Dell Technologies got the jump on next week’s MWC Barcelona 2026 event, launching a new feature-rich and weather-proof PowerEdge server product designed to support telecom and compute use cases in edge locations, an AI assistant for its Open Telecom Ecosystem Lab (OTEL) push, and an addition to its cloud-native package of Telecom Infrastructure Blocks.

The new XR9700 server is encased in a closed-loop, liquid-cooled, ruggedized, fully enclosed IP66-rated box designed for “zero-footprint” deployments. This means it can be hung on utility poles, building exteriors, or placed on rooftops, or in space-constrained environments “where traditional data center infrastructure cannot reach.”

Dell claims that the product’s thermal management architecture allows it to maintain consistent performance and temperatures between 40-degrees below zero, and up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

The unit runs Intel Xeon 6 system-on-chip (SoC) with vRAN Boost and Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) technology, the former integrating radio access network (RAN) acceleration directly onto the processor and the latter designed for AI training and inferencing. This power can support fronthaul connectivity of up to 15 5G sectors in a single server and the ability to run edge and AI workloads in those edge locations.

Management is through the existing Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) for remote visibility and control for zero-touch provisioning, and Dell’s legacy Cloud RAN software that has been validated for the PowerEdge XR8720t model.

Charles Tsai, senior director of telecom product management at Dell, explained during a press briefing that the XR9700 is “designed to provide open compute resources at the far edge locations, and I believe this will be a key differentiator for many of our telecom providers that will open new opportunity for their network and also for their business.”

Tsai added that these new opportunities could include having the new server act as a remote data center.

"What makes the XR9700 truly different is that it bring the same high compute capability, the new intelligent by AMX for AI, as remote data centers, which allow telecom provider to bring new business model to their network," Tsai said. "This means operator can move beyond connectivity and start delivering differentiated services like real-time video analytics, automated industrial control, or latency application for enterprises and smart cities."

OTEL, Blocks gain features

Dell’s OTEL gained AI-Assisted Telecom Testing and Validation capabilities. These include the ability to act as a chatbot to help guide test engineers through script development, workflow optimization, and troubleshooting with context-aware recommendations, and a manager assistant that can help turn telemetry data into insight.

“Our objective is really to empower the industry to accelerate innovation, simplify network integration, and make the whole process of testing and certifying software much faster and much more precise,” Sandro Tavares, head of telecom marketing at Dell, said of the latest OTEL update.

This AI assistance is built into Dell’s OTEL ecosystem that was launched in mid-2021. These are housed in a number of locations around the world and are designed to provide a location for ecosystem partners to test, certify, and validate open telecom platforms and applications that can then feed into the packaged services Dell is offering into the telecom market.

The OTEL ecosystem also feeds into Dell’s Telecom Infrastructure Blocks program, which was launched in late 2022 as a way to reduce telecom cloud complexity. The “blocks” are pre-configured cloud native-based services designed to meet specific telecom workloads and use cases.

Dell this week added support for Nokia’s autonomous networks and core enterprise offerings. Nokia’s autonomous networks service are workloads related to service management, orchestration, security, and digital operations, while its core enterprise offerings are the workloads related to the termination of the data connections related to mobile enterprise data.

“What we're trying to solve with these is really as … part of the value proposition of Infrastructure Blocks is to really help communication service providers, the telecom companies, to transition from their legacy way of building networks – so legacy infrastructure – to really open, cloud-native architecture to give them the flexibility they need to launch new services, faster, monetize 5G, and really transform their operation,” Tavares explained.