diff --git a/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/provider/VirtualProviderService.java b/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/provider/VirtualProviderService.java
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/virtual/provider/VirtualProviderService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2016-present 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.incubator.net.virtual.provider;
+
+/**
+ * Abstraction of a service through which virtual providers can inject information
+ * about the network environment into the virtual core.
+ *
+ * @param <P> type of the information virtual provider
+ */
+
+public interface VirtualProviderService<P extends VirtualProvider> {
+    /**
+     * Returns the virtual provider to which this service has been issued.
+     *
+     * @return virtual provider to which this service has been assigned
+     */
+    P provider();
+}