The barometer applet sits on the user's Windows desktop and polls data from 22 sensors located at key points on Interoute's backbone network, which spans 24 countries and around 57 000 kilometres of fibre-based networking.
According to Interoute, since it owns and manages Europe's largest voice and data network, its own data allows the barometer to act as one of the most accurate reflections on the state of the global internet.
Don't expect great things from the applet, Infosecurity notes, as the company says that - initially at least - it only plans on updating the barometer data every two to three hours, although updates will become more frequent in the case of serious internet disruption.
Plans also call for the internet barometer to be updated in the future with the addition of historical data and allied information.
In the event of the internet - or element of the internet - backbone coming under attack, the barometer will give details of the source of the attack.
For companies with diverse IP routing to protect their intranet and/or website, this could prove useful as an early warning of trouble ahead.
Interoute says that the barometer is not designed to replace online sites such as the Shadowserver Foundation, but is complementary to such sites.
The fact that it sits on the user's desktop, Infosecurity notes, means that it can sit in the background and only alert users in the event of an internet attack.
Of course, since the applet is dependent on the internet itself for its data, if your internet connection goes down - perhaps because of a local attack - then the data feed is lost.