Investors looking for the reliability of rental real estate but the growth potential of technology have an interesting opportunity in a niche area of the market where the two intersect: data center REITs.

If you don’t know what a data center REIT is, here is a nice, concise explanation: These real estate investment trusts are landlords that charge rent to companies for housing their servers. It’s a specialized market, and today, we’re going to take a look at four established players in the space.

What legally qualifies as “real estate” has taken a more expansive definition in recent years, or at least when it comes to qualifying as a REIT for tax purposes. Over the past decade, we’ve seen cell towers, billboards, document storage facilities and even prisons reorganize (or at least attempt to) as REITs. But of all of the “alternative” REITs to hit the market, data center REITs are the only category with what I consider to be long-term growth potential.

The popularity of smartphones and tablets and the rise of “the cloud” for data storage and processing will continue to boost demand for server resources. I am reluctant to recommend a long-term position in, say, Facebook (FB) or Twitter (TWTR) because social networking is changing quickly and it’s impossible to know in advance who the ultimate winners will be.

But with an investment in a data center REIT, it doesn’t matter. You stand to profit from the underlying trend — the increased need for remote computing power in the age of hyperconnectivity.

Data Center REITs – Digital Realty Trust (DLR)

DLR Dividend Yield: 5.3%

The largest and most liquid data center REIT is Digital Realty Trust (DLR), with an $8.5 billion market cap. I would consider Digital Realty the blue chip among data center REITs.

As the largest player, Digital Realty has a diversified tenant base. Its largest tenant — CenturyLink (CTL) — accounts for just 7% of its annualized rental revenue. The top 20 tenants account for less than half of total rent, and the top 20 tenants are fairly well diversified across sectors.

If you’re looking for broad exposure to the data center sector in a single stock, Digital Realty is your best bet.

I recently highlighted Digital Realty as a REIT that consistently raises its dividend, noting that Digital Realty has grown its payout at an annualized 20.6% clip over the past five years. Your yield on cost — i.e. the current dividend divided by your purchase price — had you bought Digital Realty five years ago would be 13.3% … and a mind-blowing 61.9% had you bought 10 years ago!

Even at current prices, Digital Realty still yields 5.3%.

Data Center REITs – DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT)

DFT Dividend Yield: 5.1%

Next up is DuPont Fabros Technology (DFT), the second-largest player in the data center space by market cap. DuPont Fabros sports a market cap of $1.8 billion.

DuPont Fabros released its second-quarter earnings in July, and its results were outstanding. Adjusted funds from operations — a metric often used in lieu of accounting earnings for REITs — rose by 48% on a per share basis. Revenues rose by 14% in the first half.

DuPont Fabros is less diversified than Digital Realty, with seven of its 10 operational data centers located in northern Virginia. But like Digital Realty, DFT is a dividend-raising machine, having nearly tripled its payout since 2012. DuPont Fabros has raised its dividend by 50% in the past year and at a staggering 69% annualized rate over the past five years.

Now, to be fair, DuPont Fabros came public in 2007 and ramped its dividend up from 15 cents to 18.75 cents before having to suspend its dividend in 2008 during the pits of the financial crisis. But it restarted with a modest 8-cent dividend in 2009, and the dividend growth rate since then has been impressive. I expect more to come — the stock’s dividend payout ratio is just 58% of normalized FFO.

At current prices, DFT sports a dividend yield north of 5%.

Data Center REITs – QTS Realty Trust (QTS)

QTS Dividend Yield: 3.8%

Next up is a relatively small competitor in the space QTS Realty Trust (QTS), which has a market cap of just $890 million. QTS also is the youngest REIT in the group, having gone public about a year ago. QTS currently has a portfolio of 12 data centers scattered across 12 cities.

In its short history, QTS has consistently paid a dividend and has even raised it once. The stock currently yields in the high 3% range.

With only a year trading, QTS is still something of an unknown entity. But thus far, the results have been stellar. Funds from operations rose 66% year-over-year in the last quarter.

Data Center REITs – CoreSite Realty (COR)

COR Dividend Yield: 4.3%

And finally we get to CoreSite Realty (COR), the smallest of our four data center REITs by market cap. CoreSite has a market cap of $686 million and a property portfolio of 16 data centers spread across eight markets.

CoreSite has a much shorter operating history than Digital Realty or DuPont Fabros, being publicly traded only since 2010. But during its short life, it has generated impressive results. Funds from operations have grown at a 20% compound annual growth rate, and dividends per share have grown at an even more impressive 40% compound annual growth rate. CoreSite currently yields more than 4%.

CoreSite has a diverse roll of tenants, and its top 10 tenants account for about a third of total annualized rent. Its top tenant accounts for about 7.4% of annualized rent.

Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA, is the chief investment officer of investment firm Sizemore Capital Management. Click here to receive his FREE weekly e-letter covering top market insights, trends, and the best stocks and ETFs to profit from today’s best global value plays.