A large majority of information technology (IT) executives say virtualization technologies can play a major role in a disaster recovery plan—but these technologies are not a complete solution, according to the results of the recent "State of Disaster Recovery" survey conducted by Harris Interactive. While many IT decision makers say they have deployed virtualization, survey data show most had not yet utilized the technology in a disaster recovery situation.

In the survey, commissioned by SunGard Availability Services, 74 percent of IT respondents indicate virtualization can play a major role but is not a total solution for disaster recovery plans. One-quarter of IT respondents say they would never include virtualization technologies in DR plans.

Sixty percent of IT respondents say they have virtualization in place now as a recovery tool from unplanned outages - but only 29 percent have used it successfully with eight percent saying they used virtualization but unsuccessfully. Another 29 percent of IT decision makers say they have deployed virtualization but not yet used it as a DR tool.