Intel announced the Intel On Demand program, which expands the capabilities of Xeon Sapphire Rapids processors for a fee. In fact, this is such a subscription, thanks to which consumers, if necessary, will be able to access individual options and technologies. Thus, the company intends to reduce the range of processors, offering users to upgrade without replacing components, as well as pay only for the features they need.
4th Generation Intel Xeon processors, codenamed Sapphire Rapids, will get new security and acceleration technologies for specific tasks. Some of them will be disabled by default, as not everyone needs them. If suddenly users need this or that option, they can unlock it by subscribing to Intel On Demand. For example, technologies such as Software Guard Extensions, Quick Assist Technology, Dynamic Load Balancer, In-Memory Analytics Accelerator and Data Streaming Accelerator will be available upon request.
It is not yet clear how much access to the advanced features of Xeon Sapphire Rapids will cost. Apparently, the company will talk about this in more detail during the presentation of the processors themselves, which is scheduled for January 10th. At the moment, it is known that the Intel On Demand program only applies to servers based on Xeon platforms. Partners include H3C, HPE, Inspur, Lenovo, Supermicro, PhoenixNAP and Variscale.
Previously, Intel has already experimented with paid access to additional features of desktop processors. At that time, the Intel Upgrade Service program allowed you to get more cache memory and unlock Hyperthreading support through a software update. However, after receiving a fair amount of criticism, Intel closed it after a year.
Source: Trash Box
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