SimSpace Named Cyber Training Leader for its AI Proving Grounds

ORLANDO, Fla. – March 11, 2026 – Independent research firm Forrester has named SimSpace a Leader in its latest evaluation of the cybersecurity training market, citing the company’s advanced capabilities in preparing security teams for an era increasingly defined by artificial intelligence. The new report, The Forrester Wave™: Cybersecurity Skills And Training Platforms, Q1 2026, places SimSpace at the forefront of a major industry transformation, recognizing its platform's unique strengths in AI readiness and hyper-realistic simulation.

SimSpace, which provides what it calls “AI Proving Grounds” for elite cybersecurity teams, received the highest possible scores in eight criteria, including Agentic AI readiness, Cyber ranges and team exercises, Innovation, and Roadmap. The recognition comes as organizations grapple with the dual challenge of integrating AI into their own defenses while simultaneously preparing for AI-fueled attacks from adversaries.

The Forrester report, authored by Principal Analyst Jess Burn, underscores this new reality, stating, "The era of certification-based hiring and training is over. To stay effective, organizations must invest in continuous individual, team, and cross‐functional upskilling, reinforced by hands‐on, realistic simulations that validate real‐world readiness."

The New Battlefield: Training Man and Machine Together

As enterprises accelerate their adoption of AI-driven security tools, a significant “confidence gap” has emerged among security leaders. Many are uncertain how their new AI copilots, autonomous agents, and automated platforms will perform under the stress of a sophisticated, live-fire attack. SimSpace’s recognition as a Leader is directly tied to its approach to solving this critical issue.

Forrester's evaluation highlights that SimSpace "excels in agentic AI readiness, enabling organizations to test AI-assisted workflows and agent behavior." This capability is at the heart of the company's AI Proving Grounds, a platform where human security operators and their AI counterparts can train, test, and fail safely together in a high-fidelity replica of their own production environment. This integrated training is designed to build trust and optimize the performance of human-machine teams before they face a real crisis.

"Allied governments, militaries, and commercial enterprises worldwide trust SimSpace as their AI Proving Grounds because it's where their human operators and AI agents train and test together in a realistic replica of their production environments," said Lou Jordano, CMO of SimSpace. "Elite cyber teams appreciate the value of a unified cyber platform where they can practice together against real AI-fueled attacks, fail safely together, and improve together. That's how you build trust in human and machine performance before deploying them to production."

The platform's advanced features, including automated range design, AI-assisted scoring, and adaptive mission orchestration, further support this forward-looking training model, preparing defenders for a future where AI is a core component of both offense and defense.

Beyond Certifications: A Paradigm Shift in Cyber Readiness

The Forrester report validates a market-wide shift away from traditional, knowledge-based certifications and toward continuous, hands-on skills verification. As cyberattacks become faster and more automated, the ability to prove a team's readiness through realistic exercises is becoming the new benchmark for cyber resilience.

SimSpace’s platform was specifically praised by Forrester for this capability, with the report noting it "stands out for the realism of its cyber ranges and team exercises." The evaluation highlights the company's ability to provide "high-fidelity cyber ranges that replicate full enterprise networks, including hybrid and operational technology (OT) environments." This is a crucial distinction, as defending complex industrial control systems and sprawling cloud infrastructures requires a level of realism that goes far beyond generic training scenarios.

This focus on realism has earned the company significant praise from its high-stakes clientele. The Forrester report acknowledged that SimSpace's recognition was bolstered by customer praise for its highly realistic cyber ranges and live-fire exercises. For sectors like critical infrastructure, finance, and national defense, the ability to accurately simulate their unique, complex environments is not a luxury but a necessity for effective preparation and tool validation.

By allowing teams to practice against the latest threats in a mirrored version of their own digital workspace, these platforms move training from a theoretical exercise to a practical, muscle-memory-building drill that directly translates to improved performance during an actual incident.

Navigating a Competitive and Evolving Market

SimSpace's position as a Leader places it at the top of a competitive and rapidly maturing market. The Forrester Wave also recognized Immersive (Immersive Labs) as a Leader, noting its strong strategic vision and innovation in delivering measurable organizational resilience. The presence of multiple leaders with distinct strengths indicates a healthy, evolving market where vendors are racing to meet the complex demands of modern security operations.

While the broader market is shifting, SimSpace has carved out a strategic position by serving some of the world's most demanding organizations, including allied governments, military branches, and global enterprises. For these clients, cyber superiority is a non-negotiable objective, and the ability to outperform and outsmart any adversary in any terrain is paramount.

The company’s focus on providing a proving ground for both human and AI agents is particularly well-suited to this high-stakes environment. As nation-states and sophisticated criminal groups increasingly weaponize AI, the need for a secure, realistic environment to test and harden defenses becomes a matter of national and economic security.

Forrester's recognition solidifies the importance of this approach, signaling that the future of cybersecurity training lies not just in upskilling humans, but in forging resilient, battle-tested teams of humans and AI agents ready to face the next wave of digital threats.