diff --git a/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/AbstractMessage.java b/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/AbstractMessage.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7503e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/nio/src/main/java/org/onlab/nio/AbstractMessage.java
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package org.onlab.nio;
+
+/**
+ * Base {@link Message} implementation.
+ */
+public abstract class AbstractMessage implements Message {
+
+    protected int length;
+
+    @Override
+    public int length() {
+        return length;
+    }
+
+}