Sprint (News - Alert) has inked a partnership agreement with Omnilink to market the company's Asset Locator tracking service through its Business Direct sales channel, the company announced on Monday at the International CTIA Wireless 2011 show in Orlando, Fla.

The combined M2M tracking solution will provide enterprises and SMBs with a Web-based Omnilink Asset Locator application and a dedicated tracking device – both of which are run over the Nationwide Sprint network. The out-of-the box, GPS-enabled security tool is designed to allow companies to track valuable assets and inventory such as computers and data storage devices, consumer electronics, ATMs, bank bags and pharmaceuticals.

"With the Omnilink Asset Locator, organizations have an easy, out-of-the-box solution for securing assets in their supply chain, on properties, or in the field, that will reduce the amount of loss due to theft or frivolous behaviors," Steve Hudson, vice president of Strategy for Omnilink, noted in a release.

Hudson told Connected Planet that the service will cost anywhere from $20 or $30 a month per tracking device, and relies on both satellites and cellular technology. Customers can determine when the service sends out tracking alerts – such after an asset enters or leaves a warehouse – by simply entering instructions into the Web interface.

The collaborative solution provides real-time location information – whether assets or indoors or outdoors – accurate tracking modes to assist in recovery efforts and location history for up to one year. The Omnilink Asset Locator also offers maps and other asset visualization tools as well as a zone management alert function that notifies users when assets leave a particular location.

Wayne Ward, vice president-Emerging Solutions Group for Sprint, said that the advent of asset tracking is an illustration of "how connected devices are changing every aspect of our lives… and that's fostering explosive growth in the wireless industry, in a way that we've never seen before."

Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Tammy Wolf