Splunk Powers Operational Intelligence at Manitoba Hydro

SOURCE: Splunk

SAN FRANCISCO – October 9, 2012 – Splunk Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK), the leading provider of software for real-time operational intelligence, today announced that Manitoba Hydro has successfully deployed Splunk Enterprise^™ and the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange to ensure the availability and security of its email infrastructure. Manitoba Hydro reports that the deployment has cut the time it takes the IT team to troubleshoot issues from hours to minutes.

Manitoba Hydro is the electric power and natural gas utility for the province of Manitoba, Canada, serving more than 542,000 electric and 267,000 natural gas customers. About 98 percent of the electricity it produces each year is clean, renewable power generated at 14 hydroelectric generating stations. With 6,300 employees distributed across multiple locations throughout the province, communications applications and systems are mission critical. Among the most critical of these systems are the firm’s Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry Enterprise Server messaging environments, which serve both Manitoba Hydro and its subsidiary Manitoba Hydro International Ltd. Manitoba Hydro deployed Splunk Enterprise and the Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange as its central system for collecting, indexing, searching and reporting on machine data from every source generating machine data.

“Splunk software and the Splunk App for Exchange tell us exactly where data is located, when it was last accessed and other key statistics,” said James Klassen, Exchange Administrator, Manitoba Hydro. “I was initially skeptical, but what really caught my attention was how customizable Splunk is. With Splunk you can do whatever you can imagine. You can create scripts and indexes to capture any data or output, and then do whatever you want with that data. It’s the unlimited flexibility that really sets Splunk apart.”

The Manitoba Hydro messaging environment includes more than two-dozen Exchange servers, Blackberry Enterprise servers, and Cisco IronPort Email Security Appliances (ESA). The organization leverages Splunk Enterprise, the Splunk App for Exchange, the Splunk Cisco Security Suite, and the Splunk App for Cisco IronPort ESA to provide a single, cohesive view.

Manitoba Hydro is also using Splunk software to help the IT support group solve Blackberry user problems. The team built an application using .Net and the Splunk PowerShell Search Cmdlet that initiates a remote connection to gather user and public folder statistics from Exchange and Blackberry servers and present the information in a visually appealing and insightful dashboard.

“For most organizations today, disruptions to their email systems sap productivity, and even in the best of times maintaining that infrastructure consumes far too much of the IT team’s time,” said Manish Kalra, product marketing director, Splunk. “The Splunk App for Microsoft Exchange gives IT organizations real-time insights not only into the Exchange server logs, but also into the underlying infrastructure, including Internet, servers, Windows event logs from security, Exchange audits and application events, and add-ons like Blackberry Enterprise Server. This allows IT teams to detect potential issues and security threats early and respond much more quickly.”

For more information on how Manitoba Hydro uses Splunk software, please go to the case study on the Splunk website.