My wife, who works for a medium-sized security firm (with no ties to Alcatel-Lucent) can't stop talking about this. Originally called "Project Evros," this little gizmo is a self-contained microcomputer, housed within a 3G card, that plugs into your laptop.

What's great about this is the massive amount of features that are stuffed inside. In normal mode, the card forces VPN tunneling on all inbound and outbound connections, securing data, through its 3G connection, or via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. But the cool factor is what the card does offline: it's self-powered, recharging itself via a battery when the laptop is plugged in. Offline, it downloads patches, so that the user's software is updated when he powers back on.

If the laptop is stolen, a built-in GPS feature can help track it down, like the several asset-tracking capabilities that have emerged in this space. Is there critical data onboard? The card can lock down or even destroy data remotely on the PC, so that critical information doesn't leak into the hands of bad guys. Furthermore, the card acts as a passkey, blocking access to information on the PC's hard drive if the card isn't installed. I've seen single-solution offerings for all of these, so it's great that this type of asset-protection hardware suite is being marketed inside a single product.

Although the device was launched in May, my wife reports that it's just beginning to roll out now, and is being marketed by 3G providers. Word is that it will cost subscribers about $10-$15 extra per month, although the server software will run corporations about $7,000 or so. I've yet to see it in action, but on paper, it's pretty impressive.