An Extranet that will see significant growth is the litigation and document management depository. They are referred to as a depository, repository, or extranet. The cost of implementing traditional client server document management systems with their attendant software, training, maintenance, and support costs has been high. Now, one can search and retrieve case related documents from anywhere, at any time, using an Internet connection, a web browser, and a repository. Extranets have proven extremely useful in litigation. Below  is a screenshot from an Extranet site being used in the tobacco litigation. The tobacco litigation has spawned a collaborative litigation environment. The legal team is using internet protocols (Web Browsers, HTML, etc.) to access and process all transcripts, documents produced, work product, calendar, court docket with an integrated database, full text, and document image and messaging system. Other collaborative tools are used by the lawyers for messaging, linking threaded discussions to documents, and for enhanced subjective coding by attorneys and legal staff. Hypertext (HTML), combined with databases and full text retrieval, enhances the access and viewing of all case information.

Benefits.

• Lower hardware and software investment if software is completely web based;
• Lower backup costs;
• Report designs, search and research design, and printing can be handled by the depository;
• Lower training costs using web based browser;
• Lower communication charges;
• Low storage costs.
  

• What type of case information is available - document images, databases, transcripts, case calendar, or pleadings?
• Does the service bureau offer 24X7 support?
• What security is offered - password, SSL encryption, firewall protection, audits of login attempts, and usage reports?
• Does the service allow you to search across all documents, depositions, databases, etc. at the same time or in one search? Does it allow simultaneous searching of material on your computer and the Internet data?
• The low bandwidth of the Internet can present major performance problems. Can you increase your bandwidth in your firm, your remote office, or while you are on the road?
• Choose a file format that is generally used in the industry for document exchange purposes, trial presentation, etc. Proprietary formats are difficult to work with because of cost, fewer utilities to work with, and incompatibility with industry standards. You need to be able to export them to a standard format. How fast does the viewer decompress the image? If it is slow, your performance problems accelerate. · Is the document progressively displayed as it is downloaded? On the Internet, this is called streaming.
• Consider scanning your images at 200 DPI as opposed to 300 DPI. They can reduce a file size around 30%. However, for court presentation, you will need at least 300 DPI resolution.
  
• Use a file format like TIFF Group IV that will compress the image. Generally, an 8X11 page will store at around 55K. A 20-page document being downloaded will still take more than 5 minutes to download with a 28,800 modem.

• Some depository questions to ask:

• Where is the site hosted?
• What is the pricing structure? (setup fees, setup fees per user, per page hosting fee per month, consulting hourly fees, etc.)
• Are you comfortable with how it displays and integrates your case material?
• Do you have to pay the vendor to make changes to the database structure and upload pages? 
• Can you annotate the on-line documents?
• Can you convert data from other formats easily?
• Does it have both thin and thick clients?
• Does it handle the PDF format easily?
• Are other features offered, like case management, time and billing, etc.?
• How small a case will it accept?
• Is the system scalable?