Linked Server Test

I recently found out that Microsoft had added a much needed component to linked servers in SQL Server 2005, sp_testlinkedserver. sp_testlinkedserver requires the @servername parameter and returns 0 if the linked server is available (success) and 1 if it is not (failure). I have seen several forum questions about how to check if a linked server is available and prior to 2005 you had to either check an error or a row count. This is a much needed improvement. Here's a link to the documentation of it: sp_testlinkedserver BOL.