Opening IP sockets to multiple destinations at the same time

Hi *, I'm not sure if this is the right list to post this question in - but since I can't find a subject specific list for this I'll give it a try. Some time ago I was working on a script that would query a bunch of servers for their status using through IP socket programming. It worked ok except for two things. 1) It didn't handle unreachable servers too well 2) When there are many servers to query the script would reach the max_execution_time limit before finishing. So, now I am wondering - Is there a method that can be used so a script can query multiple servers at the same time (open sockets to more then one destinations at a time)? If anyone can help shed some light on this, or alternatively point me to another list, I would sure appreciate it. Brgds, Christian