1. An apparatus for remotely managing diverse information network resources, comprising: a plurality of heterogeneous, remote devices of functionally diverse classes, each device providing raw information in one of a plurality of heterogeneous formats, wherein said format is specific to each device and to each device functional class; a protocol module located at a network management site and in communication with said remote devices for scheduling remote device polls to optimize remote device polling and minimize use of said information network; a values module located at said network management site for storing data obtained by polling said remote devices, wherein said data are representative by events that occur at said remote devices as the events occur over time, said values module being operable to store, retrieve, and manipulate said raw information, said values module including a time stamp for use in connection with recording a time of occurrence of said remote device events, processing time varying data from said stored remote device events, and for storing common groupings of said raw information; a nonprocedural builder module located at said network management site and operable to generate a data specification module; said data specification module located at said network management site and operable to store information that specifies device content and behavior for each of said heterogeneous, functionally diverse, remote devices in the form of a device specific representation, wherein said representation appears to a user in the same format for each device within a device functional class even though each functional class may include a plurality of heterogeneous remote devices; an engine located at said network management site, said engine being operable to read information stored in said data specification module and to generate said device specific representation for each of said remote devices therefrom and, based on the contents of said data specification module and said raw information from said remote devices, to control operation of said remote devices, to enable polls of said remote devices by said protocol module, to process said raw information in accordance with said information stored in said data specification module, to process said common groupings of said raw information stored in said values module from two or more of said remote devices to generate information characterizing inter-device performance therefrom, and to generate poll results for each of said remote devices in the form of said device specific representations; and a user interface module located at said network management site, and, responsive to said engine, for displaying said device specific representations of said remote devices at said network management site as a user controlled virtual panel.
1. An apparatus for remotely managing diverse information network resources, comprising: a plurality of heterogeneous, remote devices of functionally diverse classes, each device providing raw information in one of a plurality of heterogeneous formats, wherein said format is specific to each device and to each device functional class; a protocol module located at a network management site and in communication with said remote devices for scheduling remote device polls to optimize remote device polling and minimize use of said information network; a values module located at said network management site for storing data obtained by polling said remote devices, wherein said data are representative by events that occur at said remote devices as the events occur over time, said values module being operable to store, retrieve, and manipulate said raw information, said values module including a time stamp for use in connection with recording a time of occurrence of said remote device events, processing time varying data from said stored remote device events, and for storing common groupings of said raw information; a nonprocedural builder module located at said network management site and operable to generate a data specification module; said data specification module located at said network management site and operable to store information that specifies device content and behavior for each of said heterogeneous, functionally diverse, remote devices in the form of a device specific representation, wherein said representation appears to a user in the same format for each device within a device functional class even though each functional class may include a plurality of heterogeneous remote devices; an engine located at said network management site, said engine being operable to read information stored in said data specification module and to generate said device specific representation for each of said remote devices therefrom and, based on the contents of said data specification module and said raw information from said remote devices, to control operation of said remote devices, to enable polls of said remote devices by said protocol module, to process said raw information in accordance with said information stored in said data specification module, to process said common groupings of said raw information stored in said values module from two or more of said remote devices to generate information characterizing inter-device performance therefrom, and to generate poll results for each of said remote devices in the form of said device specific representations; and a user interface module located at said network management site, and, responsive to said engine, for displaying said device specific representations of said remote devices at said network management site as a user controlled virtual panel. 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said device specific representation is dynamically updated by said engine to provide current remote device information.