Although the management of resources is essential
for realizing a computational grid, providing an efficient resource
allocation mechanism is a complex undertaking. Since Grid
providers and consumers may be independent bodies, negotiation
among them is necessary. The contribution of this paper
is showing that market-driven agents (MDAs) are appropriate
tools for Grid resource negotiation.MDAs are e-negotiation agents
designed with the flexibility of: 1) making adjustable amounts of
concession taking into account market rivalry, outside options,
and time preferences and 2) relaxing bargaining terms in the
face of intense pressure. A heterogeneous testbed consisting of
several types of e-negotiation agents to simulate a Grid computing
environment was developed. It compares the performance
of MDAs against other e-negotiation agents (e.g., Kasbah) in a
Grid-commerce environment. Empirical results show that MDAs
generally achieve: 1) higher budget efficiencies in many market
situations than other e-negotiation agents in the testbed and
2) higher success rates in acquiring Grid resources under high
Grid loadings
