Lenovo ThinkEdge SE100 review: An ultra-compact edge server that pushes AI power to the edge

Lenovo has been a key player in the edge computing market for many years, and its latest ThinkEdge server family offers a range of innovative solutions. The ThinkEdge SE100 on review is a prime example, as it delivers entry-level AI inferencing to the network edge in a chassis that Lenovo claims is 85% smaller than a standard 1U rack server.

The SE100 is, indeed, one of the smallest edge servers we've yet seen as it measures a mere 53mm high with the fan shroud, 142mm wide, and 278mm deep. This allows it to fit into spaces few other servers can, and Lenovo's mounting options include desktop, VESA, and DIN brackets along with rack mount kits for fitting two or three of them alongside each other.

It's geared up for harsh environments as the chassis is shock and vibration resistant and has an IP50 dust protection rating. The SE100 is cleared for continuous operations in ambient temperatures of between 5 and 45 degrees C, and the optional PCIe expansion kits offer a rear MERV5-rated dust filter.

Targeting applications such as ML (machine learning), augmented reality, smart surveillance with object detection, and edge AI, the SE100 has plenty of power on tap as it's available with either an Intel Core Ultra 7 255H or Ultra 5 225H CPU, with both offering an embedded Intel Arc GPU and Intel AI Boost NPU (neural processing unit). Memory is the TruDDR5 variety with up to 64GB supported, and you can specify standard 5,600MHz SO-DIMMs or faster 6,400MHz CSO-DIMMs.

Lenovo ThinkEdge SE100 review: Build quality and features

The SE100 is built like a tank with the base node tipping the scales at a hefty 2.4kgs. The thick aluminium chassis acts as a heatsink with a ribbed underside and an upper finned shroud equipped with dual cooling fans.

The air shroud is designed to maintain optimum cooling even if something is placed on top of the server, and it also allows Lenovo to dispense with the micro-fans typically found in edge servers and replace them with larger 6.5cms diameter fans to reduce noise. They certainly work well, as during testing, we found the SE100 to be whisper-quiet.

A range of power options are available with our system, supplied with a single 140W external PSU which connects to a dedicated USB-C port at the rear. There's a second USB-C port alongside for adding a second, redundant PSU, and it also doubles up as a local management port for connecting a mobile device running the XClarity Controller (XCC) app.

The SE100 has two on-board video controllers with the embedded XCC's AST2600 chip piping 1080p output to the front USB-C port, which has integral DisplayPort support. The two HDMI 2.0 ports handle output from the CPU's Arc GPU and deliver 4K video at 60Hz.

Network connections are provided by dual embedded Gigabit ports, and there's a dedicated Gigabit port for XCC remote management access. You also have pairs of USB-A 3.2 Gen2 ports fore and aft and two USB-C 3.2 Gen2 at the rear with both supporting DisplayPort.

Lenovo ThinkEdge SE100 review: Storage and expansion

The SE100 offers a fairly basic storage proposition as the motherboard has three PCIe Gen4 M.2 slots, with the first one supporting 2280 SATA or NVMe SSD boot devices. The other two are for general data storage and have room for 2280 and 22110 M.2 NVMe SSDs, but note that RAID is not available for this server.

The base node has a PCIe Gen4 expansion connector on its side, and Lenovo offers two expansion kit options, which are attached to the side of the chassis and increase its width to 214mm. The GPU kit supports a single-width, actively cooled card, and you can choose from Nvidia Quadro RTX 2000E Ada or RTX A1000 versions.

The network expansion kit is available with Broadcom quad-Gigabit or dual-10GbE adapters and includes two internal fan modules. The 1U2N rack mount kit supports two base nodes with expansion kits, and this doesn't require the node fan shrouds which drop their height to 1U. The 1U3N rack kit allows three SE100 nodes without the expansion kits to be placed in a row.

Lenovo ThinkEdge SE350 V2 review: Server management

The SE100 has the same XClarity Controller (XCC) 2 chip and dedicated Gigabit port you'll find on Lenovo's standard ThinkSystem rack and tower servers. The base system comes with an XCC Standard licence, which enables features such as system health and power monitoring, while a Platinum upgrade costs around £220 and adds a host of extras, including remote KVM, virtual media services, remote OS deployment, power-capping, and the Neighbour Group feature for managing multiple servers from one XCC interface.

The XCC's web console presents plenty of information about critical hardware components along with a hardware inventory and firmware upgrade tools. It presents a power usage table for the system, CPU, memory, and other components, but temperature data is not available, and the main utilization page only shows the CMOS battery voltage and fan speeds.

The SE100 is currently certified for Windows 11 Enterprise, Windows 11 IoT Enterprise, RHEL, Ubuntu, and SUSE Linux Micro. We found OS deployment is a breeze as we used the XCC provisioning manager's Effortless Install option to load Windows 11 Enterprise in 30 minutes.

The chassis doesn't have the motion detection sensors found in larger ThinkEdge systems such as the SE350 V2, but tamper detection events can be linked to the XCC, and if a cover is removed, it will initiate a system lockdown mode. More platform security is evident as the SE100 employs Silicon Root of Trust for supply chain integrity, it supports SEDs (self-encrypting SSDs), and the XCC System Guard feature takes reference snapshots of the current system inventory and can stop the server from booting if changes are detected.

Lenovo ThinkEdge SE100 review: Is it worth it?

With prices for base nodes starting in the £3-4K price range, the ThinkEdge SE100 offers a tempting solution to SMBs that thought edge computing was beyond their budget. The Intel Core Ultra hybrid CPUs are quite capable of handling demanding tasks such as entry-level AI inferencing and the system can be easily expanded with a more powerful Nvidia GPU if needed.

Its rugged build and compact dimensions allow it to be deployed in environments that would be no-go areas for standard servers and the smart cooling design makes for silent running. The ThinkEdge SE100 is an impressive little edge server that will appeal to a wide range of businesses and the multiple deployment options makes it incredibly versatile.

Lenovo ThinkEdge SE100 specifications