Rails - Jul 2005 - Rails and a long running thread that collects information in the intranet

Hi,
I have a friend that developed a lanhouse application with python and 
cherrypy. It monitors the active machines, alter firewall rules, and 
provides manangement through the browser. I''ve talked to him about 
rails. He loved how easy is to  make database applications with rails. 
One question he made to me I didn''t anwser. How to initiate a thread 
that collect information from the intranet with rails ? I know @session 
is per client, then it''s no use here. Maybe hack webrick ? Please guys 
help-me evangelize one more programmer to rails.