Dell unveils new AI servers & solutions for efficiency

Dell Technologies has announced advancements in AI infrastructure, solutions, and services aimed at enhancing performance and expediting time to value for AI projects.

The introduction of new liquid and air-cooled Dell PowerEdge XE servers and enhancements to Dell Data Lakehouse are designed to efficiently deliver advanced compute at scale and simplify data access for AI purposes. These developments aim to aid organisations in managing data and improving efficiency. Arthur Lewis, President of Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell Technologies, stated, "Getting AI up and running across a company can be a real challenge. We're making it easier for our customers with new AI infrastructure, solutions and services that simplify AI deployments, paving the way for smarter, faster ways to work and a more adaptable future."

The Dell Integrated Rack Scalable Systems (IRSS) programme, introduced earlier this year, provides a turnkey factory integration solution delivering fully loaded, plug-and-play rack-scale systems with Dell Smart Cooling. This initiative aims to simplify the deployment of energy-efficient AI infrastructure, with options for comprehensive service and support for the entire rack. As part of the programme, the Dell PowerEdge XE9685L and Dell PowerEdge XE7740 servers have been added to the Dell Integrated Rack 5000 (IR5000), which offers a high-density form factor and optimised performance without compromising energy efficiency.

The Dell PowerEdge XE9685L is a dense, liquid-cooled 4U server tailored for AI, machine learning, and other data-intensive workloads, supporting up to 12 PCIe gen 5.0 slots and up to 96 NVIDIA GPUs per rack. Meanwhile, the air-cooled Dell PowerEdge XE7740 utilises dual Intel Xeon P-cores and offers flexibility with its support for various accelerators, allowing enterprises to configure their servers according to workload requirements.

Furthermore, Dell plans to support the NVIDIA GB200 Grace Blackwell NVL4 Superchip with a new PowerEdge XE server designed for the Dell IR7000, with capabilities to support up to 144 GPUs in a 50OU standard rack.

Updates to Dell Data Lakehouse include AI-optimised hardware and a software suite, including the expansion to integrate Apache Spark, aimed at improving the management and analysis of large data volumes. Dan Stanzione, Executive Director of Texas Advanced Computing Centre (TACC), remarked, "The continued reimagining and improvement of AI and HPC technologies is critical to accelerating discoveries across industries.

With Dell's AI solutions, we are building complex HPC systems that allow innovation to thrive in research communities. Ultimately, these advances have the potential to reshape society and drive progress that benefits everyone."

Dell's collaboration with AI ecosystem partners focuses on enhancing AI deployments through updates to the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, which are claimed to boost performance and efficiency for AI operations.

Additionally, Dell's Agentic RAG with NVIDIA aims to aid organisations in handling complex queries using AI agents, leveraging various Dell hardware and NVIDIA software applications.

Furthermore, Dell is addressing challenges in AI talent acquisition by offering services designed to streamline AI adoption. These include Advisory and Implementation Services for Sustainable Data Centres, Data Management Services, and Design Services for AI Networking. Dave Vellante, Chief Analyst at theCUBE Research, commented, "Enterprises are pursuing AI to remain competitive in today's digital landscape but they need to harness their proprietary data to differentiate.

"We're seeing a resurgence in interest for offerings like Dell's AI infrastructure, solutions and services that can help customers prepare their data to extract insights, automate tasks, and transform processes. As we continue into this new era of technological innovation, it will be critical for enterprises to continuously learn and invest in innovation to realise the benefits AI promises."

The availability of these new Dell solutions varies, with some components available now and others expected to launch globally over the next year.