The New Relic Platform offers a plugin architecture that allows users to monitor various technologies, including databases, caching systems, and network switches, with custom-made dashboards specific to each technology. This expands the possibilities for what can be monitored with New Relic, providing immediate and actionable insights in an easy-to-use UI. The plugins are made up of two parts: an agent that observes the system being monitored and reports metrics to the New Relic data center, and a matching set of dashboards that display those metrics. Users can set thresholds for specific metrics and receive alerts via email or other notification mechanisms if a threshold is passed. Plugins work by polling APIs, gathering metrics, and reporting them to a New Relic account, with minimal impact on the systems being monitored. The platform provides an SDK in Java and Ruby, making it easy to write plugins, and allows users to develop and manage their plugins using GitHub.