On Wednesday, IBM Security announced that it has opened the industry's first commercial Cyber Range - a network security testing environment - in Cambridge, Mass., the company's new global headquarters.

The commercial Cyber Range opened by IBM Security at its Cambridge headquarters is called 'X-Force Command.'

The 'X-Force Command' Cyber Range is not merely a couple of terminals in a laboratory; rather, it is a gigantic setup with seats for 36 operators. The Cyber Range, opened with the objective of giving the users a realistically simulated cyber crisis, is a live operational environment which features audio, video and a simulated Fortune 500 company operation.

Highlighting the fact that the air-gapped Cyber Range gives the visitors to the lab a petabyte of storage space, and allows them to use real weaponized malware and cyber attacks, Caleb Barlow - IBM Security's VP of Strategy - that the goal for the visitors is to enable them to engage in an experience that is as close to reality as possible.

About the experience unfolded for the visitors to the lab, Joe Provost -- from IBM Security's threat simulation and modeling section - said: "Participants immerse themselves in a training scenario or a series of scenarios using all the same malware from enemies or adversaries to prepare them for crisis state."