By: Armand Craig, Rockwell Automation
Industrial automation has become a cornerstone of efficiency and productivity in the world of manufacturing. Over the years, it has evolved from simple mechanization to complex systems driven by interconnected technologies, where interoperability, connectivity, and artificial intelligence (AI) play pivotal roles. In the pursuit of seamless interoperability, the Linux Foundation launched the Margo Initiative, a collaborative effort defining mechanisms for interoperable orchestration at scale of edge applications/workloads and devices.
In continuation to our announcement on April 16, 2024, we are excited to welcome you to the Margo Github Organization! You can browse and contribute to this exciting new open-source project that is bringing cloud technology and interoperability to the Industrial Automation edge.
Our goal for this Github organization is split up into two streams. First stream is to drive towards an initial draft of the Margo specification. Secondly, utilize a code first mentality which encourages contributions that help drive knowledgeable decisions regarding key specification topics.
The Specification repository stores the documentation and diagrams that make up the specification. The current content within this repository is a pre-draft snapshot that reflects the progress that was made prior to release. The current content is focused heavily on the application interoperability aspects of the system design. In the coming weeks we will expand the scope of the specification repository to include the second main theme of the Margo specification, device interoperability.
The blueprint repository is setup to encourage and enable the open-source community with reference implementations, testing components, along with getting started guides, that showcase Margo specification features. This repository will be a crucial tool utilized in completing our specification with verified patterns and techniques.
Lastly, we will be including a test and verification suite repository in the future. This will enable Margo compliant vendors with a suite of tools to verify their commercial products against the Margo specification.
We are excited about this journey and welcome you to join and contribute to it to make it a success.