International Law

Videoconferencing - The Next Generation

By Garry J. Wise, Wise Law Office, Toronto

It's not every day that Law.com cites the Jetsons as an authority to make a point.

It does just that in Teleconferencing Gets Ready for Prime Time, an article published February 22 that heralds the arrival of high-definition videoconferencing as a legal technology solution:

Ever since cartoon character Jane Jetson chatted away on her videophone in 1962, teleconferencing has been on the wish list of just about everybody.

...But finally, Web-based conference technology may be ready for prime time -- thanks to high-definition video and fast, fat "pipes." Advances in large-sized screens, effective systems integration and stronger bandwidth are driving a nascent market for high-end systems where remote participants appear almost to be real, present-in-the-flesh attendees.

A state-of-the-art example is the Cisco Telepresence System 3000, pictured above, which utilizes:

"Three 65-inch plasma screens and a specially designed table that seats six participants on one side of the "virtual table." ...The life-size images and video clarity of the Cisco TelePresence System 3000 allow you to see every expression, while the CD-quality audio allows you to hear every word."

We have long daydreamed about videoconferencing and virtual courtrooms as a possible solution to long wait-times for litigants and counsel in our overcrowded courtrooms.

It appears that the technology is now developing that will ultimately allow this.

At $300,000 per room, the Cisco offering it is not inexpensive, but the cost is beginning to approach competitiveness with brick and mortar alternatives.

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

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Full post as published by Wise Law Blog on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).