ACG Business Analytics Engine

The economic digital twin for network & AI infrastructure decisions.

One validated engine for the economics you run internally, and the business cases you present externally. Every question gets a quantified, defensible answer instead of a new spreadsheet.

Start a 30-day pilot →Explore the twin
Economic modeling. Made simple. Made credible.
Why now

Every infrastructure decision now needs a CFO-grade answer.

AI data centers, cloud vs NeoCloud vs DIY, Open RAN, SD-WAN, network refresh: the stakes are larger, the options are more, and the economics are harder to trust.

1
Price opacity

Variable GPU availability and unpredictable cloud pricing make budgets hard to forecast with confidence.

2
Underutilization risk

Inefficiency anywhere in the GPU, CPU, network or storage stack erodes ROI and turns into real financial waste.

3
Egress & interconnect

Hidden costs undermine total cost of ownership, making seemingly cheap options expensive at scale.

4
CFO confidence gap

Boards want rigorous IRR, NPV, payback and resilience scenarios before they commit capital.

Result: decisions stall, sales cycles stretch, and buyers default to the incumbent or the hyperscaler. What wins: credible, analyst-backed economics tied to business outcomes.
The real bottleneck

Spreadsheets model one use case at a time. BAE models them all on one platform.

5GCustom logicCustom dataCustom resources
Open RANCustom logicCustom dataCustom resources
SD-WANCustom logicCustom dataCustom resources
BAE common economic platform
Service libraryService definitions, endpoints, infrastructure mapping, configurations & capacity, service cash flows
Infrastructure resource libraryApplications, VNF/CNF, routers, CPE, cell sites, servers & DC, infrastructure cash flows
Economic simulation engine
The platform

BAE is an economic digital twin of your network, services and infrastructure.

A living model that links demand, infrastructure and business analytics, so every question gets a quantified, defensible answer.

Inputs

Model DesignerACG economists build and validate the model logic
Excel / CSV input modelsYour pricing, volumes, assumptions and contracts
Use-case web UIGuided inputs for AI DC, 5G, SD-WAN and more
APILive feeds from network management, orchestration, telemetry and billing
ACG BAE platform●
Demand modelSubscribers, traffic, workloads
InfrastructureCapacity, resources, costs
Business analyticsCash flows, TCO, ROI, NPV
Economic simulation engine
TCO / ROITAMBaselineLife-cycleRFP modelingService profitabilitySimulationsSales enablement

Outputs

Interactive dashboardsCash flow, CapEx / OpEx, revenue, profitability by service and site
What-if & sensitivitiesUtilization, scale, latency, pricing in minutes, not weeks
Board-ready reportsPDF / PPT with a full evidence chain for every number
Continuous baselineAlways-current TCO as the network and contracts change
Explore the twin

Ask a question. See the answer, and what it depends on.

A small slice of what BAE does: where should 256 GPUs live? Move the sliders, then click any assumption in the sensitivity chart to see its evidence chain.

Illustrative assumptions (same as the homepage Decision Lab): hyperscaler $4.00/GPU-hr for used hours +8% egress & storage; NeoCloud $2.20/GPU-hr reserved; build/colo $45K per GPU + $7K per GPU per year, +35% refresh beyond year 5. In BAE these become your contracts and quotes.
Lowest total cost–
Saves vs next best–

What moves the answer most?

Each assumption flexed ±20%. Bars show the change in the gap between owning and on-demand cloud.

One engine, two jobs

Run your own economics internally. Win with the same economics externally.

Planning models and sales models usually live in different places, built by different people, telling different stories. BAE makes them one source of truth.

Internal economic modeling

Plan, budget and govern your own infrastructure

For operators, enterprises and vendors deciding where to put their own capital.

  • Build vs buy vs rent: AI DC on-prem vs NeoCloud vs hyperscaler, with the full TCO stack
  • Network FinOps: forecast and control spend, tie CapEx / OpEx to services and revenue
  • Refresh & life-cycle planning: when to replace, migrate or expand, and what it's worth
  • Service profitability & baseline: what each service, site and customer actually earns
  • Budget defense: technical decisions in board language: IRR, NPV, payback
Outcome: faster, better-governed capital decisions.
External economic modeling

Prove the value of what you sell

For vendors, service providers and partners making the case to a customer's CIO, CFO and board.

  • Customer business cases: TCO / ROI tailored to the account, not a generic calculator
  • RFP & pre-RFP modeling: shape requirements with economics before the RFP is written
  • Competitive comparisons: your solution vs incumbent vs hyperscaler, side by side
  • Sales enablement: repeatable, self-service models your field team can run
  • Analyst-backed credibility: independent, vendor-neutral validation the buyer trusts
Outcome: shorter sales cycles and larger, more confident deals.
Same models. Same assumptions. Same evidence chain. What you plan on is what you sell on.
Network FinOps

Cloud-style financial discipline for the network.

Control and forecast spending, align IT with the business and speed up decisions. The discipline cloud teams already have, extended to every network domain.

1Cost transparency & control
2A unified operational and financial view
3Business-aligned investments
4Performance optimization
CapabilityNetwork AIOpsAIOps + BAE
Monitoring & visibility✓✓
Automated troubleshooting✓✓
Performance optimization✓✓
Cost visibility across the network✕✓
Financial optimization✕✓
FinOps decisions integrated with networking✕✓
While others offer AIOps to keep the network running, BAE optimizes both the operational and the financial performance of your infrastructure.
Breadth

Every use case runs on the same validated engine.

Each use case is a model pack on the common platform. Add one, and every other model, library and dashboard is already there.

…and many more. Every new use case inherits the full platform.
In action

From inputs to board-ready answers, live and traceable.

ACG BAE dashboards: cash-flow comparison, revenue-to-expense flows, yearly expenses and cost breakdown
ACG BAE geographic deployment view
Cash-flow & TCO comparisonScenario vs scenario: CapEx, OpEx, revenue and savings over the horizon you choose.
Where the money flowsRevenue-to-expense flows and cost breakdowns by service, site, resource and vendor.
Service and cost evolutionYear-by-year trajectories with sensitivity bands for utilization, scale and price.
Geographic deployment viewSites, POPs and regions with their economics attached: the twin of the real footprint.
Evidence chain on every numberSource, assumption, owner and version, so the result survives the CFO's questions.
Why ACG

From analyst firm to economic intelligence platform.

Twenty years of vendor-neutral economic analysis and consulting for the world's leading operators and vendors, now productized in BAE.

Ray Mota

Ray Mota, Ph.D.

CEO & Principal Analyst, ACG Research
  • Advisor to the CEO of Cisco, John Chambers
  • Advisor to the CTOs of BT and AT&T
  • Advisor to the CEO of Juniper, Rami Rahim
  • Former CTO on Wall Street
  • Advisor to the President of Alcatel-Lucent
  • No. 1 telco analyst / consultant, MEF / Mplify
Read Ray’s full bio →
 Peter Fetterolf

Peter Fetterolf, Ph.D.

CTO, creator of the BAE platform
  • Architect of the economic simulation engine
  • Developed Cisco's telco business models
  • CTO of an optical company acquired by Lucent
  • Former Boston University professor
  • Worked on Cisco's telco team
  • Former management consultant
Read Peter’s full bio →
Companies we work withGoogleMicrosoftBTVerizonAT&TVMO2EquinixJuniper / HPECiscoCienaNokiaLumenCoxDellVMware / BroadcomIntelRed Hat
Next steps

Start with one live decision.
Keep the engine for every decision after it.

01 · Pilot30-day pilot

One real business case, an internal plan or a customer proposal, modeled end to end in BAE with ACG economists.

02 · PlatformBAE Cloud or BAE Private

Your own tenant with the validated model library, use-case packs and ACG economist review, hosted or on-premise.

03 · EmbedEmbed via API

Put BAE economics inside your sales tools, planning systems or partner portal and make it the common economic language.

Validated economics, not a blank LLMVendor-neutral refereeTransparent & auditableACG economist in the loop

Ready to model your next decision?Talk to Ray Mota or Peter Fetterolf about a 30-day pilot.

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