When I think back to the late 80′s and how the smart guys I knew diagnosed network problems, I am struck by how far we have come. Often the only tools were ping, traceroute and the ability to think analytically. Now we have WhatsUp Gold and other products to map your physical network, monitor whether devices or applications are up, check bandwidth usage, sift through log files for important events, and more.

The industry has advanced not just because technology has improved. It is also because networks have become critical to the daily operations of most organizations. In the late 80′s, if a server went down, people shrugged, poked around, figured out what was going on, and rebooted it. Now there are many more devices, networks are more complex, and downtime costs real money. This has created a market for products like WhatsUp Gold to become increasingly capable and sophisticated.

Now, though, I realize that there is so much more that could be monitored that would make a huge difference in millions of people’s lives. Take, for example, water pumps in remote villages in the developing world. In ‘Fixing the Water Crisis‘, Ned Breslin talks about the lack of clean water in much of the world. People without access to clean water are forced to drink polluted, dirty water, which makes them sick.

Over time, well-intentioned organizations have funded the installation of wells in many villages. After a well is built, a village has access to clean water, health improves, and everybody is better off. The story ends badly in many cases, though. Several years later, the well breaks, and no one outside the village finds out about it. So the villagers revert to drinking unsanitary water. Now, however, some kids have been born and grown up drinking only clean water. When they are forced to drink dirty water, they get very sick, sick enough to die. Ned tells one such sad story in his talk.

What we need is a low-cost way to monitor devices like water wells in remote areas, places without electricity. And when a well breaks, to notify someone who can fix it. At present, the economics are not there. I hope that as monitoring technology continues to improve we or other company will develop an affordable solution and help improve the lives of millions of people.