diff --git a/utils/misc/pom.xml b/utils/misc/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5862727
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/misc/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
+         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+
+    <parent>
+        <groupId>org.onlab.onos</groupId>
+        <artifactId>onlab-utils</artifactId>
+        <version>1.0.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <relativePath>../pom.xml</relativePath>
+    </parent>
+
+    <artifactId>onlab-misc</artifactId>
+    <packaging>bundle</packaging>
+
+    <description>Miscellaneous ON.Lab utilities</description>
+
+    <dependencies>
+    </dependencies>
+
+</project>
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();
+    }
+
+}