OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2011. CROC has successfully completed the third stage of its video conferencing implementation project in Russian Federation state arbitration courts. During a period of six months 77 courts were equipped. The project is worth RUB 91,971,000.

"State arbitration courts often have to postpone proceedings due to the inability to attend of either party; legal procedures are sometimes complicated by the location of litigants. Advanced technology has allowed for a dramatic reduction in both the time and costs associated with such postponements, with litigants now being able to file a petition for holding proceedings via video conferencing system. The state arbitration courts are required to ensure litigants participate in the courts proceedings if videoconferencing is available", remarks Igor Solovyev, Head of IT and Communications Office, the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation.

"With the Polycom videoconferencing systems in the state arbitration courts, two participants or multiple participants at difference locations, can meet face-to-face via video with the same high-definition quality they get in real life", comments Mikhail Pilipenko, Large Account Director, CROC. "Furthermore, CROC specialists developed a Crestron-based software solution for automated session control which provides "Ask for the Floor" functionality and optimizes conferencing between state arbitration courts and the central authorities."

A videoconferencing setup includes a Polycom HDX video system, 52-inch professional HD LCD panel, document camera and videoconferencing session recording and playback devices. These systems integrate with existing videoconferencing server equipment located in the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation; thus the geographical scope of videoconferencing more than doubled, and implementation of basic videoconferencing functionality was completed throughout all of the 113 Russian Federation arbitration courts. The project also involves transport network developed by ZAO Synterra which can become the basis for the court’s multi-service data network in the future.

“Polycom’s support of the H.264 HD High Profile video protocol reduces the consumption of communication channel bandwidth as much as 50% during video conferencing sessions, enabling numerous simultaneous multipoint HD sessions with enterprise-class HD quality,” says Sergey Khomyakov, Russian country manager, Polycom. “In addition, Polycom videoconferencing solutions have an intuitive interface and central control option, making them easy to use and manage. Ease of use ensures that more people actually use the systems, which is why Polycom solutions used by our customers typically pay for themselves within a few months.”