- Intel shut down On Demand after customers refused to pay for dormant silicon
- SDSi archiving marks the end of hardware features sold as add-ons
- Cloud buyers rejected fees for capabilities already built into processors
Intel has decided to halt its in-use hardware upgrade efforts with little public explanation or official announcement.
The Software Defined Silicon initiative, later called Intel On Demand, was effectively abandoned after years of limited visibility and patchy maintenance.
Evidence of this change has emerged through the archiving of the Intel SDSi GitHub repository and the removal of most support pages from Intel’s own website.
Software updates are broken
Software updates related to the feature have also stopped appearing, reinforcing the feeling that the program has reached its end.
This marks a sharp step back from the idea that processor capabilities could be unlocked after purchase via additional payments.
Intel On Demand was built around select Xeon processors that ship with accelerators and security features disabled by default.
Customers had to pay either once or on consumption-based terms to enable features such as QuickAssist, Data Streaming Accelerator or In Memory Analytics Accelerator.
According to the company, this provided flexible access to the silicon already on the chip, but in practice adoption remained limited and inconsistent.
Large cloud operators, which buy processors in massive quantities, have shown little interest in paying extra to unlock features on hardware they already own.
Small business buyers also faced uncertainty regarding long-term costs and operational complexity.
The decision to move away from Intel On Demand is inevitably reminiscent of Intel’s Upgrade Service from the early 2010s, which allowed owners of a low-end Pentium processor to unlock additional cache and Hyper Threading by purchasing an activation code.
Although limited to a single model, the reaction from the specialist press and the enthusiast community was rapid and hostile. The service was widely criticized and quickly discontinued.
Even though Intel On Demand operated in a different market and on a much larger scale, both efforts relied on the same basic principle of charging for access to dormant silicon features.
The pay-for-processor-features model has repeatedly struggled to gain acceptance, regardless of market segment or brand.
Hardware buyers typically expect physical capabilities to be fully available at the point of sale, with software licensing treated as a separate concern.
By archiving SDSi and letting associated documentation disappear, Intel appears to accept that this approach did not meet customer expectations.
Via TechPowerUp
Follow TechRadar on Google News And add us as your favorite source to get our news, reviews and expert opinions in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can too follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form and receive regular updates from us on WhatsApp Also.
