CA today announced the results of an independent global study that highlights the mixed results companies are experiencing with server virtualization -- as well as critical success factors discovered by early adopters.

According to the study -- which surveyed 800 organizations around the world -- 44 percent of respondents who said they had deployed server virtualization technology were unable to declare their deployment a success. Inability to quantify ROI was a key factor in their reticence to definitively claim positive results.

The study also revealed that 71 percent of organizations that have moved ahead with virtualization have deployed, or plan to deploy, multiple server virtualization technologies -- including operating system and hardware virtualization, operating system partitioning, para-virtualization, and/or clustering. In fact, 60 percent of organizations consider clustering a type of server virtualization, adding to the heterogeneity of virtualized environments. 

For organizations claiming success with virtualization, the most important factor was being able to measure performance of the virtualized environment. Other key success factors cited in the study include diligent inventorying of server assets and load distribution, and thorough investigation of available technology solutions.

According to the study, organizations are primarily deploying virtualization to improve server/system utilization rates, increase server reliability and uptime, and enhance business continuity. 

"While the market has yet to mature, it's clear that significant benefits await those organizations that implement proven virtualization best practices," said Paula Daley, director of product marketing at CA. "CA is supporting those best practices by providing unified management capabilities to optimize visibility into the diverse virtualized, physical and clustered server environments the market favors."

A summary of the report is available at http://ca.com/vpm/survey.

Study Methodology
The survey was conducted in January by The Strategic Counsel, an independent research firm. Of the respondents, 30 percent were from North America, 37 percent were from Europe, and 31 percent from the Asia-Pacific and Japan region. Of the organizations surveyed, 67 percent had between 10 and 99 physical servers, and 22 percent had more than 200.