Patent ID: 7359969

Claim:
A method of managing and servicing at least one device communicatively coupled to a network, comprising: receiving device information, including at least one of alert information and status information pertaining to the device, from the at least one device over the network; storing the received device information; storing business context information, including contract management information that indicates which devices are covered by a contract with a service provider, and at least one of billing management information and order management information related to managing and servicing the at least one device; storing user access information, the user access information governing access to the stored device information and the stored business context information of the at least one device by a plurality of users; providing at least one of the stored device information and the business context information to a user of the plurality of users based on the stored user access information; and determining, by interfacing with an account system that stores the contract management information, whether the at least one device is to be serviced under the contract based on the contract management information that indicates which devices are covered by the contract.