SprintSecure Laptop Guardian provides nonstop laptop security

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Laptops, Peripherals, Wireless

Sprint users (or corporations with Sprint-using employees) can now look forward to “24/7 laptop security through remote monitoring, location and locking if a machine is lost or stolen.” Thanks to a partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, the carrier will soon be offering up the OmniAccess 3500 PCMCIA card, which features its own battery, a “small operating system, a CPU, memory and an SD slot.” When inserted into a lappie, it “hijacks the TCP/IP stack, so the card can enforce policies regarding what users can download, no matter what method the user employs to connect to the internet.” Furthermore, the card must be loaded in for the laptop to even become usable, and the built-in GPS enables it to be located (and subsequently wiped or locked) regardless if the machine it’s in is powered on. Reportedly, the device itself will run you around $250 and can only be used with unlimited data plans, and the extra security features will tack on another $10 to $12 per month.