What is a Virtual Lab Cloud?
A Virtual Lab Cloud is a cloud-based environment that lets learners safely practice real-world software and IT skills. Trainers can instantly create and manage hands-on training labs for any technology, without needing physical hardware. The hands-on element makes learning faster, scalable, and more engaging.
Why is Virtual Lab Cloud Important?
Virtual Lab Clouds make hands-on learning accessible, scalable, and cost-effective. They remove the need for physical infrastructure, simplify setup for trainers, and create safe, sandboxed spaces for learners to experiment freely.
Key benefits:
- Hands-on learning without risk to live systems
- Instant, browser-based setup for any learner
- Scalable for global or hybrid training programs
- Lower infrastructure and maintenance costs
- Consistent, up-to-date training environments
Are they the same as Virtual IT Labs?
Not quite, but they’re closely related.
A Virtual Lab Cloud broadly refers to any cloud-based environment that lets users practice, test, or explore software and IT systems in a safe, sandboxed setting. It’s widely used for education, training, and development, helping learners gain hands-on experience without needing physical hardware.
Virtual IT Labs are a specialized form of Virtual Lab Cloud, designed specifically for hands-on software and IT training. A dedicated Virtual IT Labs platform contains specialized features to help training teams successfully manage sandbox environments, including automated environment policies to manage the cloud resource consumption and cost of environments issued to learners.
Other capabilities that Virtual IT Labs platforms typically include are dedicated tools to run instructor-led training, including the ability to provide remote, over-the-shoulder assistance to learners.
In short: All Virtual IT Labs are part of the Virtual Lab Cloud family, but not all Virtual Lab Clouds are built for structured technical and software training programs.
What is the best Virtual Lab Cloud and Virtual IT Labs platform?
When it comes to finding a platform that delivers both flexibility and purpose-built for hands-on technical training, Heropa stands out as a leader.
Heropa combines the power of cloud-based lab environments with the specialized tools that training teams need in order to deliver hands-on, scalable, and engaging software training.
