Just when it appeared the advertising exchange market was saturated with companies moving into the crowded space, along comes startup Traffiq.

Ad exchanges have drawn heated interest because of their ability to capitalize on the intense growth in online advertising by automating and bringing greater efficiency to online ad sales. Right Media, the most well-known exchange, was recently acquired by Yahoo, AdECN was then snapped up by Microsoft, and DoubleClick, which has agreed to be acquired by Google, is testing an ad exchange in private beta.

Founded just over a year ago, New York-based Traffiq this month launched its own ad exchange, which has a number of features it hopes will differentiate it from the competition, such as an auction system viewable by the public, a rating system, and a revenue share model that does not charge sellers of ads.

Traffiq, which closed a series A of about $7 million led by Court Square Ventures in September, 2006, offers its service for advertisers and publishers to manage the ad buying and selling process. The company also provides free ad serving.

Traffiq allows any member of the public to view inventory that is up for sale on the auction. A recent check found inventory from big publishers such as TimeOut New York, TV Guide, Whitepages.com, and Rolling Stone. This is contrary to many exchanges where it is necessary to become a member to view auctions.

Mark Kahn, Traffiq CEO, said this open information policy is in reaction to his experience with blind ad networks that give buyers little control over inventory and give sellers little control of their results.

“In an open market, market forces will rule the day,” Mr. Kahn said. “You get the truest value for the inventory that the market will bear. We democratized access to data so everyone will have the same data.”

Jupiter Research’s advertising analyst Emily Riley recently praised Traffiq, comparing it favorably to DoubleClick’s Atlas and MediaVisor tools. “If many good publishers choose to offer their inventory, [Traffiq] could improve the lives of media planners everywhere,” Ms. Riley wrote on her blog.

Traffiq also allows buyers and sellers to arrange sales of inventory far in advance, which differs from many existing exchanges, which often auction off inventory at the last minute before it appears online.

Selling in advance is more in line with how media buyers are used to doing business with other platforms such as television’s “upfront” market, Mr. Kahn noted.

Traffiq also auctions in advance because the inventory is normally premium inventory on major web sites, not remnant or unsold inventory that is often unloaded on many ad exchanges.

Most large publishers traditionally sell only about 20 percent to 30 percent of their inventory through a human sales force, and unload the rest at firesale prices to networks or exchanges, according to Mr. Kahn.

Because Traffiq sets up its auctions ahead of time for that remaining 70 to 80 percent, the bulk of that inventory can be sold at very good rates, Mr. Kahn said. Everything up to about the last 10 percent, which is at the last minute unloaded, can be sold this way.

Traffiq also has a different revenue share approach than many ad networks and exchanges. The company charges the seller a flat 30 percent commission, but does not charge the buyer. Many exchanges and networks charge on the buy side.

The challenge for Traffiq will be attracting a critical mass of inventory—the key to any ad exchange or network—in order to compete with Right Media, AdECN, and DoubleClick, which are expected to see big spikes in liquidity due to their recent or  pending acquisitions by tech giants.

But Traffiq hopes that its slew of new features, as well as the industry connections of its executives, will mean big growth in this hot market.