Nearly 125 million hours of content is streamed on Netflix every day. Yet it only reports 0.07 % technical problems per hour of content streaming according to the J.D. Power US Survey. On the other hand, its counterparts like Amazon, Hulu and Disney face higher technical issues at 0.17% per hour of content streaming. This is why Netflix has consistently remained on top of its game in delivering trouble-free streaming services. But how does the global streaming platform seamlessly deliver content with efficiency and zero error rates? The answer lies in the adoption of Microservices, API, Cloud-native and headless (MACH) architecture.
Back in 2008, a small glitch in Netflix led to massive data corruption and caused downtime for several days. That’s when it decided to migrate its application from monolith architecture to AWS (Amazon Web Service). The streaming powerhouse became one of the early adopters of MACH architecture. The transition progressed in two steps. First, they migrated movie encoding and non-customer-facing applications. Next, they separated customer-facing components such as movie catalogs, device selection, account sign-ups and configuration. It took two years for Netflix to break their monolith system into microservices. In 2011, it completely redesigned and organized its entire structure into MACH architecture.
Today, Netflix enables 500+ microservices and API gateways that handle 2 billion API edge requests regularly. Powered by high-performing MACH technologies, the streaming giant has successfully bolstered digital transformation and enabled technological scalability. Other behemoths like Uber, Spotify, Amazon and Etsy have globally transformed their business with MACH architecture.