Open and secure edge interoperability standards for industrial automation ecosystems.

Deep legacy of driving industry standards brought to open-standard initiative enables more flexible, scalable automation for customers

The Linux Foundation’s Margo, a new open-standard initiative designed to make edge applications, devices and orchestration software work together seamlessly across multi-vendor industrial automation environments, has been joind by Emerson.

Margo welcomed Emerson's expertese in automation technology and software which "will be instrumental in helping create a unified and cohesive edge management ecosystem."

As process and discrete manufacturers implement enhanced digitalisation, they encounter challenges at the edge due to multi-vendor and multi-technology devices, apps and orchestration environments that do not easily integrate. The Margo initiative addresses these challenges through the creation of practical reference implementation, open standards and testing toolkits.

This approach will help remove obstacles and simplify the process of building, deploying, scaling and operating complex, multi-vendor industrial edge environments, helping manufacturers of all sizes build new and better digital operations or modernise existing ones.

“The modern OT edge is the backbone of our next-generation automation architecture, enabling the availability of data and computing closest to where it is needed,” said Peter Zornio, Emerson's chief technology officer. “Successful implementation will require open edge standards that will enable scalable, simplified and seamless interoperability among applications, edge devices and orchestration software – no matter the vendor technology.

“Emerson is pleased to join the Margo initiative to help create a unified and cohesive edge management ecosystem. Our collective progress will make it easier, faster and less costly for our customers to develop digital transformation programmes that realise the full potential of AI, machine learning and analytics at the edge.”

The Margo initiative complements Emerson’s Boundless Automation™ vision for a next generation, modern automation architecture designed to break down data silos and enable computing power where it is best suited, whether that is in the field, edge or cloud.

Drawing its name from the Latin word for edge, Margo is supported by some of the largest automation providers globally. Emerson joins Margo as a steering member along with industry peers to develop open and secure edge interoperability standards for industrial automation ecosystems. 

The Margo project represents a significant industry collaboration to define mechanisms for interoperable orchestration of edge applications, workloads and devices. It will deliver the promise of interoperability through an open standard, reference implementation, and comprehensive compliance testing toolkit.

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New member for Linux Foundation!

Opto 22 has joined The Linux Foundation as a Silver Level member. As a Linux Foundation member, Opto 22 will help support the greatest shared technology resources in history, while also accelerating the company’s technology and innovation through open-source leadership and participation. In joining The Linux Foundation, the company hopes to spearhead the adoption of open-source technology in the industrial automation and process control industries, and accelerate the rollout of Industrial Internet of Things applications.

“It’s exciting to see a vendor from a traditionally proprietary technology space such as industrial automation and process control join The Linux Foundation. It is a testament to the power of open- source technology and the community that supports it and allows it to thrive,” said Mike Woster, COO of The Linux Foundation.

New technologies from the open-source community are beginning to enter the traditionally proprietary technology space of industrial applications. As open-source adoption grows, commerce and society will come to depend on the software code developed to support that adoption. The future of these critical technologies can’t be left to chance. They require a neutral, independent organization like The Linux Foundation to manage the infrastructure and sustain their code and communities over the long term.

Opto 22 has long been a proponent of using open standards and technology as well as commercially available off-the-shelf products in industrial applications and internal product development. One of the first manufacturers in the industrial automation industry to design products on open standards, it was one of the first control and I/O system manufacturers to add Ethernet connectivity and the TCP/IP protocol to an industrial controller.

Since then the company has followed up its commitment to open-source technology and the accelerated adoption of industry standards by releasing an industry-first RESTful API (application program interface) to an industrial automation controller. With this RESTful API, developers can use their software language of choice to build applications that collect data from and control real- world electrical devices like sensors, motors, and pumps. Shortly after releasing the RESTful API, Opto 22 released Node-RED nodes for its SNAP PAC system controllers, to accelerate the rapid development of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) applications. Most recently, Opto 22 added the Node-RED development environment to its IIoT application platform, the groov Box.

With the addition of the Node-RED development environment, groov is the ideal toolset for IIoT application developers. groov fuses together an industrially rugged hardware platform, data visualization for mobile and web clients, robust industrial automation protocol support including Modbus/TCP and OPC UA, and advanced data flow processing. Add these to its ability to connect multiple data sources including devices, databases, and third-party APIs, and groov becomes a single, cohesive, cost-effective, and powerful platform for nearly any IIoT or edge computing application.

“When businesses choose to leverage open-source software, they are in effect choosing to free themselves of the painful pitfall of vendor lock-in. Customers who choose to adopt a product built around a proprietary technology stack are at the mercy of their vendor,” says Benson Hougland, VP of Marketing and Product Strategy for Opto 22. “It’s time to start driving our products toward a development strategy that liberates customers from vendor lock-in and gives them a choice of vendors to work with.”

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