When the Technology office of the Sixth Circuit Court of Florida realized it was time to update its audio equipment, they knew they had to find a reliable system. This Court is known as one of the most efficient trial courts in the nation and this new audio system had to be the most efficient too.   With 9 locations, the farthest being 75 miles apart, the unique challenge the Court Technology Office faced was finding a system with remote access to all the court locations. This remote access is needed for trouble shooting and readjusting the system. The new system also had to be easily expanded and reconfigured as the courts needed as well as being extremely reliable. If there is no audio there is no court in session.

Winfred Ellenwood, Ken Nelson, and Eric Johnson, all from the Court Technology Office, agreed that the Peavey, MediaMatrix NION system would be the right choice to handle this courts heavy case load at multiple locations. The NION allows the Technology Office to access its system over a standard Ethernet computer network. Being able to do this remotely without having a person go to each location physically has saved the courts (numerous) times and a great amount of money Winfred said, “We consider them (NION) extremely reliable and the leader in this type of audio equipment. The standard 5-year warranty is one of the best I know of for DSP-based audio equipment.”

 

The MediaMatrix NION system is installed in 23 courtrooms, 21 hearing rooms, and 6 jail video conferencing rooms. The NION system is also currently being installed in an additional 20 courtrooms. These systems provide multi-channel audio feed to digital court reporting equipment as well as multi-zoned audio reinforcement, ADA ALD compliance, and audio routing for video communication. Videoconferencing hearings have been taking place in these courts since the 1980’s. These hearings save the community thousands of dollars in transportation costs as well as security risks associated with transporting inmates. This technology can also reduce the costs of travel and lodging expense to the courts, taxpayers, and litigants. The Sixth Circuit Court has done remote videoconferencing from Afghanistan to India as well as throughout the USA.

Location:  The Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Pasco and Pinellas Counties

Evaluation:  Needs an extremely reliable audio system that can be used in 9 different locations with remote access.

MediaMatrix Sloution:  The NION system was installed using, NION N3, NION NX, Cab 4n, Cab 16i, Cab16o, Cab8i, Cab8o and all associated modules and controls.