System and method for monitoring equipment

A system and method for monitoring equipment. The system (100) includes a novel monitoring appliance (102) comprising one or more data ports (106) for receiving data from the equipment, a communication module (118) for receiving a set of configuration data (116), and a mechanism (112) for processing the equipment data in accordance with a plurality of optional services, wherein the configuration data (116) is adapted to enable or disable the optional services. The mechanism is comprised of software (112) for processing the equipment data, the software (112) including one or more software components (114), each software component (114) for performing an optional service, a memory (110) for storing the software (112), and a processor (108) for executing the software (112) in accordance with the configuration data (116), which is adapted to enable or disable the software components (114). The monitoring system (100) also includes a central server (104) adapted to transmit the configuration data (116) to the monitoring appliance (102).