diff --git a/trains/storage/helper.py b/trains/storage/helper.py
index fb4b771a..6c745ba2 100644
--- a/trains/storage/helper.py
+++ b/trains/storage/helper.py
@@ -965,7 +965,7 @@ class StorageHelper(object):
 
 class _HttpDriver(object):
     """ LibCloud http/https adapter (simple, enough for now) """
-    timeout = (5.0, None)
+    timeout = (5.0, 30.)
 
     class _Container(object):
         def __init__(self, name, retries=5, **kwargs):
diff --git a/trains/utilities/check_updates.py b/trains/utilities/check_updates.py
index 860d4075..b66b68db 100644
--- a/trains/utilities/check_updates.py
+++ b/trains/utilities/check_updates.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 
 import collections
-import itertools
 import re
+import threading
+
 import requests
 import six
 if six.PY3:
@@ -308,7 +309,12 @@ class CheckPackageUpdates(object):
         # noinspection PyBroadException
         try:
             cls._package_version_checked = True
-            releases = requests.get('https://pypi.python.org/pypi/trains/json').json()['releases'].keys()
+            # Sending the request only for statistics
+            update_statistics = threading.Thread(target=CheckPackageUpdates.get_version_from_updates_server)
+            update_statistics.daemon = True
+            update_statistics.start()
+
+            releases = requests.get('https://pypi.python.org/pypi/trains/json', timeout=3.0).json()['releases'].keys()
 
             releases = [Version(r) for r in releases]
             latest_version = sorted(releases)
@@ -323,3 +329,10 @@ class CheckPackageUpdates(object):
             return str(latest_version[-1]), not_patch_upgrade
         except Exception:
             return None
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def get_version_from_updates_server():
+        try:
+            _ = requests.get('https://updates.trainsai.io/updates', timeout=1.0)
+        except Exception:
+            pass
diff --git a/trains/utilities/io_manager.py b/trains/utilities/io_manager.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..433cee61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/trains/utilities/io_manager.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+class IOCallsManager(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.threads_io = {}
+
+    def add_io_to_thread(self, thread_id, io_object):
+        if thread_id in self.threads_io:
+            self.threads_io[thread_id].add(id(io_object))
+        else:
+            self.threads_io[thread_id] = {id(io_object)}
+        if self._io_has_canvas_figure(io_object):
+            self.threads_io[thread_id].add(id(io_object.canvas.figure))
+
+    def is_plot_called(self, thread_id, io_object):
+        return id(io_object) in self.threads_io.get(thread_id, set())
+
+    def remove_io_to_thread(self, thread_id, io_object):
+        try:
+            self.threads_io[thread_id].remove(id(io_object))
+            if self._io_has_canvas_figure(io_object):
+                self.threads_io[thread_id].remove(id(io_object.canvas.figure))
+        except Exception:
+            pass
+
+    def remove_thread(self, thread_id):
+        if thread_id in self.threads_io:
+            del self.threads_io[thread_id]
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def _io_has_canvas_figure(io_object):
+        return hasattr(io_object, 'canvas') and hasattr(io_object.canvas, 'figure')