"The car has been pretty much disconnected," Bob McKenzie, general manager of the Automotive Business Unit of Microsoft, said during a Convergence 2000 press conference to introduce Car.NET - a computing and communications framework that brings telematics and the Internet into a vehicle via any service delivered to any device.

The framework for Car.NET includes the infrastructure and tools for building and operating services as well as in-vehicle computing and communicating devices powered by Windows CE for Automotive, and wireless delivery of services to mobile devices via the Microsoft Mobile Information Server for Automotive.

Working with industry partners, Microsoft will provide an array of services such as support for synchronized e-mail, e-mail browsing, and remote software update. Car.NET's open standards framework allows Microsoft partners to provide embedded and portable in-vehicle devices, server solutions, business services, and consumer services.

A key cog of the just-announced Car.NET framework is the Windows CE for Automotive Version 3 operating system. McKenzie noted that Bosch and Denso officials have stated their intentions to build and ship in-vehicle devices based on Microsoft's newest automotive software platform, while Aisin AW Co. Ltd., Clarion Co. Ltd., Xanavi Informatics Corp., and Mitsui & Co. Ltd. have announced plans to develop systems and software applications on Windows CE for Automotive.

Industry watchers predict that 50% of all new cars in 2006 will have telematics capabilities.