# Helm v1 #homelab Helm was a private email server with a refreshing spin: you pay a monthly subscrpition and a one-time hardware fee, they send you a computer, you plug it in, and then you have secure private email. On the backend, they would run the DNS, which the box running in your house updates dynaically with your home IP. This allows the box to be the only long-term storage mechanism for the emails. Unfortunately, the service shut down at the end of 2022: > Helm services ceased operation on December 30, 2022. We have sent out several notices to customers started on October 31, 2022. We have captured below a summary of those notices. > > **Why we are shutting down** > We have been unable to overcome manufacturing and supply chain challenges brought on by Covid.  In late 2019, we shifted our supply chain from Mexico to China in an effort to reduce cost and improve manufacturing scalability. At that time, we also undertook designing and developing our v2 product. With the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, our expected timelines to ship product more than doubled. > > Supplier issues further delayed getting enough inventory to meet demand and we are at a point where the business cannot continue sustainably. We are currently searching for a suitable buyer for the company, but given the macro economic environment, we recognize this is not a likely outcome. If we cannot find a suitable buyer by the end of the year, we have made the difficult decision to shut down. > > **What this means for customers** > On December 30, 2022, we suspended the subscription service which meant stopping all security gateways, purging all encrypted backups and all DNS entries for primary Helm domains. For Helm customers, it is critical that you find an alternative solution for the email, contacts, calendar and file sharing services your Helm provides today and complete migrating your data. > > After December 30, 2022, you will no longer be able to access your data on your Helm server through its domain. If you registered a domain through us and wish to continue using it, please contact support to get an authorization code for transferring your domain to another registrar by December 30, 2022. > > We have published pre-release updates [on GitHub](https://github.com/HelmSecure/armbian-images) to convert Helm v2 servers to Linux servers running Armbian. There is documentation for this conversion, along with pointers to some guides for running mail and file sharing services if you would like to continue using your Helm. We are still working on firmware updates for v1 servers to run Armbian. > > **Thank You** > We appreciate your support of Helm over the years. When we started the company in 2016, we had an ambitious vision to improve online privacy by returning control of personal data to the people. We have been heartened by the community of thousands of you who have joined us on this journey to make the internet more private and secure. > > While we are deeply disappointed Helm will cease operating, we hope that you will continue searching out and supporting more products and services that prioritize your privacy. The future of a healthy internet depends on people just like you. > > Thanks, > Giri and Dirk The good news is they gave out binaries for turning the v2 hardware into regular linux machines. The bad news is, mine is v1 hardware. On the other hand, the good news is that if I can get this working it's basically a free computer. Because right now it's just e-waste sitting in my basement.