Although the auction allocation process runs continuously, there is no need for you to be directly involved at all times. Your agent can bid automatically for you after you configure it with a profile of the value you place on bandwidth. Your agent communicates with the seller’s agent on a Merkato platform called the Garage. The Garage is Merkato’s name for auction services it runs from a server. There are separate garages for spot market auctioning and for bandwidth reservations.
Once you configure your agent, you can either bid from your PC using a Java-based application, or communicate remotely with your agent as it sits in the Garage.
Bidding from your PC and operating a remote agent each has advantages. On your PC, the Merkato desktop display gives you real-time information about the auction and its participants. If you are not interacting with the agent, you can configure it and upload it to the garage. It will continue to run, and you avoid the chance of ceasing to bid if your PC crashes or you have network connectivity problems.