This paper presents a high-level comparison of the total cost of ownership of running the Benu Networks’ Operating System (BenuOS)* on an Intel® architecture– based platform vs. utilizing merchant-silicon built with 64-bit MIPS* NPU* processors. Each platform is configured to run the BenuOS wireless access gateway(WAG) network function. The WAG is utilized to provide large-scale Wi-Fi device aggregation via GRE tunnels, mobility, IP policy enforcement, and service edge routing in a carrier Wi-Fi network. This analysis will look into various factors that contribute to the cost of ownership in capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) categories between the MIPS hardware and Intel architecture– based platforms.