Powering Seamless Streaming
How MainStreaming Delivers Quality and Trusts NL-ix for Growth
MainStreaming’s Mission: High-Quality Video Delivery
MainStreaming is an Edge Video Delivery Network focused on delivering high-quality video streaming services —both live and on demand—to customers and end-users. While our primary market is Europe, we also have a presence in North America and have recently expanded into São Paulo and Santiago in South America.
Our business is deeply tied to infrastructure investments, which include connections to Internet Exchanges, datacenters, and new connections with local providers. These investments are essential to ensuring we can deliver top-quality services with minimal latency and maximum reliability.
What sets MainStreaming apart is that we own the entire technology stack, from layer 1 to layer 7. This allows us to maintain complete control over our infrastructure, from the network layer to the application layer, ensuring performance and reliability at every level.
Any network issue directly impacts the end-user experience, making supplier selection a critical process. We prioritize quality, responsiveness, and efficient incident management, as rapid reaction times are essential. Just as we provide 24/7 support to our customers, we expect the same level of commitment from our suppliers.
Why MainStreaming Chose NL-ix
When we were planning our growth in Germany, our first thought was: Let’s contact NL-ix. They have a strong presence and significant capacity in Frankfurt, making them a key player in the region.
Our business decisions are primarily driven by customer needs. For example, when we onboard a new customer in Germany, we need to act fast to deploy and activate services in the shortest possible time. That often means a lot of calls and questions—about the best approach, timelines and technical details.
Take live sports, for example—a football match has a strict start time, and we must ensure everything is in place to deliver the stream seamlessly. That means having enough network capacity in the right locations and working with suppliers that can react quickly when needed.
Since working with NL-ix, we’ve been in regular contact with Sara, our account manager at NL-ix. From our side, the experience has been very positive. Sara has always been available—also by phone—which is something we really appreciate. Sara has always been there, responsive and proactive. Even when she was out of the office, she kept us informed about the status of our requests, which is highly valued.
Furthermore, the service NL-ix has provided to us has been reliable, and delivery times have always been respected, which is crucial for us.
The service NL-ix has provided to us has been reliable, and delivery times have always been respected, which is crucial for us.
Ivan Schiavo - Head of Infrastructure and Operations @ MainStreaming
A Culture of Ownership & Growth
Within MainStreaming there is a lot of energy and drive and a strong culture of ownership. People take responsibility for what they do, and there’s a high level of trust. Here, you’re not just a number—everyone plays a key role. We are trusted to take ownership of our work, which creates a highly motivated and energetic environment that fuels our growth.
Looking ahead, our goal is to keep expanding our customer base beyond Italy, where our largest customers are currently based. To support this, we’ve brought in new leadership—a CEO and CFO from Germany, a CRO from the UK, and a CCO from the US. This new team reflects our ambition to become a truly international company.
Looking Ahead: Further Collaboration with NL-ix
For us, the fact that NL-ix is not present in Italy has not been a problem, as our recent major projects have been in Germany. However, in the future, it would be great to see NL-ix expand into more locations across Europe. Whenever we plan to enter a new market, one of the first things we check is whether NL-ix is available there.
In terms of service improvements, it would be useful if NL-ix provided a Looking Glass functionality within its portal. Right now, we rely on internal tools to analyze our traffic, but having direct insights from the exchange itself could be faster and more precise.
Overall, our collaboration with NL-ix has been excellent. Having an account manager who is always available, positive, and proactive is something we truly appreciate—it’s not something we take for granted.
