Perkins characterized Microsoft's pronouncements Thursday as an organizational and marketing announcement.

Microsoft officials say the identity and security message is a natural outgrowth of last year's corporate reorganization that merged two business groups -- Identity/Access and Security/Access -- into the Identity and Security Business Group.

As part of the introduction of the new strategy, Microsoft Thursday introduced the first of a slate of online security services: an email offering called Forefront Online Security for Exchange.

The service, which works with Active Directory, includes spam and virus protection, policy enforcement, real-time message trace and reporting, and despite the name, supports any e-mail system. The service also provides archiving, encryption, and disaster recovery.

Microsoft plans to turn all its Forefront security tools into online services. The lineup is made up of Forefront Client Security, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, Forefront Security for Office Communications Server, and Forefront Threat Management Gateway.