Organizations using VMware Inc.’s virtualization software to power their infrastructure now have a powerful new option for data governance thanks to a partnership with Vera Inc. announced at its annual customer conference this morning. The alliance marks a major step forward for a technology that has already proven itself highly effective in the public cloud.

The venture-backed Vera uses a reverse proxy implemented at the edge of the customer’s corporate network to tag outcoming documents with special metadata that defines how and when its contents can be accessed. Administrators are thus able to ensure that sensitive files don’t end up in the wrong hands even after they’ve left their immediate reach.

The new partnership turns Vera’s proxy inwards, extending that control to the flow of information within the confines of an organization. That’s no less essential than managing off-premise data for the kind of large enterprises that the startup is targeting, which have numerous different units each subject to its own unique set of governance rules.

A hospital operator, for instance, wouldn’t want patient records to accidently end up in a shared folder belonging to the accounting department. Such situations not only violate compliance policies but also leave the data more exposed to attack, dual challenges that Vera promises to eliminate with the same stroke.

In addition to enforcing access controls on documents, its service also facilitates remote deletion and file tracking. That latter functionality allows administrators to follow documents not only across departments but also geographic locations, another key feature for large organizations with operations spread out over multiple legal jurisdictions.

The integration puts VMware in a that much stronger position to address the requirements of its largest customers, while giving Vera a major strategic boost. It wouldn’t be too surprising if a partnership with Microsoft Corp., the hypervisor maker’s biggest rival in the virtualization space, were follow suit sometime later down the road.

Photo via VMware