Dallas' data center market has plenty of available, under construction and planned commissioned power: 276MW in total. DatacenterHawk founder/CEO David Liggitt says five factors will determine Dallas' future as the third-largest market for data center commissioned power.

1) Q4 Absorption

With 23MW of absorption thus far in 2016, David estimates that 10MW to 15MW needs to be absorbed in the next three months to keep the market on its trajectory. A strong Q4 is essential to keep solid footing as a primary market.

2) Pre-Leasing

When a data center can deliver a space already leased, it helps fundamentals in all aspects of the market.

3) Large Hyper-Scale Cloud Providers

Companies that come in and take 10MW to 20MW will have a huge impact on market supply, David says.

4) Invisible Demand

When large operators that have multiple locations in multiple markets fill their current facilitates with, say, 10MW of construction, tenants that already have a relationship with the provider snap it up before the demand can hit the market.

5) Business Climate

Business requirements turn into IT requirements, which in turn fills a market. If business demand in primary markets stays level, the next two to three years of data center demand looks mighty fine.