Where industrial edge architectures fit in the open automation future

ABB's Luis Duran comments on Margo, open edge environments and the future of distributed control systems

July 15, 2026

2 min read

Key Highlights

While closed edge environments guarantee single-vendor performance, industry demand for interoperability is driving the adoption of open edge ecosystems like Margo to give users greater application flexibility.
ABB is breaking away from heritage DCS architectures by using a "separation of concerns" principle to host advanced applications on its dedicated Edgenius digital edge platform.

Businessman using tablet analyzing edge computing and growth graph chart, real-time processing, IoT data, cloud integration, decentralized network performance, digital transformation insights.

Luis Duran, industry initiatives, standards and market trends, industrial automation, at ABB Automation holds BSEE and MBA degrees from Universidad Simon Bolívar in Caracas, Venezuela, and he has 36 years of experience in a variety of process automation roles, including areas such as process control, manufacturing execution systems, safety instrumented systems and critical controls. Duran has more than 22 years of experience in product management, including product marketing and product line management. He is the ABB representative in the Open Process Automation Forum and participates in other industry initiatives such as Modular Automation and Margo.

What are the advantages or disadvantages of an open or closed edge environment?

Luis Duran, industry initiatives, standards and market trends, industrial automation, ABB Automation: The obvious advantage of a closed edge enviroment is that the interoperability and performance of the applications from a single supplier is assured by the supplier. However, with the user drive toward interoperability, the need for an open edge environment is gaining momentum, as demonstrated by the emergence of Margo. It'll be possible for users to have flexibility to choose specialized edge applications or deployment environments to fit their needs.

Get your subscription to Control Design’s daily newsletter.

Tell us about one of your company’s state-of-the-art edge product.

Luis Duran, industry initiatives, standards and market trends, industrial automation, ABB Automation: Breaking from traditional approaches found in heritage distributed control system (DCS) architectures, ABB's Automation Extended had adopted separation of concerns principles to break down the automation solution into two distinct environments, each optimized for its own purpose. ABB had implemented a digital environment powered by the Edgenius platform, which is designed to host numerous advanced applications, including asset management and intelligent operator assistance.

About the Author

Mike Bacidore

Editor in Chief

Mike Bacidore is chief editor of Control Design and has been an integral part of the Endeavor Business Media editorial team since 2007. Previously, he was editorial director at Hughes Communications and a portfolio manager of the human resources and labor law areas at Wolters Kluwer. Bacidore holds a BA from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. He is an award-winning columnist, earning multiple regional and national awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He may be reached at [email protected]