Network Monitoring and Management -- FREE*

How would you like to get your network monitoring and management software for nothing? Sounds good, right? But what if that free network help desk came with advertising? Spiceworks is hoping that it's a trade-off that will appeal to many smaller companies.Spiceworks is InformationWeek's Startup Of The Week, for its ad-supported network management software.

Designed to be the "Salesforce.com of IT" for companies with fewer than 250 employees and up to 5 IT staffers, Spiceworks IT Desktop includes

* Automatic PC and software inventory and IT asset reporting * Network monitoring and troubleshooting * An IT help desk * A fast-growing IT community.

The program runs on Windows, and thus doesn't even require users to be familiar with Linux. You just have to be willing to put up with Google Adsense ads covering some 15% of the screen.

Seems worth it for companies where network management isn't particularly mission critical...