A communication system includes a switch device communicatively connected to terminal devices and a computer device. The computer device is configured to initiate a connection to the switch device and, after establishment of the communication connection, initiate a bulk start-up of device monitoring for devices to which the switch device is connected. In some embodiments, the bulk start-up of monitoring can be initiated by obtaining an identification of all relevant devices in a reply to a single request sent by the computer device to the switch device. In some embodiments, the computer device can also be configured to send a monitor stop request to the switch device to stop the monitoring of devices.