For years the Lumascape was the standard bearer for the ad tech industry. It confused and perplexed everyone in the industry alike. So many boxes. So many point solutions. Where did it begin and where did it end? How could there be so many different offerings? It created a complex picture to say the least. As one smart ad tech veteran said, "the industry just isn't that complicated".

In developing WireDex, we decided to distill this confusion into easy-to-find industry categories, making it a simple process - particularly for constituent players, agencies, publishers and marketers - to navigate their way through the space.

WireDex is a global index for marketing technology and ad technology. What does that mean? When we started building the product we wanted something that was truly representative of the global ecosystem. Our intention is to develop multi-lingual versions of this site - starting with Japan, and then with a number of the big European markets to follow. As you can see from the search functionality below, you can search by category and country, giving you a granular search capability.

How did we break up the categories on WireDex?

Well, the industry is not that complex, so we decided to break it down into ten distinct categories:

- Buy-Side: self-serve DSP, self-serve buying solutions
- Tools & Apps: Resellers, Retargeters, Ad Verification, Tag Management and all point solutions
- Sell-Side Solutions: self-serve publisher exchanges, ad exchanges, SSPs
- Mobile: any mobile solution
- Video: any video solution
- Infrastructure and Development: open platforms, development providers, customisable technology, open source technology, and cloud infrastructure
- Trading Specialists: 100% programmatic buyers, trading across automated and RTB inventory
- Data: analytics, Semantic Targeting, DMP, data exchange, attribution specialists
- Ad server: any ad serving solution
- Ad Network & Sales Houses: any ad network and sales house

Clearly these categories will evolve as the product grows, and will be added to as more companies, particularly marketing technology solution providers, come on board; but we will strive to keep things simple.

Who will use WireDex and why will they use it?

We built this product specifically for the constituent players in our industry. Given that much of the decision making around vendor choice is dictated by marketers, agencies and publishers, we have placed emphasis on that group first. Traders and vendors might also be looking for global partnerships. WireDex was designed from the ground up to make that process easier.

Already we are seeing big uptake in use of the product. It is still in beta, but we can see some interesting user trends. Going forward, we can see many of the big holding companies and ad tech companies using WireDex as a knowledge base to aid research and assess potential ad tech partnerships - as well as seek out localised inventory/demand sources across different markets.

We deliberately kept the product lean to allow us to develop it around our core users' requirements. In the initial launch we added a ‘favourite’ feature to allow you to follow particular companies. This will lead to a personalised roll-out where we surface all kinds of content relating to that user's particular requirements. Why sift through countless blogs when WireDex can present the most relevant stories to you everyday?

What content will make WireDex valuable?

It's important to note here that our industry has become increasingly sophisticated, and the re-hashing of press releases simply isn't good enough as a data source going forward. The industry wants white papers, case studies and hard data that will allow them to do their jobs more effectively and make informed decisions on which vendor/partner to work with.

WireDex is an opportunity for those companies with great data-rich content to reach the decision-making part of our industry. We will actively encourage the posting of this type of intelligent information, featuring those items that we think create a valuable resource for the industry.

Is it free to use?

WireDex is free to use, and all companies will have a free entry, however a free entry will be limited. If any ad tech or marketing tech companies want to have a global entry, where they can add content as they chose, we will then charge an annual fee. If you are interested in getting into WireDex, please send your details here, info[AT]wiredex.com.

What about future developments like rating companies (a la the Forrester Wave)?

This could be an option as the product evolves, but again, it's entirely up to our users since they will dictate how we continue to develop WireDex.

We look forward to rolling WireDex out to the industry, and getting your feedback on the new solution.