NETCO Launches State of the Art Virtual Reality Training in Ontario

LDS NETCO CNMIE 400

May 24, 2022

The National Electrical Trade Council (NETCO) is pleased to announce that they will be rolling out virtual reality (VR) based training for beginner electrical apprentices at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Training Centres in Ontario over the next few months.

The state of the art Virtual Electrical Training (VET) platform was developed by IVRY Technologies, a division of IDEAL Industries (Canada) Corp.  NETCO has secured the rights to offer this program via training centres in Ontario with the goal to offer it across Canada.

NETCO Executive Director Chris Swick, RSE, says the benefits of this type of training are immense and this is just the beginning. “VR training will assist electrical apprentices in getting proper training that was developed using Canadian standards, in a safe virtual environment. This type of training will eliminate any sort of risk for a new apprentice and will cut down material waste in training centres, and eventually more VR modules will be added to the curriculum” explained Swick.

“Another benefit of this type of training environment is that there is no requirement for large space and the training equipment is highly portable, so training can be done in virtually any setting. We plan to start shipping out the Oculus VR Headsets to our Ontario based IBEW training centres that are on board with this program over the next few weeks. This is a very exciting evolution in the training model in Canada and we are pleased to do this with one of our training partners, Ideal Industries (Canada) Corp.,” said Swick.

“IDEAL Industries is extremely proud to be rolling out our state-of-the-art VET (Virtual Electrical Training) platform to the Ontario market in partnership with NETCO.  Our IVRY Technologies team has worked diligently to produce a learning experience like no other, providing a unique and engaging learning platform for apprentices in a safe and effective manner” says Sean Bernard, National Sales Manager for IDEAL Industries (Canada) Corp.

Delegates to the Annual NETCO conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 27, 28, 2022 will benefit from an educational session ‘Intro to VR Training’ with Sam Jaros, Business Unit Team Lead of IVRY technologies and will be able to see the product firsthand in the NETCO booth at the trade show portion of the conference.

NETCO looks forward to announcing further initiatives in training over the next few months including new courses being added to the Online Apprentice Support Initiatives for Success (OASIS).

Go HERE for more information on NETCO

Related Articles


Changing Scene

  • Sonepar Announces Brand Consolidation in Ontario

    Sonepar Announces Brand Consolidation in Ontario

    Sonepar proudly announces the consolidation of their Ontario businesses from five brands to two. Aztec, Dixon and MGM will rebrand as a new and refreshed Dixon. Electrozad and Sesco will carry the new Electrozad brand. “Through many years of continued growth and acquisitions at Sonepar Canada, we have reached an exciting point in Ontario where… Read More…

  • Houle Selected as Electrical and Technology Contractor for the New BC Cancer Centre

    Houle Selected as Electrical and Technology Contractor for the New BC Cancer Centre

    In late August, Houle were proud to announce that they had been selected as the electrical and technology contractor for the new BC Cancer centre at the Royal Inland Hospital campus in Kamloops. Located adjacent to Royal Inland Hospital, this five-storey cancer centre will provide people in BC’s Interior with expanded access to cancer care… Read More…


Peers & Profiles