XtremeLabs LLC - Best Virtual Lab

Company: XtremeLabs LLC
Company Description: XtremeLabs provides technology products and services to support employability, workforce development and training. We deliver over 900 training labs covering Security, Data Science, Collaboration, O365, Networking and other technologies. We work with amazing authors & instructional designers each and every day to keep adding exciting new technology labs to our portfolio.
Nomination Category: Product & Service Categories - Education & Education Technology Solutions
Nomination Sub Category: Virtual Lab

Nomination Title: XtremeLabs - Digital Hands on Learning Lab Innovator

If this is a brand-new product, state the date on which it was released. If this is a new version of an existing product, state the date on which the update was released:

This is new version of existing product. Several innovations have been released in 2020 and 2021. For this submission we are covering versions of XtremeLabs product that were released from January 1, 2020 to July 15, 2021.

XtremeLabs Digital Hands-On Learning Lab platform provides a full-featured online learning environment that is accessed entirely online through a web browser. The platform is used for self-study in an instructor-led / academic environment.

XtremeLabs' virtual lab platform is rich with features and tools for learners, instructors, and administrators.

Access: Virtual Labs accesses 100% through a standard web browser; no software download is required. Learners never get stuck dealing with corporate security rules. Can easily access, whether at home, or school or work.
Languages: Virtual Labs platform is localized in 10 different languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Korean. New languages are constantly added. The learner can pick from a drop-down menu the language they prefer.
Accessibility: Our virtual labs' platform is accessible for learners with disabilities. Features are developed and thoroughly tested for accessibility before release.
Rich Content: With over 12,000+ virtual labs, learners can get hands-on, real-world experience on technologies spanning Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cloud, Automation, Virtualization, Cybersecurity, and hundreds of other topics.
Pedagogy: XtremeLabs virtual labs platform is designed with best practices in kinesthetic learning in mind. Learners can choose guided learning with labs steps or work on challenge-based scenarios to master their skills.
Collaboration: Learners can interact using built-in chat capability with other students, teachers, and XtremeLabs 24 x7.
Student Session Sharing: The instructor can virtually log into any student's lab environment and provide guidance.
Learner Analytics: The teacher has access to a multitude of learner progress analytics. All are instantly available.
Integration with Learning Management Systems: The instructor can easily integrate the XtremeLabs virtual lab platform with their LMS. The learner can access our platform directly from the LMS without logging in. In addition, grades are automatically transferred back to the LMS.
Classroom Management: Professional training companies or academic institutions have the full self-service capability to select the virtual labs, set up the virtual classrooms, and enroll students. The entire process can be completed in minutes.
Post Class Access: XtremeLabs allows learners to have post-class access to the virtual labs. Learners can keep accessing the labs for 180 to 365 days to keep refining their skills.

Like many businesses, the pandemic did impact XtremeLabs business. Professional training institutions initially postponed all training, corporations stopped employees' travel, and academic institutions remained unsure of how to deliver virtual training.

At XtremeLabs, we took this opportunity to develop new product features for virtual labs immediately, enhance existing product capabilities and expand our lab portfolio. While our labs have always been virtual, our customers have primarily used them in in-person instructions. Our new features made it easy for our customers to build their courses and programs that could be taught in hybrid and full remote/virtual ways.

Dozens of new product innovations were designed, developed, and incorporated into the product. We share a subset of the innovations in attachments to this submission.

We also took the opportunity to focus on community building. We worked closely with our partners and customers and, based on their feedback, developed an instructor recognition program and launched the first-ever thought leadership conference on virtual experiential learning. The eXL Experiential Learning for All conference features 14 of the best minds in the virtual labs and experiential learning space. We made this conference free to all members of our extended community. Details on our community-building efforts are provided as attachments.

We expanded our support team and enabled a 24x7 multi-lingual chat option. Engagement through chat channels easily surpassed all the other support channels. Testimonials from our constituents are provided as attachments.

As a result, XtremeLabs virtual labs business grew 30% during 2020. And in the first half of 2021, we have grown 35%. Our average unit sale price for a virtual lab has also increased by 22%.

We also set many records during this period, including:
The highest single month of virtual labs consumed: June 2021
-The highest level of website engagement: May 2021
-The largest Virtual IT Lab catalog: June 2021 (12,000+ labs)
-The highest monthly new customer addition: March 2021

We also remained true to our corporate objective we being a profitable company. We maintained profitability every month in 2020 and 2021, except for one (September 2020).

The attachments are categorized as follows:

Innovation: We have provided four attachments that offer insight into XtremeLabs recent product innovations.
Testimonials: We provide testimonials that appreciate our virtual lab innovations and talk about our empathetic and caring Support team.
Community Building: We have provided information on our community-building activities. Giving back to our community of learners, teachers, and instructors is crucial to XtremeLabs' culture.
Wins: We provide public wins with companies like VMWare, Amazon Web Services, Wiley Publishing, and the US Department of State.
Case Studies: We provide 2 case studies of our virtual labs being used by our customers to upskill and reskill hundreds of learners.
Recognition: We provide two external recognitions from organizations that are relevant to our space. IMS Global is the leading standards body for education technology, and Training Industry is the leading market research provider for the professional training space.

We at XtremeLabs are very proud of our technology and the service it provides learners, instructors, and administrators. Every day learners from 150+ customers log into our platform to upskill and reskill themselves. Our virtual IT lab platform gives them a safe space to learn, practice, make mistakes, and then try again. While other platforms may boast about the number of users or accounts, we only focus on counting completions. Our virtual lab platform's interactive and hands-on nature encourages learners to stay the course and develop their skills. We can therefore boast a 99% completion rate of learners that start learning through our platform.