An apparatus comprising means for: enabling communication with a plurality of network input/output entities wherein different network input/output entities are configured to use different communication protocols to communicate with the apparatus; maintaining a data warehouse where the data warehouse comprises data obtained from one or more of the plurality of network input/output entities using one or more different communication protocols; enabling each of the plurality of network input/output entities to access data from the data warehouse by converting data from the data warehouse into a required format for the communication protocol used by the network input/output entities; and obtaining data, in a first format, from a first network input/output entity using a first communication protocol; wherein the apparatus is characterized by further comprising means for: converting the data into a different format such that the data is checked against data, stored in the data warehouse, previously obtained from a different one of the one or more of the plurality of network input/output entities using a different communication protocol; based on the checking, automatically finding one or more actions associated with the obtained data in the data warehouse; and sending a control signal to a second network input/output entity to enable the second network input/output entity to perform an action associated with the obtained data. enabling communication with a plurality of network input/output entities wherein different network input/output entities are configured to use different communication protocols to communicate with the apparatus; maintaining a data warehouse where the data warehouse comprises data obtained from one or more of the plurality of network input/output entities using one or more different communication protocols; enabling each of the plurality of network input/output entities to access data from the data warehouse by converting data from the data warehouse into a required format for the communication protocol used by the network input/output entities; and obtaining data, in a first format, from a first network input/output entity using a first communication protocol; wherein the apparatus is characterized by further comprising means for: converting the data into a different format such that the data is checked against data, stored in the data warehouse, previously obtained from a different one of the one or more of the plurality of network input/output entities using a different communication protocol; based on the checking, automatically finding one or more actions associated with the obtained data in the data warehouse; and sending a control signal to a second network input/output entity to enable the second network input/output entity to perform an action associated with the obtained data. converting the data into a different format such that the data is checked against data, stored in the data warehouse, previously obtained from a different one of the one or more of the plurality of network input/output entities using a different communication protocol; based on the checking, automatically finding one or more actions associated with the obtained data in the data warehouse; and sending a control signal to a second network input/output entity to enable the second network input/output entity to perform an action associated with the obtained data. <EOS>