/features
Everything you need for hands-on labs.
Nothing you have to install.
Testbed handles the infrastructure so individuals/students and instructors can focus on the work.
01
Browser-based remote access
No downloads, no VPN clients, no fiddly network settings. Every lab opens in a new tab with full remote desktop control — on a Chromebook, a locked-down uni computer, or your own laptop, it just works.
02
Real VMs, spun up on demand
Every lab is a genuine virtual machine, not a sandboxed simulation. That means what you learn actually transfers — the commands, the quirks, the troubleshooting, all of it real.
03
Instructor-built lab templates
Instructors design a lab once — the OS, the tools, the starting configuration — and every individual/student gets their own identical copy. No more "well it worked on my laptop."
04
Group permissions, set by default to deny
Control exactly what each group of individuals/students can access and change, down to individual labs. Nothing is open by default — instructors opt individuals/students in to exactly what they need.
05
Snapshots
Save your progress mid-lab, or roll back to a clean state if you've broken something. Snapshots make it safe to experiment — mistakes cost you a click, not your whole session.
06
Transparent, usage-based billing
You see what you're paying for, and it scales with how much you actually use — no confusing enterprise contracts.
07
Fast, wherever you are
Hosted on cloud infrastructure in the Sydney region, built for low latency across Australia and reliable performance for classes running labs simultaneously.
08
The same performance on any laptop
Because your VM runs in the cloud, not on your machine, it doesn't matter what hardware you're on — Intel, Apple Silicon, Snapdragon, whatever your uni or workplace issued you.
09
Fixed weekly cost, no surprises
Host your own VM on Testbed for a flat weekly price starting from AUD $4/week. No usage meters to watch, no "did I remember to turn it off" anxiety, no unexpected bill at the end of the month.
10
We convert your existing VMs for you
Already have a VM built for your course? Send it to us as-is — we handle converting it to run on Testbed's infrastructure. No need to rebuild your labs from scratch.
11
Full staff visibility for marking
Teaching staff can be granted access to any individual's/student's VM in their course — exactly when they need it, such as marking a practical assessment. This is opt-in and permission-controlled, not automatic.
/instructors
Instructors
- ■Build a lab template with your chosen OS image, tools, and starting state
- ■Assign templates to specific class groups with fine-grained permissions
- ■Every individual/student launches their own isolated VM from your template — no shared state, no one individual/student breaking it for the rest of the class
- ■Reset an individual's/student's environment in one click if they get stuck
- ■Send us your existing VM images and we'll convert them to run on Testbed — no rebuild required
- ■Grant teaching staff access to individual/student VMs when needed, such as marking practical assessments
/institutes
Institutes
- ■Hand off the technical burden entirely: no more IT tickets about broken individual/student VMs, driver issues, or laptops that can't run the coursework
- ■Per-individual/student, per-semester costing — simple to budget, easy to reconcile against enrolments
- ■Works the same regardless of what hardware your individuals/students own
- ■Existing course VMs can be onboarded as-is — send them to us and we handle the conversion
/individuals
Individuals/Students
- ■Sign in with your existing Google account or email
- ■Launch a lab directly from your dashboard — no setup steps
- ■Full keyboard, mouse, and clipboard support through the browser
- ■Pick up exactly where you left off with snapshots
- ■Host a VM your institute gave you for a subject, without running it on your own laptop — fixed weekly cost, no need to remember to switch it off, no surprise bills
- ■Same speed and reliability no matter your laptop's hardware