diff --git a/cli/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cli/SummaryCommand.java b/cli/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cli/SummaryCommand.java
index b3e03b3..e843770 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cli/SummaryCommand.java
+++ b/cli/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cli/SummaryCommand.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package org.onlab.onos.cli;
 
 import org.apache.karaf.shell.commands.Command;
+import org.onlab.onos.CoreService;
 import org.onlab.onos.cluster.ClusterService;
 import org.onlab.onos.net.device.DeviceService;
 import org.onlab.onos.net.flow.FlowRuleService;
@@ -21,7 +22,8 @@
     protected void execute() {
         TopologyService topologyService = get(TopologyService.class);
         Topology topology = topologyService.currentTopology();
-        print("nodes=%d, devices=%d, links=%d, hosts=%d, clusters=%s, paths=%d, flows=%d, intents=%d",
+        print("version=%s, nodes=%d, devices=%d, links=%d, hosts=%d, clusters=%s, paths=%d, flows=%d, intents=%d",
+              get(CoreService.class).version().toString(),
               get(ClusterService.class).getNodes().size(),
               get(DeviceService.class).getDeviceCount(),
               get(LinkService.class).getLinkCount(),
diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/CoreService.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/CoreService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32c36c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/CoreService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package org.onlab.onos;
+
+/**
+ * Service for interacting with the core system of the controller.
+ */
+public interface CoreService {
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the product version.
+     *
+     * @return product version
+     */
+    Version version();
+
+}
diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/Version.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/Version.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d071b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/Version.java
@@ -0,0 +1,113 @@
+package org.onlab.onos;
+
+import java.util.Objects;
+
+import static java.lang.Integer.parseInt;
+
+/**
+ * Representation of the product version.
+ */
+public final class Version {
+
+    public static final String FORMAT = "%d.%d.%d.%s";
+
+    private final int major;
+    private final int minor;
+    private final int patch;
+    private final String build;
+
+    private final String format;
+
+    // Creates a new version descriptor
+    private Version(int major, int minor, int patch, String build) {
+        this.major = major;
+        this.minor = minor;
+        this.patch = patch;
+        this.build = build;
+        this.format = String.format(FORMAT, major, minor, patch, build);
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new version from the specified constituent numbers.
+     *
+     * @param major major version number
+     * @param minor minod version number
+     * @param patch version patch number
+     * @param build build string
+     * @return version descriptor
+     */
+    public static Version version(int major, int minor, int patch, String build) {
+        return new Version(major, minor, patch, build);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new version by parsing the specified string.
+     *
+     * @param string version string
+     * @return version descriptor
+     */
+    public static Version version(String string) {
+        String[] fields = string.split("[.-]");
+        return new Version(parseInt(fields[0]), parseInt(fields[1]),
+                           parseInt(fields[2]), fields[3]);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the major version number.
+     *
+     * @return major version number
+     */
+    public int major() {
+        return major;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the minor version number.
+     *
+     * @return minor version number
+     */
+    public int minor() {
+        return minor;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the version patch number.
+     *
+     * @return patch number
+     */
+    public int patch() {
+        return patch;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the version build string.
+     *
+     * @return build string
+     */
+    public String build() {
+        return build;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return format;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int hashCode() {
+        return Objects.hash(format);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
+        if (this == obj) {
+            return true;
+        }
+        if (obj instanceof Version) {
+            final Version other = (Version) obj;
+            return Objects.equals(this.format, other.format);
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/api/src/test/java/org/onlab/onos/VersionTest.java b/core/api/src/test/java/org/onlab/onos/VersionTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e357f9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/test/java/org/onlab/onos/VersionTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+package org.onlab.onos;
+
+import com.google.common.testing.EqualsTester;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+import static org.onlab.onos.Version.version;
+
+/**
+ * Tests of the version descriptor.
+ */
+public class VersionTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void fromParts() {
+        Version v = version(1, 2, 3, "4321");
+        assertEquals("wrong major", 1, v.major());
+        assertEquals("wrong minor", 2, v.minor());
+        assertEquals("wrong patch", 3, v.patch());
+        assertEquals("wrong build", "4321", v.build());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void fromString() {
+        Version v = version("1.2.3.4321");
+        assertEquals("wrong major", 1, v.major());
+        assertEquals("wrong minor", 2, v.minor());
+        assertEquals("wrong patch", 3, v.patch());
+        assertEquals("wrong build", "4321", v.build());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void snapshot() {
+        Version v = version("1.2.3-SNAPSHOT");
+        assertEquals("wrong major", 1, v.major());
+        assertEquals("wrong minor", 2, v.minor());
+        assertEquals("wrong patch", 3, v.patch());
+        assertEquals("wrong build", "SNAPSHOT", v.build());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testEquals() {
+        new EqualsTester()
+                .addEqualityGroup(version("1.2.3.4321"), version(1, 2, 3, "4321"))
+                .addEqualityGroup(version("1.9.3.4321"), version(1, 9, 3, "4321"))
+                .addEqualityGroup(version("1.2.8.4321"), version(1, 2, 8, "4321"))
+                .addEqualityGroup(version("1.2.3.x"), version(1, 2, 3, "x"))
+                .testEquals();
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cluster/impl/CoreManager.java b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cluster/impl/CoreManager.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b1191f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onlab/onos/cluster/impl/CoreManager.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package org.onlab.onos.cluster.impl;
+
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Activate;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Component;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Service;
+import org.onlab.onos.CoreService;
+import org.onlab.onos.Version;
+import org.onlab.util.Tools;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Core service implementation.
+ */
+@Component
+@Service
+public class CoreManager implements CoreService {
+
+    private static final File VERSION_FILE = new File("../VERSION");
+    private static Version version = Version.version("1.0.0-SNAPSHOT");
+
+    // TODO: work in progress
+
+    @Activate
+    public void activate() {
+        List<String> versionLines = Tools.slurp(VERSION_FILE);
+        if (versionLines != null && !versionLines.isEmpty()) {
+            version = Version.version(versionLines.get(0));
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Version version() {
+        return version;
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/tools/build/onos-package b/tools/build/onos-package
index 2d6b954..ac5b52d 100755
--- a/tools/build/onos-package
+++ b/tools/build/onos-package
@@ -60,6 +60,13 @@
 cp $M2_REPO/org/onlab/onos/onos-branding/$ONOS_VERSION/onos-branding-*.jar \
     $ONOS_STAGE/$KARAF_DIST/lib
 
+# Patch in the ONOS version file use the build number or the user name for
+# build postfix in place of the SNAPSHOT post-fix.
+build=${BUILD_NUMBER:-$(id -un)}
+grep '<version>' $ONOS_ROOT/pom.xml | head -n1 | \
+    sed 's:.*<version>::g;s:</version>.*::g' | sed "s/SNAPSHOT/$build/g" \
+    >> $ONOS_STAGE/VERSION
+
 # Now package up the ONOS tar file
 cd $ONOS_STAGE_ROOT
 COPYFILE_DISABLE=1 tar zcf $ONOS_TAR $ONOS_BITS
diff --git a/tools/package/bin/onos-service b/tools/package/bin/onos-service
index a5de5bd..c030887 100755
--- a/tools/package/bin/onos-service
+++ b/tools/package/bin/onos-service
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 export JAVA_HOME=${JAVA_HOME:-/usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/}
+export JAVA_OPTS="-Xms256M -Xmx2048M"
 
 cd /opt/onos
 /opt/onos/apache-karaf-3.0.1/bin/karaf "$@"
diff --git a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java
index c5162f6..5643098 100644
--- a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java
+++ b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@
 import com.google.common.primitives.UnsignedLongs;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
 
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
 
 public abstract class Tools {
@@ -66,4 +72,24 @@
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Slurps the contents of a file into a list of strings, one per line.
+     *
+     * @param path file path
+     * @return file contents
+     */
+    public static List<String> slurp(File path) {
+        try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(path))) {
+            List<String> lines = new ArrayList<>();
+            String line;
+            while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
+                lines.add(line);
+            }
+            return lines;
+
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
 }