Absolutely - people could create a 'named' suite of test/pings via a web interface, then trigger that named test or suite of tests via the API: pingbrigade.com/api/run/?userKey=XXX&suite=foo
...I would look for a business case before investing too much time! :-)
The service we use (globalnetwatch.com) will log in to our app using credentials we supplied, executes transactions we specify such as loading a specific page or bringing back results from a web service, tests the results(there is numeric data at this spot on the page, etc.) and emails us a daily status. It runs every 15 mins and alerts us immediately if there is an issue. We get to choose how many different locations they test from both within and outside the US.
Pings and page load are just the tip of the iceberg.
Interesting - Actually, I built Femtoo.com which can be used for a similar purpose! But I have JUST posted this article about my content extraction web service cQuery.com:
Thank you for pointing it out. I think there is a ton I could do with the infrastructure that supports this (multiple servers capable of doing HTTP and ICMP requests).
...I would look for a business case before investing too much time! :-)