- Dell introduced the PowerEdge XR9700R, a ruggedized server
- It's meant to be installed outdoors, on utility poles, rooftops and the exterior walls of buildings
- The server is designed for 5G densification and to bring applications near to where data is produced and consumed
The far edge is the happy place for cloud RAN, AI and other edge workloads. But the far edge is a harsh place for servers.
Servers are happiest in the data center, where the environment is clean and climate-controlled. The far edge is the real world, which is subject to temperature extremes, rain, snow, ice, dirt and altogether nasty conditions. And the far edge is exactly where Dell Technologies is looking to bring telco servers.
Ahead of Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Dell introduced the ruggedized Dell PowerEdge XR9700, which it claims is the first outdoor x86 server for cloud RAN and edge applications. The server, available in 2H 2026, is designed to be installed on utility poles, attached to rooftops and the exterior walls of buildings, where it's exposed to the elements. The hardware is designed to facilitate 5G densification and bringing AI and other applications to dense urban areas, remote locations and other spaces where data is created and consumed, and space and power are constrained, the company said.
In addition to cloud RAN, which it supports with up to 15 5G sectors, the server enables applications and services such as real-time video analytics, automated industrial control and low-latency applications for enterprises and smart cities, Dell said.
Opening new opportunities
"I believe this will be a key differentiator for many of our telecom providers that will open new opportunities for their network and also for their business," Charles Tasi, Dell Technologies senior director for product management, said. "The 9700 brings support of cloud RAN and edge AI compute directly to where the data is generated, and this ruggedized zero footprint solution will simplify deployment and enable operators to quickly bring new coverage and new services to the edge of the network."
The liquid-cooled server delivers reliable edge and cloud RAN performance in extreme conditions — temperatures of -40 degrees C to 46 degrees C. (In Fahrenheit, that's -40 degrees, or "wicked cold," to 115 degrees, or a mild summer day in Phoenix, Arizona.)
The server incorporates the Intel Xeon 6 SoC with integrated Intel vRAN Boost technology and Intel AMX technology.
Open RAN champion
Dell has emerged as an unlikely champion of open RAN and its cousin, cloud RAN. Dell introduced the Dell PowerEdge XR8720t server for cloud RAN and open RAN in October.
Also this week, Dell announced it is infusing AI into its Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL) for testing and validation, providing automation and intelligent, data-driven insights while making the process faster and more precise. The service embeds an AI chatbot into OTEL's Solution Integration Platform (SIP) to guide telecom test engineers and managers.
And Dell announced Dell Telecom Infrastructure Blocks (DTIB) solutions integrating Nokia cloud-native architecture for telecoms, including hardware infrastructure, cloud stack and automated deployment tools to accelerate telco and enterprise migration from legacy infrastructure to open cloud architecture.
Rounding out Dell's offerings
Overall, Dell's updates are "very strong — rounding out infrastructure, interoperability and deployment," said Will Townsend, chief analyst, LoneStar Advisory & Research.
The "purpose-built nature of the XR series" demonstrates Dell's continued evolution from commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to compute infrastructure that recognizes the specialized needs of telecom workloads and emerging edge AI use cases with great monetization potential, Townsend said. This transition is particularly important as operators seek to integrate AI into core and RAN infrastructure to unlock incremental average revenue per account (ARPA). The flexibility, ruggedness and liquid cooling of the systems are particularly compelling.
The OTEL AI upgrade "builds upon Dell's already robust platform to help service providers quickly and easily ensure open interoperability. This is creating stickiness for the widescale deployment of Dell infrastructure within telecom networks," Townsend said.
And the Nokia partnership enables operators "to quickly and easily move from legacy to open, cloud native architectures and do so with smaller footprints that balance the need for both high performance and lower power consumption," he concluded.
Read next: What Fierce Network is watching for at MWC 2026: AI, 5G and network transformation