The industrial technology landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, with edge computing emerging as a critical enabler for next-generation operations. At the heart of this evolution lies the Margo Initiative, a groundbreaking collaborative effort launched in 2024 that has been steadily revolutionizing edge interoperability.
A recent panel discussion at Hannover Messe 2025 brought together key stakeholders in the Margo ecosystem to reflect on the initiative’s accomplishments over its first year and chart the course for future development. Moderated by Nicolas Rousseau of Capgemini, the session featured insights from Bart Nieuwborg (Chair, Margo), Carl Moberg (Avassa), Ashwani Singh (Belden), and Michael Maxey (Zededa).
Setting the Stage: A Year of Progress
Nicolas Rousseau, Capgemini: Since its launch in 2024, the Margo initiative has made remarkable strides in establishing a robust framework for edge interoperability at the edge. Our discussion at Hannover 2025 provided a retrospective view of Margo’s achievements, such as interoperable orchestration and observability, accelerated through open-source innovation. We discussed the future prospects for 2025 and beyond, highlighting Margo’s plans to enable more efficient industrial operations at scale, in a multi-vendor environment
The Journey So Far: Building a Community-Led Framework
Bart Nieuwborg, Chair, Margo: The first clear sign of momentum was the growth of the community. It’s been fantastic to see more and more players in the market align with Margo’s vision and join forces around it. And it wasn’t just about increasing numbers—we actually grew faster than we expected as founding members.
But more importantly, this growth translated into real collaboration. We’ve seen companies not just join, but actively contribute—motivated by the open source and transparent way we’ve structured the project.
New Perspectives: Why Companies Are Joining Margo
The Margo Initiative has seen remarkable growth in its membership since its inception, attracting organizations that recognize the value of standardized edge interoperability.
Ashwani Singh, Belden: We at Belden design, manufacture and market networking, connectivity, cable products and solutions for automation and smart infrastructure solutions. If you take our networking portfolio: LAN, WAN, WIFI, 5G .. we are dealing with a huge volume of data both network specific and OT data flowing through that network.
Two weeks ago I was visiting some of our key automotive manufacturing customers in the states. They shared the two key challenges they are facing in their digital transformation journey:
1: Network bottlenecks are rising as factories generate massive sensor data. Need for intelligent, condition-based data collection.. We have solutions for that through edge applications but multi-vendor systems are a reality in the verticals we are operating in .. so our applications should be able to run in third party devices and vice versa.. that’s one of the promises of Margo which attracted us to join this initiative.
2: Our customers shared that Real-time insights are useless without action. Combining edge analytics with centralized orchestration is now key to agile decision-making—from predictive maintenance to supply chain optimization. Margo is enabling that and depends on container orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes, Docker and Podman existing on the edge compute devices and is not an attempt to duplicate what these platforms provide.
That’s what we have really loved about this community: discussions are centered around concrete prototyping and specific implementation challenges.. rather than art of possibilities.
Michael Maxey, Zededa: At ZEDEDA, we provide device management and virtualization for edge devices—and on top of those, you can run all sorts of workloads, from networking to Kubernetes to AASA. Our customers demand two things: interoperability and simplicity. And that’s exactly what Margo is about, so it aligns directly with both our technology focus and our customers’ needs.
The collaboration among companies and the diversity of applications they bring—that’s what we believe will unlock value for enterprises around the world. We’re very excited about the interoperability progress, and it’s something that really matters to our customer base.
The second big driver for ZEDEDA joining is the open source approach. We’re an open source company, and part of our product lives within the Linux Foundation Edge group. I’m also actively involved in LF Edge, and we’ve seen how successful open source collaboration can be in solving complex challenges in this space.
So really, it comes down to two key things for us:
- the customer demand for interoperability, and
- the power of open source collaboration.
Inside the Working Groups: Collaborative Innovation in Action
Carl Moberg, Avassa:
Avassa joined Project Margo to contribute its expertise in container orchestration for distributed environments and to engage with a diverse spectrum of members—ranging from hardware vendors to platform providers—who collectively shape the project’s direction. The strength of Project Margo lies in this community-driven approach, where experiences are shared in working groups that foster dialogue, alignment, and technical progress. For events like Hannover Messe, this collaborative model highlights how industry leaders can co-create scalable and vendor-agnostic solutions for the evolving edge landscape.
The diversity of Project Margo’s community is one of its greatest strengths. Through the working groups, we get to shape real solutions alongside peers who bring different, but equally valuable, perspectives on the future of the edge.
Looking Ahead: The Roadmap for Intelligent Industrial Operations
As Margo moves into its second year and beyond, the initiative has ambitious plans to expand its impact on industrial edge computing and interoperability.
Conclusions
It was a fantastic experience to witness the Margo panel and see the audience engaged in the conversation about the future of open, software-defined industrial systems. We are grateful for the insights shared by panellists and the collaborative spirit driving this initiative forward. The response Margo has received at Hannover Messe 2025 has been phenomenal and has helped us grow as a community of like-minded innovators. We are building momentum, collaboration, and working towards a shared vision. A big thank you to all the members driving this initiative forward and we are excited about what’s ahead as we continue to grow this ecosystem together.
Get Involved
The Margo Initiative welcomes new participants who share the vision of creating a more interoperable, efficient industrial edge computing ecosystem. By joining forces, technology providers and industrial operators can collectively shape the future of edge computing.
For more information on how to engage with the Margo Initiative, visit our GitHub, join Discord and follow us on social media: X, LinkedIn, YouTube.