diff --git a/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperator.java b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperator.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37ac066
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/net/src/main/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2015 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.link.impl;
+
+import static org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger;
+
+import java.time.Duration;
+
+import org.onosproject.net.AnnotationKeys;
+import org.onosproject.incubator.net.config.basics.BasicLinkConfig;
+import org.onosproject.net.DefaultAnnotations;
+import org.onosproject.net.Link;
+import org.onosproject.net.SparseAnnotations;
+import org.onosproject.net.link.DefaultLinkDescription;
+import org.onosproject.net.link.LinkDescription;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+
+/**
+ * Implementations of merge policies for various sources of link configuration
+ * information. This includes applications, provides, and network configurations.
+ */
+public final class BasicLinkOperator {
+
+    private static final Logger log = getLogger(BasicLinkOperator.class);
+
+    private BasicLinkOperator() {
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generates a LinkDescription containing fields from a LinkDescription and
+     * a LinkConfig.
+     *
+     * @param cfg the link config entity from network config
+     * @param descr a LinkDescription
+     * @return LinkDescription based on both sources
+     */
+    public static LinkDescription combine(BasicLinkConfig cfg, LinkDescription descr) {
+        if (cfg == null) {
+            return descr;
+        }
+
+        // cfg.type() defaults to DIRECT, so there is a risk of unwanted override.
+        // do we want this behavior?
+        Link.Type type = descr.type();
+        if (cfg.type() != type) {
+            type = cfg.type();
+        }
+
+        SparseAnnotations sa = combine(cfg, descr.annotations());
+        return new DefaultLinkDescription(descr.src(), descr.dst(), type, sa);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Generates an annotation from an existing annotation and LinkConfig.
+     *
+     * @param cfg the link config entity from network config
+     * @param an the annotation
+     * @return annotation combining both sources
+     */
+    public static SparseAnnotations combine(BasicLinkConfig cfg, SparseAnnotations an) {
+        DefaultAnnotations.Builder b = DefaultAnnotations.builder();
+        if (cfg.latency() != Duration.ofNanos(-1)) {
+            b.set(AnnotationKeys.LATENCY, cfg.latency().toString());
+        }
+        if (cfg.bandwidth() != -1) {
+            b.set(AnnotationKeys.BANDWIDTH, String.valueOf(cfg.bandwidth()));
+        }
+        return DefaultAnnotations.union(an, b.build());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/net/src/test/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperatorTest.java b/core/net/src/test/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperatorTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca01b31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/net/src/test/java/org/onosproject/net/link/impl/BasicLinkOperatorTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2014-2015 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.link.impl;
+
+import static org.onosproject.net.DeviceId.deviceId;
+import static org.onosproject.net.PortNumber.portNumber;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
+import java.time.Duration;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.onosproject.incubator.net.config.Config;
+import org.onosproject.incubator.net.config.ConfigApplyDelegate;
+import org.onosproject.incubator.net.config.basics.BasicLinkConfig;
+import org.onosproject.net.AnnotationKeys;
+import org.onosproject.net.ConnectPoint;
+import org.onosproject.net.DefaultAnnotations;
+import org.onosproject.net.DeviceId;
+import org.onosproject.net.Link;
+import org.onosproject.net.LinkKey;
+import org.onosproject.net.PortNumber;
+import org.onosproject.net.SparseAnnotations;
+import org.onosproject.net.link.DefaultLinkDescription;
+import org.onosproject.net.link.LinkDescription;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.JsonNodeFactory;
+
+public class BasicLinkOperatorTest {
+
+    private static final DeviceId DID1 = deviceId("of:foo");
+    private static final DeviceId DID2 = deviceId("of:bar");
+    private static final PortNumber P1 = portNumber(1);
+
+    private static final ConnectPoint SRC = new ConnectPoint(DID1, P1);
+    private static final ConnectPoint DST = new ConnectPoint(DID2, P1);
+    private static final LinkKey LK = LinkKey.linkKey(SRC, DST);
+    private static final Duration NTIME = Duration.ofNanos(200);
+
+    private static final SparseAnnotations SA = DefaultAnnotations.builder()
+            .set(AnnotationKeys.DURABLE, "true").build();
+    private static final LinkDescription LD = new DefaultLinkDescription(SRC, DST, Link.Type.DIRECT, SA);
+    private final ConfigApplyDelegate delegate = new ConfigApplyDelegate() {
+        @Override
+        public void onApply(Config config) {
+        }
+    };
+    private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
+
+    private static final BasicLinkConfig BLC = new BasicLinkConfig();
+
+    @Before
+    public void setUp() {
+        BLC.init(LK, "optest", JsonNodeFactory.instance.objectNode(), mapper, delegate);
+        BLC.latency(NTIME);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDescOps() {
+        LinkDescription desc = BasicLinkOperator.combine(BLC, LD);
+        assertEquals(NTIME.toString(), desc.annotations().value(AnnotationKeys.LATENCY));
+        assertEquals("true", desc.annotations().value(AnnotationKeys.DURABLE));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/config/basics/BasicLinkConfig.java b/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/config/basics/BasicLinkConfig.java
index c881a7b..620a033 100644
--- a/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/config/basics/BasicLinkConfig.java
+++ b/incubator/api/src/main/java/org/onosproject/incubator/net/config/basics/BasicLinkConfig.java
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@
      * @param latency new latency; null to clear
      * @return self
      */
-    public BasicElementConfig latency(Duration latency) {
+    public BasicLinkConfig latency(Duration latency) {
         Long nanos = latency == null ? null : latency.toNanos();
-        return (BasicElementConfig) setOrClear(LATENCY, nanos);
+        return (BasicLinkConfig) setOrClear(LATENCY, nanos);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -83,8 +83,8 @@
      * @param bandwidth new bandwidth; null to clear
      * @return self
      */
-    public BasicElementConfig bandwidth(Long bandwidth) {
-        return (BasicElementConfig) setOrClear(BANDWIDTH, bandwidth);
+    public BasicLinkConfig bandwidth(Long bandwidth) {
+        return (BasicLinkConfig) setOrClear(BANDWIDTH, bandwidth);
     }
 
 }