OXFORD WAVE RESEARCH LIMITED

Voice comparison and speech transcription

A centralised web-based software system that provides the capability of conducting voice biometric comparisons against a query speaker or recording, as well as fully offline speech transcription, translation and intelligent summarisation.

Features

• A centralised web-based system for voice biometric comparisons
• Secure login, communication, and audit log
• Fully offline speech recognition and translation
• Focus-word spotting to find and highlight keywords
• High-level summarisation and gisting of content
• Voice identification of speakers from audio and video
• Bespoke customisation to different languages and speaker demographics

Benefits

• Identify voices of interest from audio and video files
• Perform multilingual transcription and translation across different languages
• Easily deploy as a fully on-premise solution
• Quickly spot focus words and highlight key words
• Securely login, use and manage the database
• Review multimedia assets quickly using the high-level summarisation and gisting

£167.00 a user a month

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@oxfordwaveresearch.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

483521204945938

Contact

Nikki Conlin
01865 955250
sales@oxfordwaveresearch.com

Service scope

• Service constraints: If running on a private cloud our solutions will require deployment on Windows with IIS (Internet Information Services) as the hosting environment. Additionally, we may require machines equipped with multiple powerful GPUs (e.g. Geforce RTX 3090s) to support our service's computational needs effectively. This combination ensures optimal performance and compatibility for our service, enabling efficient and high-performance operations.
• System requirements:
  • Windows Operating System (64 bit)
  • Internet Browser: Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: Support will be provided via a dedicated email account. Users and/or their first line support will be able to raise issues which will be responded to by email or telephone during business hours within one day, or if reported out of hours, at the start of the next working day. Expected response to queries may take up to 2-3 working days depending on support levels.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Yes, at extra cost
• Support levels: The support levels you provide: We provide three support levels, namely Platinum, Gold and Silver.; ; How much the different support levels you provide cost: Platinum (30%), Gold (25%), Silver (20%) of product cost; ; Whether you provide a technical account manager or cloud support engineer: We will provide a technical account manager
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: All enquiries involve in depth use case and technical discussions to ensure suitability of our service for the customer requirement. Once purchased, full user training is provided - this is compulsory to ensure correct use of system. Ongoing user support is also provided. Physical and online documentation, online support portal with access to documentation, FAQ etc. Onsite or online integration support is provided to ensure correct set up, including functionality testing.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats:
  • HTML
  • PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: An admin user can exported the database in an unencrypted format at any time.
• End-of-contract process: The end-of-contract process will be determined on a per-deployment basis in collaboration with the user.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Using the web interface: Access an intuitive web interface without the need for complex software installation or extensive user training.; ; Use a secure login, communication and audit log mechanism for remote users connecting to the database.; ; Operate the system without requiring powerful end-user devices, thereby reducing deployment and scaling costs.; ; Identify speakers from voice samples extracted from audio or video recordings.; ; Conduct powerful text and language-independent voice comparisons.; ; Extract transcripts for the speech contained within the audio or video recordings.; ; Search for speakers against a centralised voice model and for search terms against a transcription database.
• Web interface accessibility standard: WCAG 2.1 A
• Web interface accessibility testing: Our QA team ensure that the interface can be easily read by screen reading software. We have not yet tested this with real assistive technology users, but this can be included in the future.
• API: No
• Command line interface: No

Scaling

• Scaling available: Yes
• Scaling type: Manual
• Independence of resources: The system runs within the client's private network, ensuring that users from other organizations do not impact the speed of the client's operations. Message queuing is utilized by the system to maintain load balancing of requests.
• Usage notifications: Yes
• Usage reporting: Other
• Other usage reporting: Message on the user-interface indicating usage is nearing service limits

Analytics

• Infrastructure or application metrics: Yes
• Metrics types:
  • HTTP request and response status
  • Other
• Other metrics: Audit log of user interactions
• Reporting types: Real-time dashboards

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Other security clearance
• Government security clearance: Up to Security Clearance (SC)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations:
  • United Kingdom
  • European Economic Area (EEA)
  • Other locations
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: Less than once a year
• Penetration testing approach: In-house
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
  • Other
• Other data at rest protection approach: The database and database backups are encrypted to prevent the data being accessible.
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type:
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
  • Hardware containing data is completely destroyed
• Equipment disposal approach: In-house destruction process

Backup and recovery

• Backup and recovery: Yes
• What’s backed up: Database including voice models, metadata, and transcriptions
• Backup controls: The admin users are prompted at regular intervals to back-up the database and store it in a secure location. This backup is by default encrypted. The admin users can also recover the database from a backup.
• Datacentre setup: Single datacentre
• Scheduling backups: Users schedule backups through a web interface
• Backup recovery:
  • Users can recover backups themselves, for example through a web interface
  • Users contact the support team

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks:
  • Private network or public sector network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network:
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • Other
• Other protection within supplier network: This offering is meant for on-premises deployment, ensuring it will be safeguarded by the customer's internal security protocols.

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: We have different tiers of SLAs (i.e. silver, gold and platinum), and the specifics of the expected availability and refunds (in the form of credits) in case of not meeting expected levels can be negotiated and agreed with the customer prior to deployments.
• Approach to resilience: The service we provide has been built with backups, scalability, and availability in mind. Depending on customer requirements for resilience, this can be customised. Details on implementation are confidential but can be shared upon customer request.
• Outage reporting: The system has detailed logs that are made available to the user through a dashboard. The updates can include outages and other information as required by the customer.

Identity and authentication

• User authentication:
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: Management accounts are kept separate from user accounts, and their allocation process is determined collaboratively for each deployment. User access is governed by assigned roles, specifying their privileges for management reporting and support functions.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • Limited access network (for example PSN)
  • Username or password
• Devices users manage the service through: Directly from any device which may also be used for normal business (for example web browsing or viewing external email)

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: At least 12 months
• How long system logs are stored for: At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Cyber essentials plus: Yes
• Other security certifications: No

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: No
• Security governance approach: We maintain a local security policy and associated procedures which are overseen by the board of directors, with specific responsibility of the CTO, Oscar Forth. Our policy and associated governance are assessed by an IASME-certified third-party organisation against the CyberEssentials and the CyberEssentials Plus standards.
• Information security policies and processes: We maintain a local security policy and associated procedures overseen by the board of directors, with the CTO, Oscar Forth, holding specific responsibility. Our policy and governance undergo assessment by an IASME-certified third-party organization against the CyberEssentials and CyberEssentials Plus standards annually.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
• Configuration and change management approach: Our configuration and change management processes involve several key steps. Firstly, source code for each component is stored in a code versioning system, ensuring that changes are tracked throughout their lifetime. Secondly interactions between components are tested by the dev/QA team. Thirdly, before any release, our in-house QA team conducts extensive testing to ensure the reliability and functionality of the system. This testing process helps identify any potential issues or vulnerabilities that may impact security and iterative development and testing cycles prepare the product for release. This multi-step approach helps us maintain a security and stability while managing changes effectively.
• Vulnerability management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Vulnerability management approach: We respond to vendor security updates and perform regular tests of our system against the latest updates.; ; Vulnerabilities detected will be addressed and as appropriate patches will rolled out to users through our software release process (generally using our support portal).; ; Patches for critical vulnerabilities can be made available on demand depending on policies agreed with the customer.
• Protective monitoring type: Undisclosed
• Protective monitoring approach: Protective monitoring practices will be determined on a per-deployment basis in collaboration with the user.
• Incident management type: Supplier-defined controls
• Incident management approach: Incident management policies will be determined on a per-deployment basis in collaboration with the user.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Supplier-defined process

Separation between users

• Virtualisation technology used to keep applications and users sharing the same infrastructure apart: No

Energy efficiency

• Energy-efficient datacentres: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  • Fighting climate change
  • Covid-19 recovery
  • Tackling economic inequality
  • Equal opportunity
  • Wellbeing

  Fighting climate change

  We're a small business focused on sustainability. We are mostly paperless, and prioritize long-lasting IT equipment. We strive to limit foreign travel, preferring online communication when possible. We tend to attend international academic scientific conferences or tradeshows where we can meet many of our customers together in one place. We provide remote options for our training and customer support, minimising the requirement to travel, both for our staff and our customers. For our compute costs, we try to limit the usage of servers to when instantiating them only when required, periodically reviewing their use and minimising unnecessary usage.

  Covid-19 recovery

  During and after COVID, we've focused on keeping our team healthy and happy, helping them juggle work, health, and personal commitments as things change. We're a modern tech company, so our setup supports hybrid work. And we make sure our suppliers and customers know what's happening with our business in such uncertain times, so they're in the loop about any changes that might affect them.

  Tackling economic inequality

  Being a UK-based company fully owned by UK founders, we're expanding our team across the nation, facilitating job creation and skill enhancement within the UK workforce through our technological ventures. We have taken apprentices and students over the years and many of them have gone on to work in important roles either with our company or in the greater work environment. Our hiring practices extend throughout the UK and globally, emphasising diversity and inclusion to promptly translate the societal advantages of our technology investments into the support and progression of our team.

  Equal opportunity

  We continuously strive for equal opportunities in our operations and recruitment. Our job ads are carefully worded to be inclusive and transparent. We offer flexible work arrangements and remote work options, taking into consideration that traditional full-time contracts may not fit everyone's needs. We also a have a robust modern slavery policy developed using industry standard guidelines.

  Wellbeing

  Our software significantly contributes to workplace wellbeing, particularly for officers and investigators. By minimizing exposure to distressing media content, we alleviate the potential psychological strain of repetitive viewing and analysis of distressing material that can have a serious impact on an officers mental wellbeing . We allow the investigators to understand what may be happening within a recording and identifying speakers of interest without having to manually view or listen to these files. This streamlines processing times, reducing cognitive load and effects on officer wellbeing.

Pricing

• Price: £167.00 a user a month
• Discount for educational organisations: No
• Free trial available: No

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Skills Framework for the Information Age rate card

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at sales@oxfordwaveresearch.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.