An alarm provider is a small program responsible for publishing alarm data. Alarm providers are based on plug-ins—a kind of software template. The provider is like a clone of the plug-in, but it is customized to work with a specific device (e.g. the Kaleido‑Alto at IP 10.10.50.3), or a specific category of devices (e.g. routers).

Some alarm providers are built right into the core of the iControl system. Others can be created as required from the GSM Alarm Browser window. These include alarm providers for video routers, Kaleido frames, GPI inputs, iTX, VBI, UMD and various third party SNMP devices.

When you create a new alarm provider, an instance of the plug-in starts running on the Application Server, and begins publishing its alarms to the GSM. There are two types of alarm providers: single instance and multiple instance.