STH Q4 2025 Editor's Letter Achieving the Finish Line
As the year draws to a close, it's essential to reflect on the journey of Serve The Home (STH) and the developments that have transpired over the past quarter. These updates provide an insightful glimpse into the behind-the-scenes operations, revealing the complexities and challenges faced in delivering quality content to our readers. Let's dive into the updates and what they mean for STH moving forward.
A look back at previous updates
To appreciate the evolution of STH, it’s helpful to revisit how our quarterly updates have progressed. Here is a comprehensive list of our past quarterly letters:
- STH 2019: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2020: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2021: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2022: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2023: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2024: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
- STH 2025: Q1 – Q2 – Q3 – Q4
Time indeed flies, and in my 16 years managing STH, these quarterly updates have become a vital part of our interaction with readers. This particular quarter has been especially challenging, leading to a frantic push to wrap things up before entering Q1 2026. A significant part of that struggle has been adjusting to the new year, which, like many, involves recalibrating from 2025 to 2026.
The fourth quarter was particularly grueling. I was eagerly anticipating our Equinix Silicon Valley tour, but it faced delays until just before Christmas. Additionally, another planned video was postponed due to revisions on the product we intended to showcase. Producing these videos is labor-intensive, taking a considerable amount of our team's time and resources.
This reflects a broader issue we encountered: a substantial backlog of intricate reviews. For instance, our exploration of the NVIDIA ConnectX-8 C8240 800G Dual 400G NIC was not a straightforward task. We faced the unique challenge of extracting 800Gbps from NICs designed for 400Gbps, which necessitated custom cables and extensive tuning to achieve optimal performance.
Challenges faced in Q4 and the journey ahead
The hurdles of Q4 were compounded by our ambitious content plan and the need to balance it with ongoing projects. As I traveled for events like SC25 and prepared for the arrival of Ryan Smith, it became clear that our editorial schedule was overloaded. We were juggling numerous high-effort projects alongside developing content for Q1 2026.
In the last couple of weeks, Ryan has played a crucial role in helping us regain control over our editorial chaos by refining our project pipeline. His guidance has been instrumental in transitioning our editorial schedule from an ambitious goal to something more achievable.
Looking ahead, we remain excited about 2026, which will see us continue our tour content while expanding our network testing capabilities. Over the years, we have invested in refining our network testing methods, and it may be beneficial to share insights from this journey:
- Pre-2020: Utilized low-end boxes for iperf3 generation.
- Late 2020/Early 2021: Built a Dell Precision T7920 setup, facing challenges scaling past 10Gbase-T.
- 2022-2023: Expanded to FPGA-based T-Rex, but struggled with generating useful traffic.
- Investment in a Spirent TestCenter, which faced hurdles that left it non-functional.
After considerable investment and effort this year, we have finally established a functional setup. Our goal is to expedite product testing as we transition to reviewing Fortinet, SonicWall, and other gateway devices. We are also considering the addition of sub-800Gbps switch testing in 2026. It's an exhilarating prospect to explore new dimensions in our testing capabilities.
Exciting new initiatives: The Axautik Group and Substack
This quarter marked the launch of our new analytical arm, the Axautik Group. This initiative aims to cater to the financial and executive sectors, providing content that bridges the gap between technical insights and market relevance. The feedback has been encouraging, with several pieces gaining traction within this community.
Some may wonder about the pricing model for the Axautik Group's content. It's designed to reflect the value delivered to the financial sector rather than act as a substitute for STH. This strategic approach allows us to leverage our expertise in a manner that can be monetized effectively.
Our Substack has also experienced significant growth, currently achieving over 100,000 views per month. We will be ramping up our content output in 2026, expanding our reach even further.
Innovative content formats: STH Labs and the Shorts Channel
In 2024, we launched the STH Labs shorts channel, which has been steadily growing. We recently reached a milestone of 20,000 subscribers, and our focus will shift towards enhancing this channel further in the coming year.
Additionally, we encourage our readers to subscribe to our free weekly newsletter, which features a curated selection of the top five articles from the past week. This way, you can stay updated without the need to visit the site daily. We prioritize your privacy, ensuring we do not sell your email addresses, and manage subscriptions through MailChimp.
You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel. This helps us demonstrate our audience reach and showcases how we present information that can be more effectively communicated through video rather than text.
Looking forward to 2026
As we prepare for 2026, I extend my gratitude to our readers, Substack subscribers, clients, and advertisers for supporting our endeavors. With the holiday season approaching, I look forward to spending quality time with family after an intense year of travel, having completed 98 flights this year alone.
Stay tuned for what promises to be a monumental year for STH, filled with exciting developments, innovative content, and a commitment to providing valuable insights for our community.
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