diff --git a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Foo.java b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Foo.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 8113e1f..0000000
--- a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Foo.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,4 +0,0 @@
-package org.onlab.util;
-
-public class Foo {
-}
diff --git a/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1e9ed7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/misc/src/main/java/org/onlab/util/Tools.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package org.onlab.util;
+
+import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadFactory;
+
+public abstract class Tools {
+
+    private Tools() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a thread factory that produces threads named according to the
+     * supplied name pattern.
+     *
+     * @param pattern name pattern
+     * @return thread factory
+     */
+    public static ThreadFactory namedThreads(String pattern) {
+        return new ThreadFactoryBuilder().setNameFormat(pattern).build();
+    }
+
+}