STH Turns 13 Entering the Teenage Years

Wow. STH was started 13 years ago today, officially making the site a “teenager.” It is amazing to think of the journey thus far. Keeping the short streak alive (missed 9 by a day) I wanted to offer a quick post commemorating the anniversary with some thoughts and thank yous.

STH Turns 13 and Undergoes Changes

Over the last year, we have been undergoing what can only be described as infrastructure changes. I moved to Texas and we are in the process of bringing up new facilities in Austin while also sunsetting some of the data centers that used to host multiple lab racks for us. That has undoubtedly had an impact on STH and has led to a number of changes in how we operate. It also has made what in 2020 was a very smooth sailing ship feel rocky in comparison.

Luckily, we did this with the knowledge of two major industry trends: silicon schedule delays and rising TDPs. We needed to move into new facilities with lower power costs due to the rising power consumption of server gear. At the same time, for the edge deployments, I wanted the capability to build bigger and so we are going to now have that in Austin.

The challenge was when to make the change. The bet that we had in late 2020 and early 2021 was that Intel Sapphire Rapids and AMD Genoa would be busy for us in the latter part of 2022. Intel was transitioning to Ice Lake in 2021, but that was set to be a short-lived platform. Milan was a drop-in replacement for Rome so we knew that the 2021 cycle was going to be only moderately busy for us. In the server world, we get big cycles when the server platforms refresh. Luckily, it appears as though we made the transition to a lower-cost home in the middle of the calm before the next major cycle.

Thank Yous

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the extended STH team and specifically, Alex, Bryan, Cliff, Eric, Joe, John, Kris, Rohit, Steve, and Will for stepping up big time over this past year. Another shout out to George “the unofficial STH copy editor.” Also to Virginia’s team at Mala Marketing for selling ads and getting us some revenue. Just so STH readers are aware, I am a total pain to these folks because I say “no” to probably 75% of the offers that we get under the assumption that I want to keep STH a site I would be happy to read.

I also wanted to thank our forum moderators for helping sustain the STH forums. Many of the moderators have been around for the vast majority of these 13 years and have truly shaped what STH is today.

Lastly, I just wanted to thank all of our awesome readers and our small but growing audience on YouTube for supporting STH. The YouTube goal is to hit 100,000 subscribers this year and eventually get it to be 1/10th of the overall STH reader+viewership. There is still a way to go on that one, but it is a goal that will hopefully happen by the end of this year.

Final Words

As a team, we probably do not get to pause and say thank you enough. Maybe as I grow older, this becomes the most important aspect of marking each anniversary. To make STH happen takes so many people including our team, our readers, sponsors, and those that support what we do not just today, but also who have come before and will support STH in the future. Taking a step back, it takes a big community of folks to keep STH going, and so on the 13th birthday of STH, the message is one of thanks.