> cut -d ";" -f 2 <flat-file-name> > temp-file 

or how about:

awk '{system("ping " $2)}' <flatfile>

Ed Hoeffner
1-271 BSBE
312 Church St. SE
Mpls, MN 55455
hoeffner at dcmir.med.umn.edu
612-625-2115
612-625-2163 fax