In June 2013, Disney hosted what I believe was their first internal tech conference, to be hosted in Orlando at Disney World. They asked me to be a keynote speaker at this conference. Below are the slides from that keynote.
This presentation discusses the evolution of Netflix’s API architecture over time. It begins by explaining Netflix’s initial “one-size-fits-all” REST API model and how requests grew exponentially as more devices were supported. This led Netflix to move away from resource-based APIs to experience-based APIs tailored for specific devices and use cases. Key aspects of the new design included reducing “chattiness”, handling variability across devices, and supporting innovation at different rates. The document also discusses Netflix’s approach to versioning APIs and making them more resilient through techniques like circuit breakers and fallbacks.
This presentation was initially published to Slideshare on May 9, 2013 and was used in several public appearances around that time.
Daniel Jacobson is the Director of Engineering at Netflix API. He discussed techniques for scaling the Netflix API, including moving from a resource-based API to an experience-based API model to improve efficiency. Netflix uses cloud deployment techniques like autoscaling and canary releases for development and testing. Resiliency is ensured through techniques like circuit breakers and fallbacks.
Congratulations again to Kin Lane and everyone at 3Scale for a very successful and fulfilling API Strategy Conference. There were a lot of great presentations and panels as well a many very interesting hallway conversations.
And I was exited to be able to speak at the event! Embedded below are the slides from my presentation, complete with copious notes on each slide to provide the context of what I said during the talk.
The focus of the presentation was on API revolutions. We have seen a number of them in the recent years, but there have been significant and substantial changes for Netflix and for some others that warrant discussion. The question that remains is: Are these changes specific to a small handful of companies or are these companies representing things to come for the API world as a whole?
-Daniel
Revolutions have a common pattern in technology and this is no different for the API space. This presentation discusses that pattern and goes through various API revolutions. It also uses Netflix as an example of how some revolutions evolved and where things may be headed.
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