--- /dev/null
+/**
+* Copyright 2011, Big Switch Networks, Inc.
+* Originally created by David Erickson & Rob Sherwood, Stanford University
+*
+* 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.openflow.protocol.vendor;
+
+import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
+
+/**
+ * The base class for all vendor data.
+ *
+ * @author Rob Vaterlaus (rob.vaterlaus@bigswitch.com)
+ */
+public interface OFVendorData {
+ /**
+ * @return length of the data
+ */
+ public int getLength();
+
+ /**
+ * Read the vendor data from the specified ChannelBuffer
+ * @param data
+ */
+ public void readFrom(ChannelBuffer data, int length);
+
+ /**
+ * Write the vendor data to the specified ChannelBuffer
+ * @param data
+ */
+ public void writeTo(ChannelBuffer data);
+}