MOSCOW - Mar 20, 2012 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in standards-based unified communications (UC), has provided videoconferencing systems to equip the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation for use in trials and prisoner sentencing. More than 1,000 Polycom® RealPresence® video systems have been installed in courts of general jurisdiction and investigative isolation wards since 1999. Using Polycom video collaboration, the Courts of general jurisdiction have examined more than 600,000 criminal cases, an average of 800 cases per day. By conducting examinations over video and eliminating the need for people to travel and be physically present, the Supreme Court saves RUB 1.5 billion (U.S. $50.5 million) of state funds annually on prison transfers of the accused to court and back.

 

"The most important benefits of implementing Polycom RealPresence solutions are the significant cost and time savings coupled with the reliability of the technology," explains Andrey German, head of the group in charge of videoconferencing systems for the Legal Informatization Office of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. "These benefits are made all the more important as they directly relate to people's lives."

 

The Court uses video technologies for a number of judicial sessions including consultations, meetings with the President and Government of the Russian Federation, and communication among lawyers and relatives of the accused. Polycom's video solutions provide the highest levels of communication security and safety necessary for court operations, as well as the audio-visual quality needed to clearly discern people's expressions and the minutest of gestures. Sometimes in a Court situation, however, the visual quality needs to be intentionally degraded so that people remain anonymous.

 

In addition to the 1,000 Polycom video systems, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation also uses the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform – the most comprehensive software infrastructure for video collaboration – to manage its video network. The Supreme Court's plans of equipping its departments with videoconferencing systems include installing more than 3,000 additional video systems in district courts all over the country in 2013-2017.

 

"Polycom video solutions allow tribunals to solve several important problems at the same time including accelerating the decision-making process on any case while dramatically reducing the overall costs of running a court system," said Sergey Khomyakov, Russian country manager, Polycom. "Our video systems are truly helping to revolutionize the Russian judicial system and we're excited about the impact we're having on people's lives even in this difficult environment."

 

The advantages of videoconferencing in the Russian judiciary system were immediately noticed by many other countries. Examples of this include permanent visits of delegations from different countries to Russia to learn from the experience of using information technologies in the Russian judiciary system. In the world judiciary practice, videoconferencing was used only for specific applications of justice, mainly for the hearing of witness testimonies and communication between the accused with lawyers and relatives. But only in Russia, in 1999, was videoconference first applied directly during a trial.