Fiber for Breakfast 2023 Week 31 – Middle Mile Networks – More Traffic Than You Were Expecting

While much of the attention of the industry is on the BEAD program, the NTIA has already allocated $930 million of the Middle Mile Infrastructure fund, and construction on these Middle Mile Networks will be beginning soon. But what, specifically, do we mean by the Middle Mile Network. This session of Fiber for Breakfast examines the Middle Mile Network from its definition to practical aspects of connecting broadband access networks to the Internet.

We will survey:

• The NTIA’s definition of Middle Mile Infrastructure,
• The common understanding of Middle Mile Networks as the connection between access networks and the Internet,
• The requirements that Middle Mile Networks must meet,
• How the introduction of IP functionality into access networks affects Middle Mile Networks, and
• How the introduction of 100 Mb/s capacity for all lines served by a central office causes the data traffic aggregated onto the Middle Mile Network to mushroom into terabits/sec of traffic.

As access networks are transformed to provide the requisite capacity to meet federal requirements, the Middle Mile Networks will need to be transformed, too.

Guest Presenter: Rick Talbot, Principal Analyst, ACG