• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 1, 2012

Vedant Sampath, the newly appointed chief technology officer at Mediaocean, the ad transaction processor that was created by the merger of Donovan Data Systems and MediaBank, joins just weeks before it introduces a major upgrade to its buying system for ad agencies.

The upgrade is significant because it will introduce the company’s so-called “open platform” operating system designed to allow media companies and third-party vendors, such as ratings and market research companies, to easily interface with the system.

The system is designed to accommodate all media -- traditional and digital -- with the ability to add new channels seamlessly as they emerge, said Sampath. “It will be all tied together so that agencies can customize and build applications,” that they believe will give them a competitive advantage, said Sampath, who joined Mediaocean from Operative, where he was also CTO.
 
Also featured in the new system will be an automated RFP setup that enables media buyers and sellers to communicate throughout the transaction process, eliminating many manual inputs and faxing back and forth.

For users of past versions of Donovan’s system, the upgrade may seem dramatic. Donovan operated a closed system that was legendary for being difficult to integrate data from outside systems. That said, John Bauschard, president of Platforms at Mediaocean, notes that integration wasn’t exactly top of mind when Donovan designed its system decades ago. “Everything was fairly siloed back then,” he said.

While third-party providers may have an easier time integrating their own systems on Mediaocean’s new open platform, they will have to make a case that Mediaocean agency clients want their products. Otherwise, they may not have access to the platform.

“Everybody wants to be connected in some way,” Bauschard said. But the company will be making decisions about which third parties have access (and what degree of access) based on client needs and what makes sense from an “efficiency” basis, he said.