Security ... think about it!
Now, some may not consider AD the best directory service available to businesses, but it is the most used, and plenty of IT engineers know how to work with Group Policy. All of Microsoft's major endpoint encryption offerings--including BitLocker, BitLockerToGo, and DirectAccess--offer centralized management through Active Directory, as do Microsoft's enterprise encryption technologies. The latest updates to Windows 2008 and Windows 7 provide additional settings for administrators to configure via Group Policy. What's the downside to using Microsoft encryption technologies? In-house expertise is essential for key length, cache sizes, recovery options, and other considerations. If you support Mac OS or Linux boxes, you won't be able to leverage these technologies enterprise-wide. But Windows shops can get powerful full- and portable-disk encryption, mobile device encryption, e-mail encryption, folder and file encryption, and database encryption for free. You can't beat that price.