diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/device/DeviceDescriptionDiscovery.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/device/DeviceDescriptionDiscovery.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6ae7c8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/device/DeviceDescriptionDiscovery.java
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2016 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.net.device;
+
+import org.onosproject.net.driver.HandlerBehaviour;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * Handler behaviour capable of creating device and port descriptions.
+ * These descriptions should be appropriately annotated to support downstream
+ * projections of the respective devices and their ports.
+ */
+public interface DeviceDescriptionDiscovery extends HandlerBehaviour {
+
+    /**
+     * Returns device description appropriately annotated to support
+     * downstream model extension via projections of the resulting device,
+     * as in the following example.
+     * <pre>
+     * MicrowaveDevice device = deviceService.get(id).as(MicrowaveDevice.class);
+     * </pre>
+     *
+     * @return annotated device description
+     */
+    DeviceDescription discoverDeviceDetails();
+
+    /**
+     * Returns list of port descriptions appropriately annotated to support
+     * downstream model extension via projections of their parent device,
+     * as in the following example.
+     * <pre>
+     * MicrowaveDevice device = deviceService.get(id).as(MicrowaveDevice.class);
+     * List&lt;MicrowavePort&gt; ports = device.microwavePorts(deviceService.getPorts(id));
+     * </pre>
+     *
+     * @return annotated device description
+     */
+    List<PortDescription> discoverPortDetails();
+
+}
diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/provider/AbstractProvider.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/provider/AbstractProvider.java
index a4926dd..fc82001 100644
--- a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/provider/AbstractProvider.java
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/provider/AbstractProvider.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
     private final ProviderId providerId;
 
     /**
-     * Creates a provider with the supplier identifier.
+     * Creates a provider with the supplied identifier.
      *
      * @param id provider id
      */
diff --git a/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/AbstractDeviceProvider.java b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/AbstractDeviceProvider.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6fc376c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/AbstractDeviceProvider.java
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2016 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.common.net;
+
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Activate;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Component;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Deactivate;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.Reference;
+import org.apache.felix.scr.annotations.ReferenceCardinality;
+import org.onosproject.net.DeviceId;
+import org.onosproject.net.device.DeviceDescriptionDiscovery;
+import org.onosproject.net.device.DeviceProvider;
+import org.onosproject.net.device.DeviceProviderRegistry;
+import org.onosproject.net.device.DeviceProviderService;
+import org.onosproject.net.driver.DriverHandler;
+import org.onosproject.net.driver.DriverService;
+import org.onosproject.net.provider.AbstractProvider;
+import org.onosproject.net.provider.ProviderId;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * Base device provider capable of engaging
+ * {@link org.onosproject.net.device.DeviceDescriptionDiscovery}
+ * driver behaviour to discover device and port details.
+ * <p>
+ * Assumes that derived classes will provide code to learn/generate
+ * device identifier. Also assumes that derived classes will either obtain
+ * the primordial device information sufficient to locate the correct driver,
+ * or that they will know which driver should be used, e.g. from network
+ * configuration.
+ * </p>
+ */
+@Component(immediate = true)
+public abstract class AbstractDeviceProvider extends AbstractProvider
+        implements DeviceProvider {
+
+    protected final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(getClass());
+
+    @Reference(cardinality = ReferenceCardinality.MANDATORY_UNARY)
+    protected DeviceProviderRegistry providerRegistry;
+
+    @Reference(cardinality = ReferenceCardinality.MANDATORY_UNARY)
+    protected DriverService driverService;
+
+    protected DeviceProviderService providerService;
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a provider with the supplied identifier.
+     *
+     * @param id provider id
+     */
+    protected AbstractDeviceProvider(ProviderId id) {
+        super(id);
+    }
+
+    @Activate
+    protected void activate() {
+        providerService = providerRegistry.register(this);
+
+        log.info("Started");
+    }
+
+    @Deactivate
+    protected void deactivate() {
+        providerRegistry.unregister(this);
+        providerService = null;
+
+        log.info("Stopped");
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Discovers the device details using the device discovery behaviour of
+     * the supplied driver handler context for interacting with a specific
+     * device.
+     *
+     * @param handler driver handler context
+     */
+    protected void discoverDevice(DriverHandler handler) {
+        DeviceId deviceId = handler.data().deviceId();
+        DeviceDescriptionDiscovery discovery = handler.behaviour(DeviceDescriptionDiscovery.class);
+        providerService.deviceConnected(deviceId, discovery.discoverDeviceDetails());
+        providerService.updatePorts(deviceId, discovery.discoverPortDetails());
+    }
+
+    // TODO: inspect NETCONF, SNMP, RESTSB device providers for additional common patterns
+    // TODO: provide base for port status update
+    // TODO: integrate with network config for learning about management addresses to probe
+
+}
diff --git a/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/package-info.java b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ac20294
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/common/src/main/java/org/onosproject/common/net/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2016 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.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Set of common network core facilities.
+ */
+package org.onosproject.common.net;
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