Enterprises have a variety of drivers to encrypt information stored in their databases, from regulatory compliance to executive mandates, and a variety of options to evaluate in protecting that information. One of the options considered when securing database information is the Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) provided by the database vendor. This paper discusses the TDE technology and explains the strengths and limitations that TDE faces in meeting the needs of today's enterprises. It also explains how Vormetric Data Security provides necessary security and operational benefits while avoiding the limitations of native database TDE solutions.