Intel, Dell Technologies and Nokia Redefine UPF Deployment at the Far Edge
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Chandresh Ruparel, General Manager, Wireline and Core Network Division, Intel with an Intel® Xeon™ 6+ SoC (Clearwater Forest) at Intel’s MWC 2026 booth. (Credit: Intel Corporation) Cristina Rodriguez, Vice President in the Network and Edge Group (NEX) and General Manager of NEX with a Intel® Xeon™ 6 SoC (Granite Rapids-D) at Intel’s MWC 2026 booth. (Credit: Intel Corporation) At Dell’s MWC 2026 booth, Dell had the PowerEdge XR8720t. It’s a high-performance multi-node edge 2U server that’s powered by a single Intel® Xeon™ 6 SoC (Granite Rapids-D) with up to 72 cores. (Credit: Intel Corporation) The Dell PowerEdge XR8000 – shown here at Dell’s MWC 2026 booth – underscores the strong collaboration between Dell, Intel and Nokia to provide telco customers with different UPF deployment options to suit various business needs. (Credit: Intel Corporation) Dell PowerEdge XR8000 with Intel® Xeon™ 6 SoC delivers high-performance UPF compute to rugged, space‑ and power‑constrained 5G edge environments. Share In this article: Traditional centralized cloud clusters work well for dense metropolitan hubs. But to serve entire regions – including suburbs, industrial zones and remote sites – telecom operators (telcos) need a more flexible, distributed architecture.Smaller, strategically placed edge units bring compute closer to users, boosting agility, responsiveness and coverage across a much wider footprint.Nokia Edge Appliances offers high performance in a low footprint solutionA rapidly growing share of enterprise data is now processed at the far edge.Moving workloads from massive, centralized data centers to local edge sites near end customers is transforming how networks are built and operated. For telecommunications providers, this shift creates a new balancing act: meeting strict performance and latency targets while scaling capacity to handle ever-rising traffic and new real-time applications.At Mobile World Congress 2026 in Barcelona, Intel, Nokia and Dell previewed a new edge-based UPF (User Plane Function) device that offers a high performance, low-footprint solution for highly distributed network edge locations.Powering Nokia Edge Appliances is an Intel® Xeon™ 6 (Granite Rapids-D) that introduces new AI capabilities for enterprise far-edge locations and service provider far-edge nodes.It will be available at the beginning of Q3, 2026."The telecommunications landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, with enterprise data increasingly processed at the edge. This shift demands a new generation of distributed architecture that deliver unparalleled agility, consistent coverage, and stringent performance,” - Gordon Milliken, Head of Packet Core Product Management, Nokia.“With our Nokia Appliance, powered by the Intel Xeon 6 SoC, we are directly addressing these needs, bringing high performance, low power consumption, and integrated AI capabilities directly to the edge, enabling our customers to unlock new possibilities," said Milliken.“We are delighted that Nokia’s NFVI 5.0 Cloud Core Solution based on Intel Xeon 6 E-Cores is now complemented by a far edge UPF solution based on Xeon 6 SOCs,” shared Chandresh Ruparel, General Manager, Wireline and Core Network Division Intel.“As AI accelerates the transformation of mobile communications and changes how data flows through the network, we are helping our customers rearchitect their networks while balancing power and performance needs without the complexity of rip-and-replace upgrades,” Ruparel added.Numerous benefits that improve data processing capacity at reduced costsThe new Edge UPF – the result of a collaboration between Intel, Nokia and Dell – provides telcos with multiple benefits that span numerous vectors that network providers care about.They include: Flexible capacity: Scalable to handle large data volumes with high-speed connectivity Cost-effectiveness: Resources are optimized independently for the Control Plane and User Plane functions. High performance: A 30% performance boost of the 5G core UPF improves overall user experience. Energy savings: Significant energy consumption reduction through optimized hardware and software. (43% run-time CPU power savings with Nokia 5G UPF) Reduced latency: Data travel distance is minimized for faster response times. Increased reliability: Network resilience is enhanced through far edge distribution. Local service enablement: Localized services is enabled for specific business needs. 5G & WirelessIntel Xeon 6 Download all media Copy text from article Related Posts 5G & Wireless Postcard from MWC 2026: A Solid 5G Foundation Today Paves the Path to Seamless 6G Tomorrow Intel and Partners Preview a 6G Future That’s AI-ready, More Secure & Highly Efficient March 3, 2026 Artificial Intelligence Ericsson and Intel collaborate to accelerate the path to commercial AI-native 6G Companies aim to help the industry move from 6G research to commercial reality March 1, 2026 5G & Wireless AI + Mobile Networks: Intel Showcases What’s Next at MWC 2026 See how Intel’s proven 5G ecosystem delivers live-network AI inference on a single, open platform - maximizing infrastructure ROI today and paving a seamless path to 6G February 10, 2026 5G & Wireless Intel Xeon 6 Slashes Power Consumption for Nokia Core Network Customers Latest Xeon 6 CPUs with E-cores boost efficiency by 60% and performance by 150% over the previous generation. June 30, 2025