Interoperability is the key to digital transformation at scale. As a proud founding member of the new Margo initiative, B&R is driving open interoperability at the edge of industrial automation ecosystems. This marks another important step toward our vision of open, easy and interoperable automation solutions that leverage the power of artificial intelligence and the Industrial IoT to enable better decisions for more efficient and sustainable industries.
Today's factories generate a tremendous amount of data. How to turn that big data into better decisions? That's the essential question addressed by Industrial IoT solutions.
Data from a huge network of "things" that includes every sensor and controller on every machine, as well as many other systems across the entire supply chain.
Decisions based on real understanding and actionable insights drive more profitable performance and more efficient use of energy and raw materials.
The more sources you collect data from, the better the decisions you can make. For builders and operators of plants and machinery, that means connecting many different systems from many different suppliers. That's what makes interoperability such a decisive factor in the success of an Industrial IoT solution.
Managing a complex, heterogenous ecosystem of apps, devices and software platforms from different suppliers often requires teams of IT specialists and adds unnecessary delays and costs throughout design and deployment. This is especially true at the edge layer of the Industrial IoT – between field-level controls and cloud-based platforms – where data from machines and production lines is processed and analyzed locally, close to the source, often using AI.
To deliver this long-awaited edge interoperability, B&R is proud join a founding group of leading automation ecosystem providers in launching a new open-source initiative called Margo. Drawing its name from the Latin word for 'edge', Margo will define the mechanisms for how edge devices, apps and orchestration software interact with each other.
The big idea behind Margo is to allow any edge app to run on any edge device, be managed with any edge orchestration platform and be deployed against any infrastructure, whether cloud or on-premises. "Delivering on that interoperability promise in a modern and agile way is a commitment that guides our work in creating Margo," says Reinhard Achatz, Product Manager for Industrial IoT and B&R contributor to Margo development. "That's why we're not just developing a standard, but also a practical reference implementation and a comprehensive compliance testing toolkit instead of complex and expensive certification procedures."
Hear what else Reinhard has to say about Margo and why edge interoperability is so important to accelerating digital transformation in this video.
Openness is the future, and Margo is another example of B&R's commitment to open standards and technologies, including OPC UA and OPC UA FX. As a widely adopted standard, OPC UA provides a framework for interoperability between information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks, supporting various communication patterns for industry requirements. OPC UA FX extends this to field-level communication, enabling seamless data exchange and device interoperability in automation systems.
Margo will be able to leverage the OPC UA and OPC UA FX standards to ensure compatibility and facilitate the adoption of edge computing applications in industrial environments. By aligning with these established standards, the initiative can contribute to the broader ecosystem, providing a more robust and flexible architecture for industrial automation. As open ecosystems grow and complement each other, industries will be better able to address the challenges of data availability, analysis, and management – magnifying improvements in performance and efficiency.
Hosted by the Linux Foundation – an organization whose name is synonymous with open source – Margo is driven by a founding group of leading automation ecosystem providers, including ABB, B&R, Capgemini, Microsoft, Rockwell, Schneider Electric, AVEVA and Siemens.
Founding members meet at Hannover Messe
Representatives from the founding members presented their vision and roadmap for edge interoperability and invite like-minded industry peers to join the Margo movement.
View the recording and learn more about the Margo vision and membership at www.margo.org
"Any app on any device, with any platform and any infrastructure – We're proud to be driving this open-source initiative with a founding group who share this vision and are working to make life easier for builders and operators of industrial ecosystems."Learn more about B&R solutions for the Industrial IoT
