One option is to use alarm. Put the network command in an eval block.:

eval {
    local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timed out\n" };
    alarm(10);      # ask for an alarm signal to be sent in ten second
+s
    system("rsh", "blah blah");    # your code here
    alarm(0);    # if we're here, cancel the alarm signal
};
if ($@) {    # there was an error in the eval block
    die unless $@ eq "timed out\n";
    # move on to the next client
} else {
    # record the success
}
[download]

Good luck.