For most applications, Merkato uses the control router’s ability to apply rate limits to traffic streams to enforce bandwidth The amount of data transmitted or received per unit of time. When we refer to acquiring or selling bandwidth, we mean the amount of information that can be sent over a connection at one time, at the allowed speed, without packet loss or excessive delay. Bandwidth is measured in bits-per-second. allocations. In this mode, allocations are dedicated to buyers whether they use them or not.
Merkato supports a less restrictive method of limiting bandwidth, which amounts to “bandwidth insurance.” Bandwidth insurance is implemented using weighted fair queue settings on the control router. In this mode, bandwidth allocations only guarantee a minimum amount of capacity In the Merkato interface, the term capacity refers to the total amount of bandwidth available from the Seller. that the buyer’s traffic will receive. If buyers do not use their full allocations of bandwidth, the excess bandwidth is returned to a common pool that all buyers can use. In the limiting case, a buyer could potentially use all the available bandwidth while purchasing a very small amount, assuming that all other buyers are not using their allocation An amount of bandwidth available for your use. Depending on the type of service being offered through Merkato, this can represent the maximum bandwidth available to you or a minimum guarantee of bandwidth available to you. during that time period.
We typically do not recommend using the “bandwidth insurance” mode; it tends to make the market for bandwidth collapse except during times of congestion. Only in cases where demand exceeds supply frequently, but supply cannot be increased, have we seen value in this mode of operation.
As the seller, Merkato gives you many options for manipulating the quantity of bandwidth based on current demand and market price The price for something that buyers and sellers agree on. Merkato establishes a market price for bandwidth during each spot market The Merkato mechanism by which bandwidth is traded, in a progressive second price auction. An optimal fair market price is established and bandwidth is allocated to buyers, based on their bids relative to other buyers. auction round. There is a fixed amount for sale, so as demand increases, prices rise. The market price is reached when the cumulative demand of all the buyers is exactly equal to the amount of bandwidth being offered by the seller.. The Merkato administrator configures some of these options during initial installation—these should not be changed. You can control some options on-demand by changing settings via a Seller agent. The program that interacts with the rest of Merkato on behalf of buyers and sellers. Buyers can acquire bandwidth by configuring their agents to offer the price they are willing to pay for a range of available quantity, or use their agent to request a quote for a fixed-price bandwidth reservation. Sellers configure their agents with a quantity of bandwidth for sale and a minimum price they are willing to accept for that quantity. These changes take effect at the start of the next auction. Some options can be pre-configured to act dynamically during an auction, based on changing market conditions.