  In this talk we review recent investigations of the non-supersymmetric
heterotic SO(16)xSO(16) string on orbifolds and smooth Calabi-Yaus. Using such
supersymmetry preserving backgrounds allows one to re-employ commonly known
model building techniques. We will argue that tachyons do not appear on smooth
Calabi-Yaus to leading order in alpha' and g_s. Twisted tachyons may arise on
singular orbifolds, where some of these approximations break down. However,
they get lifted in full blow-up. Finally, we show that model searches is viable
by identifying over 12,000 of SM-like models on various orbifold geometries.
