I don't believe I can cover all the aspects with one post. But in a nutshell, Xlobby works with xml databases - there is database for everything movies, music, weather, RSS feeds etc. You can also create custom databases.
My suggestion was to create one or more databases which covers all your home automation devices. You can create custom fields for each device (name, location, status etc). You can also assign images (png files) to a given field for a GUI. Once you have the databases setup, your Perl script can directly write to the databases. Within Xlobby, you have all the functions to manipulate the databases - refresh, sort, custom search etc. and also there are various options to display the databases.
I hope you get the gist. You can always ask for specific help on the Xlobby forum.