Macquarie deploys big data platform, improves Govt comms

Macquarie Telecom has deployed MapR, the big data platform, and says the move is bringing performance and security benefits to the Australian federal and state government.

MapR Technologies is the provider of distribution for Apache Hadoop, which integrates web-scale enterprise storage and real-time database capabilities.

At present, Macquarie Telecom's Government Division secures telecommunications for 42% of government agencies in Australia.

The company provides government employees with a secure internet gateway, so they can safely access external public websites, downloads, and email services.

Macquarie Telecom monitors hundreds of systems providing logs and disparate data set in multiple formats – about a billion events every day.

Furthermore, as it is providing services to the government, Macquarie Telecom is by contract required to provide its clients with a specific level of service.

According to the company, the deployment of the MapR big data platform means better security, performance, timeliness and accuracy for the government. For one, reports that used to take 14 days now only take two hours.

"With the growing complexity of the digital threat landscape and the development of SaaS and cloud services, Macquarie Telecom must secure and analyse an exponentially growing amount of data, as well as predict increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks," says Aidan Tudehope, Macquarie Telecom Hosting Group managing director.

"Big data analytics in a hybrid cloud services model is the next big thing in complex security environments such as those of governments.

"We needed a comprehensive platform that is able to analyse data in the cloud and most importantly in real-time, which is what MapR is providing us with today. We considered several distributions of Hadoop, and chose the MapR Distribution as best for our needs," Tudehope says.

Justin Bock, MapR Technologies regional manager for ANZ, says, "Macquarie Telecom will be collecting massive amounts of data and we are delighted to be partnering with them to build the system they need to enhance the federal and state governments' security through powerful data analytics and predictive security services, and through a platform available in the cloud.

"Together we can enable the government to be more responsive and effective in terms of security."