Strategic approaches to backup up virtual environments

[MattZurkowsky]

Can anyone speak to the the security aspects of virtualizing servers and desktops? I am trying to push for virtualizing in our new facility and need more leverage then all the other benefits up front. Of course if it is less secure then I won't have much leverage...

I just want to get some information outside of what the marketing crap/hype, features/benefits that the virtualization vendors provide.

Any experiences with various strategic approaches to backing up virtual environments? I'm looking specifically for information on assessing the business impact of protecting and recovering data from VMs in an automated and timely manner.