1. A method of monitoring multiple pieces of remote equipment comprising the steps of: a) determining respective states of at least one parameter of each one of the multiple pieces of remote equipment; b) communicating information indicative of the respective states from the multiple pieces of remote equipment to a communication substation; c) communicating messages regarding the respective states from the communication substation to a computer server as incoming messages; d) enabling a user to remotely configure or modify a user-defined message profile containing outgoing message routing instructions, the user-defined message profile being storable at the computer server, e) determining whether at least one of the incoming messages is an incoming exception message indicative of improper operation of the piece of remote equipment; f) if it is determined in step e) that at least one of the incoming messages is an incoming exception message, forwarding at least one outgoing exception message based on the incoming exception message to at least one remote user-defined communication device specifiable in the user-defined message profile, wherein the user can remotely configure or modify the user-defined message profile by remotely accessing the computer server.