such as the proxy server 101 providing proxy service for a number of clients each network device is coupled to a corresponding ism for example the proxy server 101 is coupled to the ism 110 the dns 102 is coupled to the ism 120 the firewall 103 is coupled to the ism 130 the ism 136 is coupled to the ldap 106 the ism 140 is coupled to the cisco netflow 104 the ism 150 is coupled to the radius 105 each gatherer is associated with at least one ism thus the gatherer 161 is associated with the ism 110 and is therefore coupled to that ism the gatherer 162 is coupled to the ism 120 the gatherer 163 is coupled to the ism 130 and the ism 136 the gatherer 164 is coupled to the ism 140 the gatherer 165 is coupled to the ism 150 the various gatherers are coupled to the cem 170 the user interface server is coupled to the terminals 180 and the cem 170 the following paragraphs describe each of the various elements of fig1 the network devices represent any devices that could be included in a network throughout the description a network device unless specifically noted otherwise also refers to an application server a network device represents a subset of information sources that can be used by the system 100 that is the.