enables unattended remotely distributed appliances such as vending machines utility meters thermostats and kitchen appliances to be connected inexpensively to each other and to a centrally located server the apparatus 1 uses relatively simple u201c personality u201d modules to adapt the apparatus to the application in combination with a sophisticated core module that provides the intelligence needed to process data locally to format that data and to transfer it to a remote server and 2 uses existing internet based communication links thereby avoiding the costly proprietary links used with current state of the art solutions application_number US 201213372408 A description as illustrated in fig1 the present invention is based on a three level architecture device level server level and user level the device level is composed of the physical entities 100 106 being monitored or controlled remotely e g vending machines utility meters thermostats etc the user level is composed of the interfaces e g 129 130 which may be palm pilots or pcs etc through which the user communicates with the system the server level refers to the central computing facility 128 to which data is transmitted and stored and from which control signals are sent to the devices and formatted information is sent to the user communication between the device and server levels and between the server and user levels takes place over the internet using standard internet protocols and procedures the inventive apparatus at the device level consists of embedded hardware.