At the end of the last century in the United States, everyone seemed to be inventing something.

Electricity drove a period of innovation

Within the space of few years, inventors came up with the light bulb, the dishwasher, the vacuum cleaner, mass production and the elevator.

The feverish pace of invention was due to one thing - electricity.

A century later, something similar is happening in America. A revolution has gripped the minds of entrepreneurs - the Internet and the idea of a world connected by computer networks.

Although one popular image of the Internet is that of chat rooms and porn sites, the Internet has become big business.

A recent University of Texas study concluded that more than a million jobs were now involved in the Internet.

Wall Street has given AOL a market valuation equal to twice Ireland's GDP

The computer network generated $300bn in America last year, and the Internet revolution is spreading across the world.

"Through these networks are going to travel power, capital, wealth, creativity, images and many, many other things," said Shelley Morissette.

He works for Forrester Research, one of America's most respected consultancies, and he says that no one can afford to ignore the network.

Tom Carver reports on the blurring of the line between customer and employee

"If you don't have access to any of these items, it is going to be very, very difficult for you to participate globally in these types of markets.

"In addition, individuals who aren't able to tap into this network are going to be marginalised as well," he adds.

The US Commerce Department recently released a study showing that whites and Asian-Americans have far greater access to computers and the Internet than black and Hispanic-Americans.

But, as with electricity, it is not the technology that matters but what you do with it.

Wired's Kevin Kelly: ATM users are both consumers and employees

When everything is connected, the normal rules of business go out of the window. Take marketing for example. If you own a company, the chances are that you are spending a lot of money and manpower marketing your products.

In the connected world, your customer will do it for you for free. If something is popular, word will spread through e-mail and the chat rooms.

The phenomenon has been dubbed "viral marketing".

Role reversals

Kevin Kelly, the editor of Wired magazine says the connected world is blurring the line between consumers and employees.

"If you stand at the ATM machine, are you a highly evolved bank customer or an unemployed bank teller? Basically, you're both," said Mr Kelly.

"You are doing the work that a bank used to pay someone to do, and you are happy to do it because you have more control," he said.

But it comes at a price. Companies can no longer control the information about their product. It used to be that companies guarded information jealously, but in a connected world, that proves to be counterproductive.

The more you share with your customers, and even your competitors, the more successful you will be, according to Tim Oren, an economist with the Institute for the Future.

Hot-wired Hollywood

"The business needs to be open to the customers. The most obvious and immediate impact is doing things like simply showing your inventory in real-time. Attempting to sell to your customer through ignorance is just going to go away," Mr Oren said.

As the network mentality takes hold, many companies are starting to look very different. Old divisions between employee and employer, consumer and provider are beginning to blur.

Virtual companies have both funding and a brand, but they buy a lot of the infrastructure. They contract with third-party Web hosting firms, telecommunications providers and advertising agencies, Mr Oren said.

If you want to know the future of the connected economy, look to Hollywood. There, 85% of companies employ less than a dozen people. They form temporary alliances to make a film and then disband.

MetalSite links buyers and sellers of steel online

The Internet is also creating entirely new types of companies called infomediaries, which are virtual marketplaces.

MetalSite offers steel companies the chance to reach hundreds of buyers at once instead of employing an army of sales people.

MetalSite President Patrick Stewart said: "The simple math will tell you there's not enough hours in the day or enough people on the streets to cover all the territory they need to or all the potential buyers that they can.

"Now using the Internet, buyers don't have to use shoelaces and leather. All the buyers need is an Internet browser, and they can find a seller through MetalSite."

Wired companies woo Wall Street

If you think this is a passing fad, think again. A blue chip firm like GE is already doing a billion dollars of business a year over the Internet.

And the value of the network is increasing exponentially. The more it expands and the more people join then the more important it becomes.

"We are basically wiring up the planet with this communications revolution," Mr Kelly said.

The Internet is said to be over-hyped but undervalued because we look for the revolution in the wrong places.

Certainly the valuations of Internet companies are absurd. AOL's market value is twice the size of Ireland's GDP.

But there is a reason for this. Many on Wall Street believe the companies of the future will be those that adapt best to a connected world.