Glossary Term

Capacity on Demand

A feature allowing dormant processor or memory capacity already installed in a Power server to be activated without a physical hardware change.

Definition

Many Power servers ship with more physical processor or memory capacity than is initially activated. Capacity on Demand lets buyers activate that dormant capacity later through a feature code purchase, without swapping physical hardware or taking extended downtime.

This matters for buyers evaluating growth headroom, since a server with unused Capacity on Demand potential can sometimes solve a capacity problem faster and cheaper than a full server replacement.

Example

A server hitting its processor ceiling might have dormant cores available for Capacity on Demand activation instead of requiring a full hardware upgrade.