The rate card is a tier-based reservation pricing
system, which emulates traditional telecom pricing but in a real-time "on-demand" form. The pricing is driven by a table where rows represent durations (e.g. 1 day),
columns represent quantities (e.g. 200 Mbps), and each entry specifies the price
(e.g. $40/month/Mbps) for the corresponding duration and quantity.
The seller fills in the table with the duration and quantity increments, as well as how far into the future reservations may start, the maximum duration of the reservations, and cancellation fees if applicable.
Buyers request quotes for bandwidth, specificying their desired quantity of bandwidth, and the desired start and end time of the reservation. A quote is immediately generated by interpolating the requested quantity and duration with the rate-card the seller has given. The buyer can then accept or reject the reservation. Once a reservation is accepted, the bandwidth is guaranteed, no matter how far in the future.
