Financial research concept

Data Center Signed-Not-Commenced Backlog: Contracted Future Rent

Data center signed-not-commenced backlog measures annualized rent from signed leases awaiting commencement, helping investors track contracted future revenue and delivery timing.

By Lee BaileyPublished Sep 19, 2026
  1. Backlog bridges bookings and the in-place rent base
  2. Commencement timing matters
  3. Backlog is not Equinix Annualized Gross Bookings
  4. Backlog can change without new leasing
  5. Primary-source examples
  6. Part of the Data Center Operating Model
  7. See It in Company Research
  8. Continue Research

Data center signed-not-commenced backlog measures contractual rent associated with leases that have been signed but have not yet begun generating in-place lease revenue.

Digital Realty reports backlog as annualized GAAP base rent from leases signed but not yet commenced, based on the estimated future commencement date at signing.

Backlog bridges bookings and the in-place rent base

Digital Realty reported $1.0 billion of signed-not-commenced backlog at its share at the end of the first quarter of 2026 and $1.4 billion at its share at the end of the second quarter.

The commercial sequence is:

lease signed → backlog → lease commences → in-place rent

That makes backlog a forward contracted-revenue indicator.

It is not current-period revenue.

Commencement timing matters

Large data-center leases can require months of construction, power delivery, customer installation, and commissioning before rent begins.

Digital Realty therefore discloses expected backlog commencement timing.

A growing backlog can support future revenue visibility while contributing little to current revenue if commencement dates are far away.

Backlog is not Equinix Annualized Gross Bookings

Data Center Annualized Gross Bookings at Equinix only include qualifying contracts expected to begin generating revenue within 90 days.

Digital Realty's signed-not-commenced backlog can include much longer commencement lags.

The measures are therefore useful for different questions and should not be compared as if they shared one definition.

Backlog can change without new leasing

Digital Realty's historical backlog can be adjusted for:

  • lease commencements;
  • acquisitions or asset purchases;
  • dispositions;
  • joint-venture contributions;
  • ownership changes; and
  • other reconciling items.

A quarter-over-quarter backlog change is not automatically equal to new bookings minus commenced leases.

Primary-source examples

Data center signed-not-commenced backlog is most useful as a contracted future-rent pipeline whose commencement timing and ownership basis must be preserved.

Part of the Data Center Operating Model

Connect billed capacity, recurring rent and interconnection revenue, new bookings, signed-not-commenced backlog, and renewal repricing to understand data-center demand and monetization.

How the model fits together
  • Capacity and recurring monetization: Cabinet utilization shows how much Equinix cabinet capacity is billed. Digital Realty annualized rent and Equinix interconnection revenue are separate recurring-revenue lenses, so they add monetization context without forming a standardized cross-company formula.
  • Bookings, backlog, and repricing: Equinix Annualized Gross Bookings capture near-term recurring revenue expected to start within 90 days, while Digital Realty signed-not-commenced backlog captures future annualized GAAP base rent awaiting lease commencement. Renewal rental-rate change then shows repricing on expiring Digital Realty leases. These measures describe different stages and must not be treated as interchangeable.

See It in Company Research

These companies are examples of how the concept is reported or discussed in public filings. Definitions can differ by issuer; these links open company research rather than a normalized metric comparison.

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