Cars, televisions, phones, even electronic books – all of these things have at least some versions that connect to the Internet. Today, individuals are using inanimate objects to go online and share content and data with other users via cloud computing systems. Going forward, there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight to the number of eligible items.

An article for CIO.com calls this the “internet of things” and suggests it is one of the fastest growing trends in the IT industry.

“This is a concept that describes how the Internet will expand as physical items such as consumer devices and physical assets are connected to the Internet,” writes Michael Cooney, the author of the article. “The vision and concept have existed for years – however, there has been acceleration in the number and types of things that are being connected and in the technologies for identifying, sensing and communicating.”

The integration of social sharing into household items is a trend that is only picking up steam. Will individuals one day use their coffee makers to share the fact that they are having coffee to their friends and followers? That reality may be closer than you think.

At the corporate level, the growth of employees using devices to connect to customers and co-workers will require businesses to increase their network support systems to properly handle increased web traffic. The ability to connect from additional devices will help increase productivity, but the lack of proper support will negate any advantages gained from the additional connections.

Companies should work with an IT services provider to that can offer the solutions needed to properly secure new connections and shared data.