Not surprisingly, the idea for ANX, which is intended to help companies that compete with each other, didn't come from any one car maker. It came from the AIAG, an industry group, based in Southfield, Mich., whose mission includes using technology to increase efficiency. At the time, each of the Big Three were planning to develop private, proprietary networks to communicate data with their suppliers. It was as if each automaker was creating its own telephone system for data transmission. That seemed absolutely silly.
Savvy hackers can eavesdrop on Internet transmissions with relative ease.
In mid-1995 automakers working under the auspices of the AIAG set out to build a virtual private network that piggybacked the Internet. AIAG spokespeople won't say how much the project cost, but they say that each automaker footed its share of the multimillion-dollar project startup costs in 1997 and 1998 according to its percentage of market share in North America. In 1999 a self-funding model based on subscription bandwidth has been employed. That way, ISPs won't get complacent about pricing and service and will constantly seek to add new features. If it's ever complete, it will probably be obsolete.