diff --git a/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/MessageStream.java b/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/MessageStream.java
index a7416e9..c38f0f5 100644
--- a/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/MessageStream.java
+++ b/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/MessageStream.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import java.nio.channels.SelectionKey;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Objects;
 
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
@@ -262,7 +263,7 @@
                 try {
                     channel.write(outbound);
                 } catch (IOException e) {
-                    if (!closed && !e.getMessage().equals("Broken pipe")) {
+                    if (!closed && !Objects.equals(e.getMessage(), "Broken pipe")) {
                         log.warn("Unable to write data", e);
                         ioError = e;
                     }