a comprehensive, dedicated product suite to meet customers’ data and connectivity needs. We represent an important part of the digital economy that we believe will benefit from powerful, long-term growth drivers.
We have developed detailed, standardized procedures for evaluating new real estate investments to ensure that they meet our financial, technical and other criteria. We expect to continue to acquire additional assets as part of our growth