A system for displaying data associated with network appliances includes
icons arranged in a display area in accordance with a characteristic
associated with the network appliances. This characteristic may be
related to location, alarm state, sensor value, or others. Further, the
icons may display visual indication associated with network appliance
parameters. Moreover, the icons may be superimposed on a graphical
element. This element may be a map, blueprint, image, or plot. Further, a
set of historical data may be replayed through the display by altering
the visual indications of the icons and the graphical element in
accordance with a sequence of values contained in the historical data.