Thales is a Global Security Provider
IT Security: Microsoft partnership with Thales e-Security (Cloud Services Security)
Microsoft is promoting Thales Hardware Security Module (HSM) to their current and new customers for Azure Cloud services to protect data in the cloud. Basically, customers control the Encryption Keys for all data in the cloud, so they do not have to worry about confidential data. It is called the BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) option.
To learn more, please read the related document in PDF (on the right): Enhanced Security: Thales High Assurance for Microsoft RMS.