1. A component audit and inventory management system comprising: a receiver, on a target device, including means for receiving an inventory-commence message from a client computer over a data network in response to a request from the client computer to a host unit for accessing hardware and software inventory data on the target device, said inventory-commence message being generated by the host unit and being sent to the client computer, said target device being remote with respect to and not connected to the client computer, said target device being only intermittently accessible on its own to the data network, wherein the target device, the client computer, and the host unit are separate devices from one another and are remote with respect to one another; a detector, on the target device, including means for collecting the hardware and software inventory data relating to hardware and software installed on the target device in response to commands included in the inventory-commence message; a transmitter, on the target device, including means for transmitting from the target device to the host unit of the component audit and inventory management system, through the data network, an inventory data message including the inventory data associated with the target device, wherein the client computer initiates access to the host unit for accessing the hardware and software inventory data of the target device; and an inventory agent comprising executable code for communicating with the receiver, detector, and transmitter.