Patent ID: 8612326

Claim:
A processor-implemented method for analyzing risk comprising: determining, via a processor of a computing device, a deployment cost for each of a plurality of communication network element portfolios, wherein each communication network element portfolio comprises one or more communication network elements with a predetermined communication capacity; determining, via the processor, an outage cost for each of the plurality of communication network element portfolios responsive to the probability of one or more communication network element outages over a predetermined life cycle period; determining, via the processor, a total cost for each of the plurality of communication network element portfolios, wherein total cost is determined by summing the deployment cost and the outage cost for each of the plurality of communication network element portfolios, wherein the deployment cost and the outage cost are expressed in comparable units of measure; and comparing, via the processor, the total cost of a first communication network element portfolio of the plurality of communication network element portfolios with the total cost of a second communication network element portfolio of the plurality of communication network element portfolios, wherein the total cost is an indicator of the deployment cost and the risk.