This chapter highlights key technical issues relating to the implementation of the necessary communications infrastructure. The communications infrastructure required in the civil justice arena in the period 2003-2013 will in large part be determined by the applications which will be in use then.
Some clear indications are already available of the nature and scope of the infrastructure.
The key application determining the bandwidth required across the country will be video-conferencing. Although this has been used on only a few occasions in the civil courts the opportunity to use video-conferencing through the availability of a broadband network may make its use more widespread in the future, and significant business benefits could result. The main users of the civil justice network, other than the courts, will be the legal professions, large commercial firms and the public. Few other central government agencies are directly involved in civil litigation, although many local authorities make extensive use of county courts. In these areas the main application of communication links will initially be in the electronic distribution of case related material between parties and the courts.