multi core processors

We are beginning to look at the purchase of a Power 9 to replace our Power
6. In reading the announcement letter we see the following:





The 4-core Power S914 server offers entry clients running AIX, IBM i, or
Linux a entry server based on POWER9 technology. It uses a typical 2.3 to
3.8 GHz (max) POWER9 Processor Card (#EP10) with processor core activation
feature (#EP40). All four processor cores must be activated, but factory
deconfiguration feature (#2319) is supported. The chargeable feature EP40 is
used for these activations.



And



A maximum of one processor with four processor cores (#EP10), .. All
processor cores must be activated. The following defines the allowed
quantities of processor activation entitlements.

. One 4-core, typical 2.3 to 3.8 GHz (max) processor (#EP10) requires that
four processor activation codes be ordered. A maximum of four processor
activations (#EP40) is allowed.

So it seems that we have to order activation for all 4 cores (although the
price list is blank on this cost) but it can be ordered with cores
deconfigured (which I would assume there is also a cost for-but again the
price list is silent). It has been suggested to us that such systems are
typically ordered with only 1 core active and additional cores can be
activated later for a hefty some and also require the purchase of an
additional OS license. This doesn't sound right to us and are hoping someone
can offer some clarification.





Regards,



Jim Hawkins

Programmer Analyst

Interkal LLC

Kalamazoo, MI