--- title: I'm Just the Middle Mile Man description: Greg dives into the middle mile with Ciaran Roche, founder & CTO of CoEvolve. What are vendors doing? How is the middle mile space developing? image: https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/2021/Blog%20Assets/road-210913_1280.jpg --- [![TG\_LOGO](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/TeleGeography%20Hub%20Theme%20Nov%202025/images/TG_LOGO.svg)](https://www2.telegeography.com/) - [About](https://www2.telegeography.com/about-us) - [Research](https://www2.telegeography.com/our-research) - [Products](https://www2.telegeography.com/products) - [Solutions](https://www2.telegeography.com/solutions) - [Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com) [Log In](https://www.telegeography.com/login/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegeography.com%2Faccount%2Fhome%2Findex) [Contact](https://www2.telegeography.com/contact-us) ###### Data and Analysis Tools - [Cloud and WAN Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/cloud-and-wan-infrastructure) - [Data Center Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/data-center-research-service) - [GlobalComms Database](https://www2.telegeography.com/globalcomms-database-service) - [International Voice Report](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-report-and-database) - [IP Networks Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/ip-networks-research-service) - [ISP Navigator](https://www2.telegeography.com/isp-navigatorisp-navigator) - [Transport Networks Research Service](https://www2.telegeography.com/transport-networks) - [Network Pricing Database](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-pricing-database) - [WAN Cost Benchmark](https://www2.telegeography.com/wan-cost-benchmark) - [Product Passes](https://www2.telegeography.com/product-passes) ###### Consulting - [All Consulting Services](https://www2.telegeography.com/consulting) - [Submarine Cable Consulting](https://www2.telegeography.com/submarine-cable-consulting) ###### Maps - [All Map Services](https://www2.telegeography.com/map-services) - [Sponsor a Map](https://www2.telegeography.com/sponsor-a-map) - [License Map Data](https://www2.telegeography.com/license-geocoded-map-data) - [Cite a Map](https://www2.telegeography.com/cite-telegeography-map) - [Buy a Map](https://shop.telegeography.com/collections/telecom-maps/) ###### Industry - [Education](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-for-education) - [Enterprise](https://www2.telegeography.com/enterprise) - [Tech](https://www2.telegeography.com/tech) - [Telecom](https://www2.telegeography.com/telecom) ###### Case Studies - [AI + Retail Telecom Data](https://www2.telegeography.com/where-to-get-global-telecom-data) - [EXA Infrastructure](https://www2.telegeography.com/exa-infrastructure-case-study) - [Orange Wholesale](https://www2.telegeography.com/orange-wholesale-case-study) - [The European Commission](https://www2.telegeography.com/the-european-commissions-data-backed-approach-to-international-policy) [Back to Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com) # I'm Just the Middle Mile Man ##### By [Jayne Miller,](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/jayne-miller) May 10, 2021 [WAN](https://resources.telegeography.com/tag/wan) [Podcast](https://resources.telegeography.com/tag/podcast) We're going back to the middle. The middle mile, that is. Like many telecom terms, this is one that you might have to follow up with, “what exactly do you mean by that?” Broadly, we outline the middle mile like this: - Last mile: Local access connects an enterprise location to the nearest colocation facility. Traffic may cascade through local aggregation points. - Middle mile: Switching and transport that shepherds traffic between the local access colocation and the cloud service provider network. - First mile: This is the cloud provider or other destination network. Traffic is now on-net with the application host. - Then, the internet traverses these Layer 1 & 2 segments at Layer 3 Are you still with us? Good. Today, Greg is diving into how one approaches the mysterious middle mile with Ciaran Roche, founder and CTO of Coevolve. What are vendors doing? How does Coevolve advise clients on all things middle mile? How is the middle mile space developing? Listen and learn. #### Key Takeaways ### Definition and Scope The middle mile is specifically defined as the segment that shepherds traffic between the local access collocation facility and the cloud service provider network. This sits between the "last mile" (connecting the office/branch to the nearest collocation facility) and the "first mile" (the cloud provider or other destination network). While often focused on cloud access, the middle mile is also critical for accessing legacy applications hosted in corporate data centers. ### Driven by Cloud Transition and Fragmentation The emergence of the middle mile as a key issue is largely driven by the transition of enterprise networks towards the cloud, flipping the network topology where the cloud is now central. The SD-WAN trend has enabled enterprises to fragment their network sourcing, buying edge connectivity from local providers rather than global telcos. This fragmentation at the edge opens up the possibility to find better options for the middle piece. ### Diverse Solutions and Shifting Accountability There's a variety of approaches to the middle mile beyond traditional Tier 1 providers. These include packaged "network as a service" offerings and do-it-yourself SDN solutions offering virtual circuits and flexible bandwidth. Cloud providers are also emerging players. However, with increased reliance on the internet and multiple providers, a significant challenge is the fragmented accountability for performance issues, as there isn't a single entity responsible for the end-to-end path. Enterprises are increasingly addressing potential problems through engineering diversity, such as deploying multiple middle miles from different providers, rather than relying on traditional service level agreements (SLAs). ## Explore Related Content ![How Do You Solve a Problem Like Middle Mile?](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/2022/Blog%20Assets/job-gd98ece36f_1280.jpg) ###### Podcast Episode Mar 22, 2022 #### [How Do You Solve a Problem Like Middle Mile?](https://resources.telegeography.com/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-middle-mile) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-middle-mile) ![The Digital Divide Episode](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/2022/Blog%20Assets/AdobeStock_387254025-1.jpeg) ###### Podcast Episode Dec 13, 2022 #### [The Digital Divide Episode](https://resources.telegeography.com/the-digital-divide-is-a-nationwide-issue) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/the-digital-divide-is-a-nationwide-issue) ![What is Internet Middle Mile?](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/2021/Blog%20Assets/steel-3419985_1280.jpg) ###### Blog Mar 5, 2021 #### [What is Internet Middle Mile?](https://resources.telegeography.com/what-is-internet-middle-mile) With the middle mile emerging as one of the next major topics of interest for global enterprises, we... [View More by Jayne Miller](https://resources.telegeography.com/author/jayne-miller) [Read Full Article](https://resources.telegeography.com/what-is-internet-middle-mile) [![TG\_LOGO\_color\_horizontal\_SIMPLIFIED 1](https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/TeleGeography%20Hub%20Theme%20Nov%202025/images/TG_LOGO_color_horizontal_SIMPLIFIED%201.svg)](https://www2.telegeography.com/) [Login](https://www.telegeography.com/login/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegeography.com%2Faccount%2Fhome%2Findex) [Contact Us](https://www2.telegeography.com/contact-us) ###### [About](https://www2.telegeography.com/about-us) - [Research](https://www2.telegeography.com/our-research) - [Products](https://www2.telegeography.com/products) - [Solutions](https://www2.telegeography.com/solutions) - [Demo](https://www2.telegeography.com/demo) ###### [Press](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-press) - [Events](https://www2.telegeography.com/telecom-events) - [Careers](https://www2.telegeography.com/careers) ###### [Resources](https://resources.telegeography.com/) - [Podcast](https://www2.telegeography.com/telegeography-explains-the-internet-podcast) - [Newsletter](https://www2.telegeography.com/subscribe-to-telegeography-emails) - - All Rights Reserved 2026 - [Privacy Policy](https://www2.telegeography.com/privacy-policy) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Jayne Miller", "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/author/jayne-miller" }, "dateModified" : "2026-01-30T03:07:39.762Z", "datePublished" : "2021-05-10T12:03:00.000Z", "headline" : "I'm Just the Middle Mile Man", "image" : [ "https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/2021/Blog%20Assets/road-210913_1280.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/middle-mile-trends-interview-consulting-analysis-cloud", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/hubfs/assets/telegeography/telegeography-logo-blog.png" }, "name" : "TeleGeography" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org/", "@type" : "WebSite", "image" : "https://www2.telegeography.com/hubfs/Website/assets/logo/telegeography-logo.svg", "name" : "I'm Just the Middle Mile Man", "potentialAction" : { "@type" : "SearchAction", "query-input" : "required name=search_term_string", "target" : "{search_term_string}" }, "url" : "https://resources.telegeography.com/middle-mile-trends-interview-consulting-analysis-cloud" } ```