diff --git a/of/lib/src/main/java/org/projectfloodlight/openflow/protocol/ver13/ChannelUtilsVer13.java b/of/lib/src/main/java/org/projectfloodlight/openflow/protocol/ver13/ChannelUtilsVer13.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8216bb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/of/lib/src/main/java/org/projectfloodlight/openflow/protocol/ver13/ChannelUtilsVer13.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package org.projectfloodlight.openflow.protocol.ver13;
+
+import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
+import org.projectfloodlight.openflow.exceptions.OFParseError;
+import org.projectfloodlight.openflow.protocol.OFMatchBmap;
+import org.projectfloodlight.openflow.protocol.match.Match;
+
+/**
+ * Collection of helper functions for reading and writing into ChannelBuffers
+ *
+ * @author capveg
+ */
+
+public class ChannelUtilsVer13 {
+    public static Match readOFMatch(final ChannelBuffer bb) throws OFParseError {
+        return OFMatchV3Ver13.READER.readFrom(bb);
+    }
+
+    public static OFMatchBmap readOFMatchBmap(ChannelBuffer bb) {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("not implemented");
+    }
+
+    public static void writeOFMatchBmap(ChannelBuffer bb, OFMatchBmap match) {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException("not implemented");
+    }
+}