SeRP and the SAIL Gateway
SAIL Databank utilises High Performance Computing and the Secure eResearch Platform (SeRP) to allow multiple, complex data to be safely accessed, managed and analysed. We are able to work with emerging data types such as free-text, imaging, genetic and geographic data. Depending on your requirements we can customise packages to offer computing boosts to your remote desktop specification and storage, and facilitate projects involving AI, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
The state-of-the-art data linkage mechanism within SeRP has the added advantage of highlighting any irregularities and improving the quality and consistency of your data for research.
The SAIL Gateway has been designed to give users a familiar Windows environment with an array of toolsets and applications. SQL querying tools and commonly used applications, such as MS Office, SPSS, and R, are included as standard. Other applications such as STATA are also available for a small licensing fee. A full list of all available software (including versions) is available on request.
Users can also request the addition of other applications for which they hold a licence, and seek permission to import non-data files such as syntax scripts and reference documents if necessary.
What does SeRP do for SAIL?
- SAIL Gateway is a remote access platform to enable approved researchers to use a virtual environment from their own desktop, wherever they are in the world. Strict protocols enable user authentication and monitoring, and prevent the alteration or removal of SAIL data by users.
- Information Governance to ensure person-based data with high privacy risk is managed to the highest ISO 27001 standards. The result is that SAIL Databank is entrusted by organisations like the NHS and the Office for National Statistics and is endorsed by the British Medical Association.
- The SAIL privacy-by-design model encompasses a suite of physical, technical and procedural controls applied to the data and the data environment. SeRP’s data access controls ensure that researchers are only allowed to view the data and not to have data extracted from the Databank
- SeRP technology can be scaled to handle imaging, genomics and free text to supports SAIL’s breadth of data types. This environment, and customisable suite of analytical tools, provides user with computing boosts to facilitate projects involving AI, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing.
- SeRP offers award winning LinXmart data linkage software allowing researchers to identify patterns across entire populations. This state-of-the-art data linkage mechanism also has the added advantage of highlighting any irregularities and improving the quality of data for research.
