diff --git a/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/app/ApplicationArchive.java b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/app/ApplicationArchive.java
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+++ b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/app/ApplicationArchive.java
@@ -0,0 +1,267 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015 Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.onosproject.common.app;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableSet;
+import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
+import com.google.common.io.Files;
+import org.apache.commons.configuration.ConfigurationException;
+import org.apache.commons.configuration.XMLConfiguration;
+import org.onlab.util.Tools;
+import org.onosproject.app.ApplicationDescription;
+import org.onosproject.app.ApplicationEvent;
+import org.onosproject.app.ApplicationException;
+import org.onosproject.app.ApplicationStoreDelegate;
+import org.onosproject.app.DefaultApplicationDescription;
+import org.onosproject.core.Permission;
+import org.onosproject.core.Version;
+import org.onosproject.store.AbstractStore;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
+import java.util.zip.ZipInputStream;
+
+import static com.google.common.io.ByteStreams.toByteArray;
+import static com.google.common.io.Files.createParentDirs;
+import static com.google.common.io.Files.write;
+
+/**
+ * Facility for reading application archive stream and managing application
+ * directory structure.
+ */
+public class ApplicationArchive
+        extends AbstractStore<ApplicationEvent, ApplicationStoreDelegate> {
+
+    private static final String NAME = "[@name]";
+    private static final String ORIGIN = "[@origin]";
+    private static final String VERSION = "[@version]";
+    private static final String FEATURES_REPO = "[@featuresRepo]";
+    private static final String FEATURES = "[@features]";
+    private static final String DESCRIPTION = "description";
+
+    private static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ApplicationArchive.class);
+    private static final String APP_XML = "app.xml";
+    private static final String APPS_ROOT = "data/apps/";
+
+    private File appsDir = new File(APPS_ROOT);
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the root directory where application artifacts are kept.
+     *
+     * @param appsRoot top-level applications directory path
+     */
+    protected void setAppsRoot(String appsRoot) {
+        this.appsDir = new File(appsRoot);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the root directory where application artifacts are kept.
+     *
+     * @return top-level applications directory path
+     */
+    protected String getAppsRoot() {
+        return appsDir.getPath();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the set of installed application names.
+     *
+     * @return installed application names
+     */
+    public Set<String> getApplicationNames() {
+        ImmutableSet.Builder<String> names = ImmutableSet.builder();
+        File[] files = appsDir.listFiles(File::isDirectory);
+        if (files != null) {
+            for (File file : files) {
+                names.add(file.getName());
+            }
+        }
+        return names.build();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads the application descriptor from the specified application archive
+     * stream and saves the stream in the appropriate application archive
+     * directory.
+     *
+     * @param appName application name
+     * @return application descriptor
+     * @throws org.onosproject.app.ApplicationException if unable to read application description
+     */
+    public ApplicationDescription getApplicationDescription(String appName) {
+        try {
+            return loadAppDescription(new XMLConfiguration(appFile(appName, APP_XML)));
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new ApplicationException("Unable to get app description", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads the application descriptor from the specified application archive
+     * stream and saves the stream in the appropriate application archive
+     * directory.
+     *
+     * @param stream application archive stream
+     * @return application descriptor
+     * @throws org.onosproject.app.ApplicationException if unable to read the
+     *                                                  archive stream or store
+     *                                                  the application archive
+     */
+    public ApplicationDescription saveApplication(InputStream stream) {
+        try (InputStream ais = stream) {
+            byte[] cache = toByteArray(ais);
+            InputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(cache);
+            ApplicationDescription desc = parseAppDescription(bis);
+            bis.reset();
+
+            expandApplication(bis, desc);
+            bis.reset();
+
+            saveApplication(bis, desc);
+            installArtifacts(desc);
+            return desc;
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new ApplicationException("Unable to save application", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Purges the application archive directory.
+     *
+     * @param appName application name
+     */
+    public void purgeApplication(String appName) {
+        try {
+            Tools.removeDirectory(new File(appsDir, appName));
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new ApplicationException("Unable to purge application " + appName, e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns application archive stream for the specified application.
+     *
+     * @param appName application name
+     * @return application archive stream
+     */
+    public InputStream getApplicationInputStream(String appName) {
+        try {
+            return new FileInputStream(appFile(appName, appName + ".zip"));
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+            throw new ApplicationException("Application " + appName + " not found");
+        }
+    }
+
+    // Scans the specified ZIP stream for app.xml entry and parses it producing
+    // an application descriptor.
+    private ApplicationDescription parseAppDescription(InputStream stream)
+            throws IOException {
+        try (ZipInputStream zis = new ZipInputStream(stream)) {
+            ZipEntry entry;
+            while ((entry = zis.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+                if (entry.getName().equals(APP_XML)) {
+                    byte[] data = new byte[(int) entry.getSize()];
+                    ByteStreams.readFully(zis, data);
+                    XMLConfiguration cfg = new XMLConfiguration();
+                    try {
+                        cfg.load(new ByteArrayInputStream(data));
+                        return loadAppDescription(cfg);
+                    } catch (ConfigurationException e) {
+                        throw new IOException("Unable to parse " + APP_XML, e);
+                    }
+                }
+                zis.closeEntry();
+            }
+        }
+        throw new IOException("Unable to locate " + APP_XML);
+    }
+
+    private ApplicationDescription loadAppDescription(XMLConfiguration cfg) {
+        cfg.setAttributeSplittingDisabled(true);
+        String name = cfg.getString(NAME);
+        Version version = Version.version(cfg.getString(VERSION));
+        String desc = cfg.getString(DESCRIPTION);
+        String origin = cfg.getString(ORIGIN);
+        Set<Permission> perms = ImmutableSet.of();
+        String featRepo = cfg.getString(FEATURES_REPO);
+        URI featuresRepo = featRepo != null ? URI.create(featRepo) : null;
+        Set<String> features = ImmutableSet.copyOf(cfg.getString(FEATURES).split(","));
+
+        return new DefaultApplicationDescription(name, version, desc, origin,
+                                                 perms, featuresRepo, features);
+    }
+
+    // Expands the specified ZIP stream into app-specific directory.
+    private void expandApplication(InputStream stream, ApplicationDescription desc)
+            throws IOException {
+        ZipInputStream zis = new ZipInputStream(stream);
+        ZipEntry entry;
+        File appDir = new File(appsDir, desc.name());
+        while ((entry = zis.getNextEntry()) != null) {
+            byte[] data = new byte[(int) entry.getSize()];
+            ByteStreams.readFully(zis, data);
+            zis.closeEntry();
+
+            File file = new File(appDir, entry.getName());
+            createParentDirs(file);
+            write(data, file);
+        }
+        zis.close();
+    }
+
+    // Saves the specified ZIP stream into a file under app-specific directory.
+    private void saveApplication(InputStream stream, ApplicationDescription desc)
+            throws IOException {
+        Files.write(toByteArray(stream), appFile(desc.name(), desc.name() + ".zip"));
+    }
+
+    // Installs application artifacts into M2 repository.
+    private void installArtifacts(ApplicationDescription desc) {
+        // FIXME: implement M2 repository copy
+    }
+
+    protected boolean setActive(String appName) {
+        try {
+            return appFile(appName, "active").createNewFile();
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new ApplicationException("Unable to mark app as active", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    protected boolean clearActive(String appName) {
+        return appFile(appName, "active").delete();
+    }
+
+    protected boolean isActive(String appName) {
+        return appFile(appName, "active").exists();
+    }
+
+
+    // Returns the name of the file located under the specified app directory.
+    private File appFile(String appName, String fileName) {
+        return new File(new File(appsDir, appName), fileName);
+    }
+
+}