diff --git a/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/driver/XmlDriverLoader.java b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/driver/XmlDriverLoader.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c3bb7ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/driver/XmlDriverLoader.java
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015 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.driver;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import org.apache.commons.configuration.ConfigurationException;
+import org.apache.commons.configuration.HierarchicalConfiguration;
+import org.apache.commons.configuration.XMLConfiguration;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.util.Map;
+
+/**
+ * Utility capable of reading driver configuration XML resources and producing
+ * a device driver provider as a result.
+ * <p>
+ * The drivers stream structure is as follows:
+ * </p>
+ * <pre>
+ *     &lt;drivers&gt;
+ *         &lt;driver name=“...” [manufacturer="..." hwVersion="..." swVersion="..."]&gt;
+ *             &lt;behaviour api="..." impl="..."/&gt;
+ *             ...
+ *             [&lt;property name=“key”&gt;value&lt;/key&gt;]
+ *             ...
+ *         &lt;/driver&gt;
+ *         ...
+ *     &lt;/drivers&gt;
+ * </pre>
+ */
+public class XmlDriverLoader {
+
+    private static final String DRIVERS = "drivers";
+    private static final String DRIVER = "driver";
+
+    private static final String BEHAVIOUR = "behaviour";
+    private static final String PROPERTY = "property";
+
+    private static final String NAME = "[@name]";
+    private static final String MFG = "[@manufacturer]";
+    private static final String HW = "[@hwVersion]";
+    private static final String SW = "[@swVersion]";
+    private static final String API = "[@api]";
+    private static final String IMPL = "[@impl]";
+
+    private final ClassLoader classLoader;
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new driver loader capable of loading drivers from the supplied
+     * class loader.
+     *
+     * @param classLoader class loader to use
+     */
+    public XmlDriverLoader(ClassLoader classLoader) {
+        this.classLoader = classLoader;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads the specified drivers resource as an XML stream and parses it to
+     * produce a ready-to-register driver provider.
+     *
+     * @param driversStream stream containing the drivers definitions
+     * @return driver provider
+     * @throws java.io.IOException if issues are encountered reading the stream
+     *                             or parsing the driver definitions within
+     */
+    public DefaultDriverProvider loadDrivers(InputStream driversStream) throws IOException {
+        try {
+            XMLConfiguration cfg = new XMLConfiguration();
+            cfg.setRootElementName(DRIVERS);
+            cfg.setAttributeSplittingDisabled(true);
+
+            cfg.load(driversStream);
+            return loadDrivers(cfg);
+        } catch (ConfigurationException e) {
+            throw new IOException("Unable to load drivers", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads a driver provider from the supplied hierarchical configuration.
+     *
+     * @param driversCfg hierarchical configuration containing the drivers definitions
+     * @return driver provider
+     */
+    public DefaultDriverProvider loadDrivers(HierarchicalConfiguration driversCfg) {
+        DefaultDriverProvider provider = new DefaultDriverProvider();
+        for (HierarchicalConfiguration cfg : driversCfg.configurationsAt(DRIVER)) {
+            provider.addDriver(loadDriver(cfg));
+        }
+        return provider;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads a driver from the supplied hierarchical configuration.
+     *
+     * @param driverCfg hierarchical configuration containing the driver definition
+     * @return driver
+     */
+    public DefaultDriver loadDriver(HierarchicalConfiguration driverCfg) {
+        String name = driverCfg.getString(NAME);
+        String manufacturer = driverCfg.getString(MFG, "");
+        String hwVersion = driverCfg.getString(HW, "");
+        String swVersion = driverCfg.getString(SW, "");
+
+        return new DefaultDriver(name, manufacturer, hwVersion, swVersion,
+                                 parseBehaviours(driverCfg),
+                                 parseProperties(driverCfg));
+    }
+
+    // Parses the behaviours section.
+    private Map<Class<? extends Behaviour>, Class<? extends Behaviour>>
+    parseBehaviours(HierarchicalConfiguration driverCfg) {
+        ImmutableMap.Builder<Class<? extends Behaviour>,
+                Class<? extends Behaviour>> behaviours = ImmutableMap.builder();
+        for (HierarchicalConfiguration b : driverCfg.configurationsAt(BEHAVIOUR)) {
+            behaviours.put(getClass(b.getString(API)), getClass(b.getString(IMPL)));
+        }
+        return behaviours.build();
+    }
+
+    // Parses the properties section.
+    private Map<String, String> parseProperties(HierarchicalConfiguration driverCfg) {
+        ImmutableMap.Builder<String, String> properties = ImmutableMap.builder();
+        for (HierarchicalConfiguration b : driverCfg.configurationsAt(PROPERTY)) {
+            properties.put(b.getString(NAME), (String) b.getRootNode().getValue());
+        }
+        return properties.build();
+    }
+
+    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+    private Class<? extends Behaviour> getClass(String className) {
+        try {
+            return (Class<? extends Behaviour>) classLoader.loadClass(className);
+        } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unable to load class " + className, e);
+        }
+    }
+
+}