Microsoft is planning to use software from EMC's RSA division to help secure its enterprise offerings.

The two companies have agreed a deal in which RSA Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software will be preinstalled or bundled with Microsoft's security offerings. EMC acquired RSA in 2006 to serve as its security branch.

In the immediate future, RSA DLP will be added to the Active Directory rights management component within Windows Server 2008. Eventually, the two sides hope to get DLP into Microsoft's server and enterprise workstation products, as well as its business security software.

Microsoft hopes that the deal will beef up the data protection aspect of its security operations, without making life more difficult for IT staff. Data loss prevention services are often used by businesses to mitigate the risk of data loss and leaks.

"We know that customers face a lot of challenges trying to strike the right balance between securing information and giving the right people access and use of it inside and outside the company," said David Hastie, senior product manager for Microsoft's identity and security group, in a blog posting.

"Currently, it is often too difficult and expensive to protect data using multiple solutions and policies that have to be stitched together."