Microsoft November 2015 acquisition of Secure Islands for about $77.5 million has led to the formation of a new Azure Information Protection service. The company says the new service will launch in public preview sometime in July, with general availability coming later in the year.
When Redmond bought Secure Islands, the company said that it would fold the data classification and labeling service into the existing Azure Rights Management Service (RMS).
Microsoft said this would offer improved and more flexible protection and meet compliance requirements more efficiently. Combined with Windows and Office 365 the new service would offer a more robust data protection solution.
The new integrated service was debuted today as Azure Information Protection, which Microsoft says is another part of its expanding approach to identity-drive security:
“In this new approach, protecting employee identity is the foundation of how Microsoft on-premises products and cloud services help you secure and manage devices, apps, and data. EMS is a great example of this, and Azure Information Protection is yet another example of this identity-driven approach to security.”
In an official blog post to announce Azure Information Protection, Microsoft detailed some of the key features of the service.
Among the features will be the ability to classify, label and protect data at the time of creation or modification.
The service will allow users to have protection that travels with data, a safe sharing ability with customers, and what Microsoft describes as “simple, intuitive controls help users make the right decisions and stay productive.”
Also included in Azure Information Protection is more visibility and control over the data you share, and data protection both in the cloud and on premises.
It seems that Azure Information Protection will eventually replace Azure Rights Management (RMS) when it launches later in 2016. Microsoft has not detailed any pricing plans just yet, but expect to hear more about the product when it reaches public preview next month.