Will Every Product Get Its Own Subdomain? The IoT Naming Explosion

As the Internet of Things (IoT) expands from isolated smart devices to vast interconnected ecosystems, the question of digital identity for physical objects becomes increasingly urgent. With billions of devices expected to be online by the end of the decade—ranging from lightbulbs and refrigerators to industrial robots, wearables, and embedded sensors—each requiring some form of network addressability, the domain name industry faces both a technical challenge and a strategic opportunity. Among the most viable and scalable approaches emerging is the use of subdomains to identify and interact with individual products. This trend suggests a future where every product, component, or asset may not just be connected to the internet, but discoverable and addressable via its own unique subdomain.

The core driver behind this shift is the need for granular, persistent identifiers in a world where traditional IP addressing schemes are insufficient for public-facing interaction and human-readable context. While IP addresses can serve machine-to-machine communication, they lack permanence, semantic meaning, and trust indicators required for user-facing functions. Subdomains, in contrast, offer a flexible and hierarchical structure ideal for embedding individual product identities within existing brand or platform domains. For instance, a manufacturer of industrial HVAC systems might assign subdomains like unitA23.hvac.acmecorp.com or floor5.zone3.tempcontrol.buildingname.com to each deployed unit, providing a stable and understandable entry point for diagnostics, updates, or user interfaces.

This model enables a host of valuable use cases. Technicians can remotely access device dashboards via secure, domain-based URLs. Customers can log into personalized portals for their appliances or vehicles using intuitive subdomain naming. Manufacturers can push firmware updates or compliance notifications through endpoints associated with each unit, facilitating lifecycle management and post-sale engagement. Subdomains can also serve as entry points for APIs that enable cross-system interoperability, allowing third-party platforms to interface with products without exposing raw IPs or hardcoded identifiers.

Technologically, this explosion of subdomain usage aligns with the rise of DNS as a dynamic service layer, not just a static address book. Modern DNS configurations support wildcard subdomains, dynamic DNS, and API-controlled record management, making it feasible to provision and update vast numbers of subdomains programmatically. Containerized infrastructure, edge computing, and microservice architectures further support this model by decoupling the physical product from a single centralized endpoint. Each subdomain can route traffic to the nearest cloud node or local edge processor responsible for that product’s functionality, optimizing latency, bandwidth, and reliability.

Security and authentication are naturally key considerations in this architecture. To prevent spoofing and ensure secure interaction, each subdomain can be provisioned with its own TLS certificate, either via wildcard certificates or automated issuance systems such as Let’s Encrypt and ACME protocol integrations. Public-key cryptography can be embedded into the device at manufacturing time and linked to the subdomain identity, allowing for mutual authentication between the cloud service and the device. Subdomain-level DNSSEC records further strengthen the integrity of these identities, preventing hijacking and ensuring cryptographic trust across the naming layer.

The economic implications of this naming explosion are significant. Domain registries and registrars may see a surge in demand not only for base domains but for subdomain management services, dynamic DNS offerings, and IoT-focused infrastructure packages. Enterprises with millions of devices under management will require tools to audit, renew, and track subdomain activity across massive portfolios. New monetization models may emerge where subdomain usage is tied to service tiers, bandwidth caps, or analytics integrations. Naming conventions may evolve into product taxonomies that reflect supply chain provenance, maintenance schedules, or even energy consumption classes—each encoded in structured subdomain hierarchies.

Branding and user experience are also being reconsidered in this framework. As consumers interact more directly with individual devices, especially in smart home or consumer IoT contexts, the subdomain may become the digital face of the product. Instead of navigating to a generic corporate website, a user might visit fridge123.kitchen.brandname.com to reorder filters, check temperature history, or link their smart fridge to a grocery delivery service. These interactions are further enhanced by voice interfaces and QR code resolution, where speaking or scanning a product-specific domain initiates a secure, contextualized session tied to that physical object.

At the scale envisioned, traditional domain management models become insufficient. This has led to experimentation with distributed naming systems that complement or extend the DNS. Blockchain-based naming platforms such as Ethereum Name Service (ENS) or Handshake are exploring ways to decentralize the registry and resolution of IoT identifiers. These systems offer benefits in resilience, censorship resistance, and decentralized trust, but they face challenges in performance, interoperability, and regulatory compliance. A likely path forward is a hybrid model where DNS remains the public-facing interface, while underlying identity and credentialing are anchored in distributed ledgers or device-based attestations.

The risks of this naming boom must also be addressed. A poorly managed subdomain infrastructure could lead to naming collisions, security vulnerabilities, or data leakage. Misconfigured devices exposing admin panels or APIs via public subdomains could become entry points for botnets, as seen in previous IoT malware outbreaks. Governance frameworks, standard naming conventions, and automated configuration validation will be essential to prevent such outcomes. Industry consortia, such as the Connectivity Standards Alliance or the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are likely to play a role in defining best practices and interoperability standards for subdomain-based IoT addressing.

Looking forward, the use of subdomains as digital fingerprints for physical objects may extend beyond devices into parts, materials, and environmental systems. A single shipping container might contain hundreds of micro-subdomains corresponding to its contents, each linked to origin data, chain-of-custody information, and regulatory certifications. A solar panel array might expose each panel as a subdomain for real-time performance tracking and grid management. Smart cities could implement subdomain schemas for every streetlight, sensor, or public kiosk, integrated into municipal DNS zones governed by city IT infrastructure.

In this future, the domain name system becomes more than a tool for web navigation—it becomes a fabric of digital identity for the physical world. Subdomains are no longer mere extensions of marketing websites; they are endpoints for telemetry, automation, and human-machine interaction. The IoT naming explosion challenges the limits of scalability and imagination within the domain name industry, offering a glimpse of a world where nearly every object we touch has its own address on the internet—a presence, a voice, and a place in the global namespace.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) expands from isolated smart devices to vast interconnected ecosystems, the question of digital identity for physical objects becomes increasingly urgent. With billions of devices expected to be online by the end of the decade—ranging from lightbulbs and refrigerators to industrial robots, wearables, and embedded sensors—each requiring some form of…