The Montana Judicial Video Network (JVN) began in 2000 as a collaborative effort between the Court Assessment Program, the Montana Juvenile Probation Officer’s Association (JPOA) and Montana Legal Services to allow district court judges to expedite the handling of cases while maintaining the integrity of the court hearing. The JVN was initially funded through grants received by the JVN user community and consisted of 35 video sites in 2006. Budgeting and program responsibilities have evolved considerably. Today the Office of the Court Administrator is responsible for the court’s video conferencing budget and the network consists of 52 sites, with 86 equipment locations (endpoints).
Within the judicial branch, the Information Technology Division is responsible for program management, problem resolution, utilization monitoring, training and support of the court connections on the Judicial Video Network.
The Judicial Video Network will be undergoing an important change beginning in January 2020. The State Information Technology Services Division (SITSD) is the official network and service provider for the JVN and will be transitioning from the Polycom model currently in place to a new Zoom video conferencing platform. Transitioning the 52 Judicial Branch sites will require a collective effort between the OCA and SITSD and will take between 6-12 months. Zoom information will be continuously updated as it becomes available.