What I'd like to have, is an API for adding nodes, users, and alerts..
1) Nodes + custom properties. Very simple.
2) Users + account view limitations + password.
3) Alerts + email action template pointing to $TARGET using $SMTPSERVER.
I don't really care how the UI is delivered, as long as it can be called automatically from an external system.
Make the API in ASP.Net, XML, perl, SQL statements, HTTP(S) calls (with proper auth) or whatever externally accessible method you want to use. I will develop the systems on my end to make use of it.
From the standpoint of a carrier, this is pretty high on the list of needed enhancements. The sad part, it's not doing anything visible, so a large portion of your customer base will never know about it.
The use-case:
Imagine I've got 100 new nodes a week coming online. I don't want to dedicate the time to being stuck in the SW UI. Imagine that scales up to 200, 300, 500, 1000. That means quite a few new licenses, along with annual maintenance.
If that's not attractive enough, put a number on what it would cost to get this done. Maybe other customers would benefit from this as well, maybe we'll share the cost of the feature development. Maybe not, and we'll foot the bill for it, but it's ours, maybe you guys will charge a nominal fee, and it's yours, but that's all TBD.
Peter
