Platform A was supposed to save AOL and take the aging service provider into a new era as an advertising powerhouse. That hasn't been the case so far, as Platfrom A has seen flat growth, layoffs and has apparently even competed against itself.

According to the Washington Post, the companies assembled under the Platform A umbrella -- Advertising.com, Tacoda, and Quigo -- were actually competing with each other and confusing customers as Platform A tried to figure itself out.

"We were confusing our customers. We were confusing ourselves. We had created internal competition among our sales forces that contributed to disappointing AOL results," said Platform A president Lynda Clarizio.

Those growing pains are over now. Despite letting people go as the assembled companies were reorganized, Platform A is now a series of unified teams and is ready to take advantage of the online advertising field, Clarizio said.

In the past few months, AOL has tried to jumpstart Platform A with new products that help small publishers handle their own inventory and a bid system similar to Google's.