Inside Dell’s Backpack‑Sized XR9700: The Server Dell Says Creates A Brand‑New Category

Dell is taking aim at far‑edge and telecom deployments with the new PowerEdge XR9700 — a rugged, liquid‑cooled, backpack‑sized server engineered for Cloud RAN and AI workloads in extreme outdoor environments. Here’s what partners need to know.

Dell Technologies has pioneered a “brand-new category" of servers for the far edge targeted at the telecom service provider market with its new backpack-sized PowerEdge XR9700, the result of a two-year, multimillion-dollar research and development effort, said Dell Senior Director of Product Management Charles Tsai.

The new server, which weighs in at about 40 pounds, opens the door to new services, new revenue models and new opportunities for telecom providers and solution providers alike, said Tsai.

The PowerEdge XR9700 boasts what Dell is calling a “first-of-its-kind closed-loop liquid-cooled, fully-enclosed, ruggedized server engineered to run 5G Cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) edge AI workloads in unprotected outdoor environments.

The new PowerEdge XR9700, which was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 25, is considerably smaller than any and all far edge competitive offerings that tend to be bulkier and consume much more power, limiting the use of those servers in harsh far edge telecom environments, said Tsai.

In contrast, Dell said the XR9700 is designed to “mount on utility poles, rooftops and building exteriors,” bringing high-performance edge computing to “remote locations and space constrained” facilities.

“This is significantly smaller (than competing edge servers) and what that does is open up opportunities for either telcos or partners to now deliver massive compute resources at the far edge of the network,” said Tsai. “This is going to be a brand-new category. We are very excited about making this product available.”

The new form factor opens up significant opportunities to deliver breakthrough new services at the far edge particularly in the explosive AI market including video surveillance to detect potential fire or security threats using a 5G network, said Tsai. “Edge AI is one of the most exciting use cases,” he said.

Dell — which uses the tagline for the new server ‘Take Compute Where Only Radios Could Go’ — is working with Intel and other partners to develop a catalogue of edge AI use cases.

In addition, Dell is working with its ISV partners to “minimize” the memory footprint of those applications. “We know that a lot of times when software developers are rushing to deliver code they usually don’t take a lot of time to optimize their memory footprint. Now they recognize this is going to become essential for their software to be deployed.”

Dell did not release pricing for the PowerEdge XR9700, which will ship in the second half of this year.

Here are five things you need to know about the new Dell PowerEdge XR9700, which Dell is calling the “industry’s first outdoor x86”-based server for Cloud RAN and far edge environments.

Dell’s Vision For Open Compute Has Resulted In A New Server Category

Dell’s vision for open compute at the far edge fueled the development of the PowerEdge XR9700, said Tsai.

“Historically owners and customers tend to use appliances at the far edge of the network,” he said. “They work great but they are single purpose appliances. So they are limited. They don’t have the opportunity to grow new services when something exciting like AI shows up. “

Dell’s “open compute” vision from the cloud to the data center to the far edge of the network has opened up “limitless” opportunities to add additional services on top of the existing network, said Tsai.

Telecom service providers can now add on new AI intelligent edge video recognition services on top of the existing 5G mobile connectivity platform.

Tsai said he is particularly excited by the ability to deploy AI-based fire recognition and security surveillance at the far edge. “Imagine a 24-hour AI (system) that monitors your location for things like fire,” he said. “How powerful is that!”

The PowerEdge XR9700 is based on Intel’s Xeon 6 SoC with integrated Intel vRAN Boost technology and Intel AMX technology. The Xeon 6 processor provides up to 40 cores for performance intensive applications.

A Midmarket Enterprise Game Changer

The PowerEdge XR9700 opens up new possibilities for midmarket enterprise-focused partners to deliver a zero footprint server that is highly reliable in hard conditions including manufacturing sites, said Tsai.

In fact, the PowerEdge XR9700 is IP66 (Ingress Protection) rated opening up the use of the server in environments where dust and pressurized water could knock out a server. “Even in a manufacturing sites where you might have a lot of contamination and metal dust you are protected,” said Tsai.

Tsai said the ability to operate the PowerEdge XR9700 in any type of “extreme environment” will open up new application opportunities for solution providers focused on enterprise midmarket customers, said Tsai.

Tsai said the new server is a “time to market” game changer for customers since it can be used at the far edge in an environment where current servers would come up short, said Tsai.

The ability to deliver a new class of applications at the far edge is also going to change the enterprise midmarket landscape, said Tsai.

In fact, he said, the PowerEdge XR9700 opens up “limitless” amount of SaaS applications particularly applications that can run locally at the far edge.

Breakthrough Closed‑Loop Liquid Cooling

The key to bringing the new category of far edge server to market was the closed loop liquid cooling thermal innovation that Dell brough to the PowerEdge XR9700, said Tsai.

The Dell liquid cooling design,which was done in conjunction with Dell partners, is a big differentiator versus traditional edge appliances that are much heavier with big heat sinks, said Tsai.

“By creating a closed-loop liquid solution that really optimizes where the power is coming from on the key components is how we were able to create a form factor so small and so light,” he said.

Dell said the PowerEdge XR9700 runs even up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Ultimately, Dell was able to harness its innovation engine to get a far edge server that was powerful enough and small enough to be deployed at the far edge while managing the “power consumption and thermal control,” said Tsai.

“What makes Dell unique is we have access to the world’s biggest component vendors and we are able to pick and choose the best of them and put together the most innovative solution for our customers,” he said.

New Opportunities For Service Providers To ‘Monetize’ At The Far Edge

The biggest benefit for telecom and cloud service providers with the new PowerEdge XR9700 is the ability to deliver new money-making services at the edge that could not be delivered because of power and space constraints, said Tsai.

“I truly believe this opens up new opportunity for monetization,” said Tsai. “That has always been a big challenge for CSPs. This platform I truly believe is the differentiation they really need to focus on their business and services.”

Dell’s ability to drive monetization at the edge is a result of just how close the company works with telecom and cloud service providers, said Tsai.

“We work with them day in and day out to understand what is their biggest pain point,” he said. “We know for most of them 5G densification is top of mind. They are under tremendous pressure to provide coverage because everybody lives by their cell phones. The need for coverage and performance continues to grow with more and more applications coming out.”

A New Era For Far Edge-Based AI Applications

The PowerEdge XR9700 opens the door to a new era of AI-based applications at the far edge that heretofore would not have been possible, said Tsai.

“With the window of opportunity we have today with what is going on with AI, I just can’t imagine all the use cases that will be popping up,” said Tsai.

Citing the rapid pace of development of generative AI vendors like Anthropic, Tsai said: “The innovation around AI is just incredible!”

A retail customer, for example, will be able to analyze customer data instantly at the far edge using new AI-based applications, said Tsai. “Now you can do that without having to worry about having a local IT room to deploy this product,” he said.

Tsai said the AI applications are being fueled by Dell’s ability to deliver a cloud-based platform with software and integration with software makers like open-source software maker Red Hat and intelligent edge software maker Wind River.

The far edge cloud-based capabilities being provided by PowerEdge XR9700 open the door for customers to shift workloads between the far edge to the data center to public cloud.

“Once you establish that footprint at the far edge for a cloud platform the opportunity is really limitless,” he said.