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Intel Technology

Intel Officially Introduces Pay-As-You-Go Chip Licensing (tomshardware.com) 141

Posted by msmash from the moving-forward dept.
Intel has officially revealed its Intel On Demand program that will activate select accelerators and features of the company's upcoming Xeon Scalable Sapphire Rapids processor. The new pay-as-you-go program will allow Intel to reduce the number of SKUs it ships while still capitalizing on the technologies it has to offer. From a report: Furthermore, its clients will be able to upgrade their machines without replacing actual hardware or offering additional services to their clients. Intel's upcoming Intel's 4th Generation Xeon Scalable Sapphire Rapids processors are equipped with various special-purpose accelerators and security technologies that all customers do not need at all times. To offer such end-users additional flexibility regarding investments, Intel will deliver them to buy its CPUs with those capabilities disabled but turn them on if they are needed at some point. The Software Defined Silicon (SDSi) technology will also allow Intel to sell fewer CPU models and then enable its clients or partners to activate certain features if needed (to use them on-prem or offer them as a service). The list of technologies that Intel wants to make available on demand includes Software Guard Extensions, Dynamic Load Balancer (DLB), Intel Data Streaming Accelerator (DSA), Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator (IAA), Intel In-Memory Analytics Accelerator, and Intel QuickAssist Technology (QAT) to accelerate specific workloads.
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Intel Officially Introduces Pay-As-You-Go Chip Licensing More

Intel Officially Introduces Pay-As-You-Go Chip Licensing

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  • Might as well go all the way (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:03PM (#63078040)

    When you're going there, might as well go all the way and pay IBM for an actual mainframe with CPUs worth the name.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      you mean when ibm were actually ibm and actually had systems worth the name, not the sad shadow it is today, right?

      • Re:Might as well go all the way (Score:5, Interesting)

        by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Friday November 25, 2022 @01:32AM (#63078348)

        The recent POWER10 systems are excellent systems. We run IBM i (used to be called AS/400) 7.5 and it's an insanely good product that allows us to take legacy COBOL and RPGLE service programs and hook them up to node.js web services and the system when the subsystems are correctly setup, purrs at everything our busiest days can throw at it. Now only that, the enhancements that they've made to the DB2 product and the RPGLE language makes it insanely easy to write new code that incredibly powerful. Digesting a webservice and doing all the required logic can even be pure SQL with minimal RPGLE or COBOL to handle any needed system parameters.

        I don't deal with the z systems today but I've dealt with them and their performance is top notch and the CICS interface is as fast as ever and the IBM JVM on z is incredibly fast enterprise wise versus anything I've seen a Wintel machine able to push.

        So I'm absolutely curious as to what you might be talking about as I've had nothing but incredibly good performance on the i and z systems. I'm not doubting you I've absolutely seen horribly configured systems, but I'm just curious as to how you've formed your opinion?

        • Excellent compared to what? Have you attempted the same workloads on Milan or Genoa systems? Or even IceLake-SP? You might like the tools that come with the hardware, but without performance comparisons, such testimonies don't mean much.

          There were some Phoronix benchmarks featuring Raptor Talos II performance, but good luck finding anything else, even on servethehome.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by znrt ( 2424692 )

          well, fun fact: i actually learned my first coding at ibm back in the 80s. i never got my hands on a 360 or 370 but i have programmed extensively on s36, s38, as400 and z series for many years, i know them well and they are indeed very good, rock solid and performing systems with excellent developer and operation tools. they were also very expensive. also, best keyboards ever, hands down!

          however, those are basically the evolution of the same os from the 80s with discrete improvements. i wouldn't say that "d

    • Or you can just get superior AMD enterprise hardware. Intel's performance and perf/watt deficit is bordering on the enormous. Genoa is already available while Sapphire Rapids is not (due to Intel totally screwing up the launch thanks to major hardware bugs), and Genoa is a much better product. You have to really want those fixed function accelerators in Sapphire Rapids for the product to make any sense.

      Unless SDSi makes Sapphire Rapids cheap (which it probably won't), you would have to be criminally insa

    • Re:Might as well go all the way (Score:5, Insightful)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) on Friday November 25, 2022 @05:02AM (#63078530) Homepage Journal

      Or just wait until someone figures out how to unlock those extra features for free.

      That actually became part of the business model with some test and measurement equipment. The manufacturer makes a single model of oscilloscope, with software locks to limit bandwidth and features. Businesses will just pay for what they need, where as hobbyists will use the hacks that unlock everything. They get to serve both market segments with the same model, at different price points.

  • Welcome to the Mainframe world (Score:5, Insightful)

    by khchung ( 462899 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:07PM (#63078046) Journal

    So we went all the way from host-dumb terminal, to client-server, to multi-tier web applications, to VMs, to Cloud, and now back to the paying by the mips model of IBM Mainframes.

    What's next? Ondemand capacity? Let you buy and install CPUs without paying it up front, only activate and pay when you needed it? (Hint, yeah, that's available on Mainframes too)

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by haruchai ( 17472 )

      "What's next? Ondemand capacity? "
      Yup, surge pricing for extra MHz & memory bandwidth

    • Re:Welcome to the Mainframe world (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Canberra1 ( 3475749 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @10:15PM (#63078146)
      Mainframes had this forever. The deal absolutely stinks, because vendors had by the CPU or VM grunt, meaning companies like CA had to be paid more for nothing basically. Imagine upgrading your cpu, only to have 10 or so applications stop working demanding more money as well. (Software Vendor Timebombs). Thanks to IBM's trace capability, competent orgs developed emergency ZAP's to get around that feeble change. Besides INTEL owes us bigtime for the spectre like defects that were never fixed, but rejigged software to be up to 25% slower. Then do dumb things like remove SAS off the mainframe, by a cheaper licence for midrange and ftp data back and forth. Then paid an Indian company to remotely run reports, because the licence cost in India was way cheaper. Welcome globalization . I imagine VMWare licences would also be a nightmare in this situation. I also demanded and got free golden screwdriver upgrades. Eventually we got rid of the mainframe 5 years later than planned, because this licence sh*t was capex, and everyone hated that. If Intel does this, it will take 5 years or so to see people jumping ship to other platforms.

      • it will take 5 years or so to see people jumping ship to other platforms.

        The permanent solution will be Linux on RISC-V.

        It will take more than 5 years, but we'll get there eventually.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bws111 ( 1216812 )

        Amazing. You claim 'the deal stinks', then go on to say exactly why it doesn't stink. Much mainframe software is priced by the capacity of the machine it is running on. Thus, mainframes allow you to closely tailor the capacity of the machine to your actual workload. This saves you money on both the hardware (even more importantly) the software. If your workload increases, you can instantly add capacity. One of your data centers got knocked offline? Instantly add capacity to the other one. Buying a n

        • The deal stinks because the hardware is one that YOU are powering and that already has the capacity to run better when it's not artificially crippled

          See, when you buy more time/bandwidth from a mainframe or supercomputer, it's something they actually provide.

          It's the difference between someone charging you for delivery of a package (which is fine because it's a service they've done for you) and someone making your package sit at a pick-up centre for twelve hours for no reason, and charging you if you
        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by bws111 ( 1216812 )

            Of course not, and nobody claims otherwise. However, do you think the actual cost of manufacturing the chip increases significantly when features are added? It does not. The majority of the cost is in the development of the chip, not the manufacturing. And with configurable features, the customers who actually want the feature pay for that cost instead of charging people who do not want the feature. So the counter to your question is: would the overall product line (not individual chips) be profitable i

        • Example easy! Business BAU was running CICS/COBOL/DB2 in a VM or partition in mainframe parlance. Had to upgrade but parasites like CA wanted more money for tools/products, and so did German vendors. My boss called ISV's bushrangers. So we did a conversion and got rid of CA products and SAP for being parasites decades ago. Even had to dump STROBE after reports to vendors(evidence of no increased use) failed to get a discount. Moving to midrange, some expensive load testing tools that came with vendor lic

    • Because even doing nothing at 5GHz will still yield none result whatsoever.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      yea the minis gwt what the mainframes have had for quit a few decades already. What's new? I'd bet IBM was smiling when x86/x64 got virtualization a decade or two ago, they must have been thinking something along the lines off " yep we have had this running in production on mature platforms for decades, what took these x86 people so long?"

    • Some of Intel's press material seems to indicate that on-demand is what they have in mind:

      https://www.intel.com/content/... [intel.com]

      Looks like they'll let you pay a one-time activation fee, or they'll let you license on a demand basis.

  • A trap for idiots (Score:5, Insightful)

    by locater16 ( 2326718 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:15PM (#63078050)
    It's a trap for idiot executives. Would anyone knowledgeable in the world of IT ever agree to such a thing? No of course not. But put an exec in charge of purchasing decisions and they may just order "whatever is cheapest" and then later suddenly find it's not as good a deal as they thought unless they pay up extra.

    Of course by then they might be promoted for cutting costs so effectively anyway, so why should they care.

    • Re:A trap for idiots (Score:5, Informative)

      by CaptainJeff ( 731782 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:29PM (#63078072)
      This model has existed in the mainframe space, especially for IBM zSeries, for decades. It's nothing new is that world, and anyone who has worked with these machines, and is very knowledgeable about IT, would agree to this...it's very common.
      • Yeah, and I read the article. It is only planned for Xeon, so Intel server land, so I think a competitor to the zSeries.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Shinobi ( 19308 )

          The funny thing is, when people have been calling "the mainframe is dead!" for the last 10 years or so, I've been replying with "No it's not, Intel and AMD are slowly reinventing it with every new generation of Xeon and Opteron/EPYC".

    • Re:A trap for idiots (Score:5, Funny)

      by lowvisioncomputing ( 10234616 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:39PM (#63078088) Homepage Journal

      It's like the car manufacturers building heated seat into every car "to reduce inventory variances", but you having to pay extra to "unlock" the feature. Same with "pay extra for remote door locks." Ditto "pay extra for extra range or speed from your BEV."

      Shakespeare had it wrong. "First we kill all the MBAs."

    • same who Put in the raid keys for on chip software raid and then AMD made there version an free thing

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      maybe, or maybe not, i could think of scenarios where this might be super useful, think of burat cpacety for on prem cloud when you can't (perhaps for regulatory reasons), or won't (for internal police reasons, move the data off site into the actual cloud. o\\instead of over paying for cpu that would be idle most of the time, buy the capacity you need 95% of the time and lisence the rest for the 5% you actually need it. fewer skus for intel, resellers, and more fleexibility (at a cost ofc) for the costumer
    • Purchasing the hardware comes out of a different budget than buying the upgrade. So it's easy to hide in the accounting.

  • SKU reduction? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:23PM (#63078060)

    The new pay-as-you-go program will allow Intel to reduce the number of SKUs it ships while still capitalizing on the technologies it has to offer.

    Is that so? I always thought that the proliferation of SKUs was because Intel's production yields were totally crap so they were disabling features on chip functions that failed tests and just relabeled them as a lesser part. Are they finally confident in their production processes?

    • No. It's just more segmentation. They'll still have defective dice.

    • Yes, and to be fair it is not only Intel that does that, all the major CPU manufacturers do the same.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Megane ( 129182 )
      That's the problem I see... for anything more than features loaded into the management engine or added microcode, they would have to make a chip where the feature already worked first. Are they prepared to send out field circus to replace CPUs where the silicon wasn't good enough for a feature like unlocking a higher speed? It also means that if they want to unlock higher speeds, instead of simply binning, they would have to test every CPU at various speeds to know how high it could go.

  • AMD to win when Intel fucks this up?

    • If AMD doesn't do the same thing, then it has already buring Intel. However, I can't imagine Intel doing something so stupid without assurances that AMD won't play the same game.

      Either Intel is slicing its own throat, or there is an antitrust violation that needs to be prosecuted.

    • Other that or arm CPUs. It's a little weird to see Intel doing something like this just his arms CPUs are starting to become viable alternatives. Yeah I know they're not exactly there yet but they're not that far off and there are several arm CPUs available for servers with most of the tech world convinced at the moment that eventually x86 is going to be killed by arm.

  • Given your "stellar" security track record... you really think any intelligent IT person is going to want a processor that, one way or the other, is almost certainly going to be accessible via the network?

    • Yep, bunch of assholes. Of course it will be network-accessible. How else are they going to turn features on and off - RFC 2549 - TCP over Carrier Pigeon?

      "Gee, sorry, network outage, CPU now disabled, try again later."

      Rentier economy indeed. Bet you some id-10-t Harvard genius will suggest extending this to power supplies, UPSes, graphics cards, motherboards, a whole licensing stack. Because "what could go wrong", same as recommending central banks holding crypto.

    • Re:Sure, sure, Intel (Score:5, Informative)

      by DrMrLordX ( 559371 ) on Friday November 25, 2022 @04:58AM (#63078518)

      Intel already has a vulnerability due to the EFI interface that allows software to change voltage: Plundervolt

      https://plundervolt.com/ [plundervolt.com]

  • Will Linux play-along with this and can the DMCA be used to Lock in say windows server if Linux just happens to bypass / auto lock the cpus at full?

  • will supermicro and others be forced to lock UEFI to do this and maybe even lock IN MS boot keys / block loading your own keys as loading an NON MS ok OS may just let you unlock the cpu?

  • Cracked CPU's in 3,2,1.. (Score:3)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @09:53PM (#63078104)

    I, for one, welcome crackable free upgrades.

  • will the basic UEFI need direct internet access to check licensees now? and will this maybe open an back door to the basic firmware that can be used to hack into the system?
    I don't think that UEFI bios may have stuff like login into an VPN (and if so basic auth only) login into an web proxy (and if so basic auth only) to call intel own linces check server and if the network is down? the system is hosting an router / proxy / VPN in an VM? (you may have an COLD start up issue)

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by haruchai ( 17472 )

      will the basic UEFI need direct internet access to check licensees now? and will this maybe open an back door to the basic firmware that can be used to hack into the system?
      I don't think that UEFI bios may have stuff like login into an VPN (and if so basic auth only) login into an web proxy (and if so basic auth only) to call intel own linces check server and if the network is down? the system is hosting an router / proxy / VPN in an VM? (you may have an COLD start up issue)

      Embedded blockchain to inventory the billablel microtransactions even when disconnected from the internet.
      When it get's to a certain threshold, you get an alert to enter a code on the OEM site and get back a reset code.
      If not done within a specified time, the firmware will begin turning off features & reducing capability.

  • This is an excellent development. I can't wait to buy a 14th gen i9 14900K and use it to emulate a Commodore 64, therefore the upfront price will be - if on par with certain nano scale SBCs - around $5.

    Maybe I'll decide to do more with it once the latest kernel supports it better. Until then it's Dam Busters, Silent Service and Pools of Radiance.

  • I can see it now... (Score:5, Funny)

    by hAckz0r ( 989977 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @10:11PM (#63078140)

    C:\> calc.exe
    ERROR: Opcode FMUL not available. Please insert Credit Card to continue.

    • More like:

      FS0:\> EFI\Microsoft\Boot\winload.efi
      ERROR: Compute time expired. Please insert credit card to continue.
      FS0:\> EFI\ubuntu\grub.efi
      ERROR: Loader not authorized. Please choose an Intel approved loader to continue.
      FS0:\> EFI\ubuntu\vmlinuz
      ERROR: Non-enforcing kernel. Please choose an Intel approved Linux distribution to continue.
      FS0:\> EFI\Intel-Rent-Manager\vmlinuz
      ERROR: Compute time expired. Please insert credit card to continue.
      FS0:\> reset -s
      Thank you for choosing I

  • I avoid the cloud (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @10:51PM (#63078192) Homepage Journal

    I avoid the cloud because it's someone else's computer. The last thing I need is for my computer to also be someone else's computer.

    • >The last thing I need is for my computer to also be someone else's computer.

      It's not even your computer anymore. The icon on the desktop has been changed from "My Computer" to "This PC" to show this.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Between this CPU, the subscription seat heating from BMW, and the faster acceleration from MB, I feel like we're living in some kind of dystopian sci-fi world. The assholes who thought this crap up, and the execs who approved it should all be drug out into the street and shot.

    But from a business perspective, I'd really like to see the numbers. I don't understand how selling the exact same product at different price tiers can actually save the company money. Unless, of course, the difference in production an

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Jeremi ( 14640 )

      Between this CPU, the subscription seat heating from BMW, and the faster acceleration from MB, I feel like we're living in some kind of dystopian sci-fi world.

      It's only a dystopian nightmare if you're required to actually buy and use that stuff.

      For now, anyway, most of us can happily ignore the pay-as-you-go-subscription-model nonsense and buy products that operate under the traditional "you bought it, you own it" model, and most likely watch these "innovative business plans" wither and die from lack of interest.

      If/when this sort of thing becomes legally or commercially mandated, then would be the time to look to Katniss to deliver us.

    • With the BMW seats, you also pay for them once upfront as an option, like you always did.

  • How long? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Thursday November 24, 2022 @11:01PM (#63078200)

    Furthermore, its clients will be able to upgrade their machines without replacing actual hardware or offering additional services to their clients.

    How long will it be before the 'upgrade' will be time-limited unless you pay an additional fee? In other words, how long before you'll pay for the chip up-front AND pay a rental fee to maintain those 'extra' accelerators and features?

    From there it's a natural (to psychopathic corporations) step to have a literal EOL. Intel could decide that it's time for you to purchase new hardware, and hobble or brick your existing hardware to force you to pony up for the latest iteration. Anybody who thinks that can't happen really hasn't been paying attention.

    • purchase new hardware

      rent new hardware

    • The other question is, will the fees to unlock drop over time, as newer generation CPUs are released?

      If it's 5000 bucks to unlock something now, will it be 3000 bucks in a year, and maybe 200 bucks in 5 years?

      And how long will the unlock services in Intel side run for? Can you unlock the CPUs in 10 years time if you are still using that hardware?

  • Maybe I'll buy an ARM chip from one of the many out there doing 100+ cores and massively wide busses. Then attach my own accelerators (GPUs). If I want to spread my costs out instead of a large initial investment, I would have taken out a loan. Intel going the IBM mainframe support model seems like a dumb way to repeat history.

  • If carmakers like Tesla and Mercedes can do it, why not us too. Let's all excrement on the heads of our clients and make them beg for more. I hope that nobody buys into this dangerous trend and flocks to competitors instead.
  • For your engine to work to it's fullest, your computer to work to it's fullest, wife to work to it's fullest... Yea, i get it.

  • but some dipshit is definitely buying it.

  • If you can turn them on, some enterprising individual can turn them off.

  • Back in 2000, there was the AMD Athlon, which used broken trace to lock the clock multiplier. Using the "Pencil Trick", you reconnected a trace, and that unlocked the multiplier and allowed overclocking.

    Anything like this happening again?

  • But I already did that. I'm quite happy with my own computer, Debian Linux and 64 vcpus ;)

  • Do we really want a future where most people are renting not just their home but all their possessions? That leaves them vulnerable to increases in rent, maybe even forces them to work their whole lives with no chance at retirement and unable to get health/nursing home care if they ever need it.
    So you might think "haha, who cares .. I'm rich .. I own all my stuff" .. well guess what .. if a majority of the population rents and has no chance of feeling secure about their future they are going to come for you

    • They won't just vote for them. They'll actually get up and take your stuff.

      What people seem to miss is that the entire concept of private property rests on the fact that anyone can own private property, just as a feudal social structure rested on every level's sovereignty of their charges, down to a peasant being sovereign over his wife and her over their kids. Because that's how you justify a moral principle to your average person, and it's why so many not at all well off people in the US stand with the

  • But with regular chips that all consumers could use.

    All the enthusiasts hated the idea, and derided it, as did the online tech sites.

    I think it helped push enthusiasts into being even more prone to buying AMD. Perhaps there's irony there in that some suits and bean counters thought it would be a swell way to make up for revenue that was getting lost to AMD.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nojayuk ( 567177 )

      IBM actually did this back in the 1970s -- they had a range of mainframe computers that were sold at various price points but the CPU unit was identical, just underclocked and with partially disabled functionality on the lower-end models. The owners could buy an on-site upgrade if they needed more CPU capacity at which point an IBM engineer would arrive at their premises, open a panel and set a switch or two and job done. This was colloquially known as the Golden Screwdriver" upgrade.

      I can definitely see th

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by nojayuk ( 567177 )

          One issue going forward is that the chip manufacturers are pushing towards "zero defect" wafer production. They won't manage zero, of course but a lot more fully-functional chip dies will be produced per wafer in the future if they succeed. That would mean fewer lower-end spec devices available to the consumer since the lower-spec devices are based on high-end dies that fail part of their testing and have the failed cores and other operating units fused off. A partially-defective die with 4 working cores ca

  • This is a trend that's been developing in several areas, and not just in IT. The most obvious example is in automotive leases. You don't own what you're paying for, you only rent it. With IBM tossing their hat into that particular ring, they're signaling their willingness to exploit that approach as a means of boosting their revenue streams.

    Several others have already made the mainframe comparison, so instead of piling on, I'll just say that people should be grateful that trend is self-limiting...because if

  • Why compete when you can squeeze your customers instead? Here is a market opportunity to show your value, instead you push me on price. Hello AMD.

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