Not sure I understand the usage attributed to Netflix? Sounds like the writer is saying that front end is node, but that can't be right?
Can someone who knows what they're using node for go into a little more detail?
Netflix is behind and uses Falcor(1) for data fetching as an alternative to REST. The backend for this is in Nodejs(2). (There could be other backends in Java too though)
1. https://github.com/Netflix/falcor 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL54eYbTJUw