diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Source.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Source.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba7f3a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Source.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.directmemory.lightning;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+public interface Source
+{
+
+    ByteOrder byteOrder();
+
+    long readableBytes();
+
+    int readBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    int readBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    byte readByte()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    short readUnsignedByte()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    short readShort()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    char readChar()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    int readInt()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    long readLong()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    float readFloat()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    double readDouble()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void clear()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void free()
+        throws IOException;
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Target.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Target.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e66489
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/Target.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.directmemory.lightning;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+public interface Target
+{
+
+    ByteOrder byteOrder();
+
+    long writtenBytes();
+
+    void writeBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeByte( byte value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeUnsignedByte( short value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeShort( short value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeChar( char value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeInt( int value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeLong( long value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeFloat( float value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void writeDouble( double value )
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void clear()
+        throws IOException;
+
+    void free()
+        throws IOException;
+
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/internal/io/ByteOrderUtils.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/internal/io/ByteOrderUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d765514
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/internal/io/ByteOrderUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.directmemory.lightning.internal.io;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Source;
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Target;
+
+public class ByteOrderUtils
+{
+
+    public static void putShort( short value, Target target, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 8 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 0 ) );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 0 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 8 ) );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static short getShort( Source source, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            return buildShort( b1, b0 );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            return buildShort( b1, b0 );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void putInt( int value, Target target, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 24 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 16 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 8 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 0 ) );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 0 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 8 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 16 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >>> 24 ) );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static int getInt( Source source, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            byte b3 = source.readByte();
+            byte b2 = source.readByte();
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            return buildInt( b3, b2, b1, b0 );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            byte b2 = source.readByte();
+            byte b3 = source.readByte();
+            return buildInt( b3, b2, b1, b0 );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void putLong( long value, Target target, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 56 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 48 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 40 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 32 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 24 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 16 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 8 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 0 ) );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 0 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 8 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 16 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 24 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 32 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 40 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 48 ) );
+            target.writeByte( (byte) ( value >> 56 ) );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static long getLong( Source source, boolean bigEndian )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        if ( bigEndian )
+        {
+            byte b7 = source.readByte();
+            byte b6 = source.readByte();
+            byte b5 = source.readByte();
+            byte b4 = source.readByte();
+            byte b3 = source.readByte();
+            byte b2 = source.readByte();
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            return buildLong( b7, b6, b5, b4, b3, b2, b1, b0 );
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            byte b0 = source.readByte();
+            byte b1 = source.readByte();
+            byte b2 = source.readByte();
+            byte b3 = source.readByte();
+            byte b4 = source.readByte();
+            byte b5 = source.readByte();
+            byte b6 = source.readByte();
+            byte b7 = source.readByte();
+            return buildLong( b7, b6, b5, b4, b3, b2, b1, b0 );
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static short buildShort( byte b1, byte b0 )
+    {
+        return (short) ( ( ( ( b1 & 0xFF ) << 8 ) | ( ( b0 & 0xFF ) << 0 ) ) );
+    }
+
+    private static int buildInt( byte b3, byte b2, byte b1, byte b0 )
+    {
+        return ( ( ( ( b3 & 0xFF ) << 24 ) | ( ( b2 & 0xFF ) << 16 ) | ( ( b1 & 0xFF ) << 8 ) | ( ( b0 & 0xFF ) << 0 ) ) );
+    }
+
+    private static long buildLong( byte b7, byte b6, byte b5, byte b4, byte b3, byte b2, byte b1, byte b0 )
+    {
+        return ( ( ( ( b7 & 0xFF ) << 56 ) | ( ( b6 & 0xFF ) << 48 ) | ( ( b5 & 0xFF ) << 40 ) | ( ( b4 & 0xFF ) << 32 )
+            | ( ( b3 & 0xFF ) << 24 ) | ( ( b2 & 0xFF ) << 16 ) | ( ( b1 & 0xFF ) << 8 ) | ( ( b0 & 0xFF ) << 0 ) ) );
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferSource.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferSource.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c536edc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferSource.java
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+package org.apache.directmemory.lightning.io;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Source;
+
+public class ByteBufferSource
+    implements Source
+{
+
+    private final ByteBuffer byteBuffer;
+
+    public ByteBufferSource( ByteBuffer byteBuffer )
+    {
+        this.byteBuffer = byteBuffer;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ByteOrder byteOrder()
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.order();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long readableBytes()
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.limit();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return readBytes( bytes, 0, bytes.length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.get( bytes, offset, length );
+        return length - offset;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public byte readByte()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.get();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public short readUnsignedByte()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return (short) ( readByte() & 0xFF );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public short readShort()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.getShort();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public char readChar()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return (char) readShort();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readInt()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.getInt();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long readLong()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.getLong();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public float readFloat()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.getFloat();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public double readDouble()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.getDouble();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void clear()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.clear();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void free()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferTarget.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferTarget.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb9cb8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/ByteBufferTarget.java
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+package org.apache.directmemory.lightning.io;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Target;
+
+public class ByteBufferTarget
+    implements Target
+{
+
+    private final ByteBuffer byteBuffer;
+
+    public ByteBufferTarget( ByteBuffer byteBuffer )
+    {
+        this.byteBuffer = byteBuffer;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ByteOrder byteOrder()
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.order();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long writtenBytes()
+    {
+        return byteBuffer.position();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeBytes( bytes, 0, bytes.length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.put( bytes, offset, length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeByte( byte value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.put( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeUnsignedByte( short value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.put( (byte) value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeShort( short value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.putShort( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeChar( char value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeShort( (short) value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeInt( int value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.putInt( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeLong( long value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.putLong( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeFloat( float value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.putFloat( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeDouble( double value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.putDouble( value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void clear()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        byteBuffer.clear();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void free()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/InputStreamSource.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/InputStreamSource.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45fda48
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/InputStreamSource.java
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.apache.directmemory.lightning.io;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Source;
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.internal.io.ByteOrderUtils;
+
+public class InputStreamSource
+    implements Source
+{
+
+    private final InputStream stream;
+
+    private final ByteOrder byteOrder;
+
+    public InputStreamSource( InputStream stream )
+    {
+        this( stream, ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+    }
+
+    public InputStreamSource( InputStream stream, ByteOrder byteOrder )
+    {
+        this.stream = stream;
+        this.byteOrder = byteOrder;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ByteOrder byteOrder()
+    {
+        return byteOrder;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long readableBytes()
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            return stream.available();
+        }
+        catch ( IOException e )
+        {
+            return -1;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return readBytes( bytes, 0, bytes.length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return stream.read( bytes, offset, length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public byte readByte()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return (byte) stream.read();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public short readUnsignedByte()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return  (short) ( readByte() & 0xFF );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public short readShort()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return ByteOrderUtils.getShort( this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public char readChar()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return (char) readShort();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int readInt()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return ByteOrderUtils.getInt( this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long readLong()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return ByteOrderUtils.getLong( this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public float readFloat()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return Float.intBitsToFloat( readInt() );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public double readDouble()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        return Double.longBitsToDouble( readLong() );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void clear()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException( "InputStreamSource cannot be reused" );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void free()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/OutputStreamTarget.java b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/OutputStreamTarget.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0955e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lightning-core/src/main/java/org/apache/directmemory/lightning/io/OutputStreamTarget.java
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+package org.apache.directmemory.lightning.io;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.Target;
+import org.apache.directmemory.lightning.internal.io.ByteOrderUtils;
+
+public class OutputStreamTarget
+    implements Target
+{
+
+    private final OutputStream stream;
+
+    private final ByteOrder byteOrder;
+
+    private long writtenBytes = 0;
+
+    public OutputStreamTarget( OutputStream stream )
+    {
+        this( stream, ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+    }
+
+    public OutputStreamTarget( OutputStream stream, ByteOrder byteOrder )
+    {
+        this.stream = stream;
+        this.byteOrder = byteOrder;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public ByteOrder byteOrder()
+    {
+        return byteOrder;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long writtenBytes()
+    {
+        return writtenBytes;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeBytes( byte[] bytes )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeBytes( bytes, 0, bytes.length );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeBytes( byte[] bytes, int offset, int length )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        stream.write( bytes, offset, length );
+        writtenBytes += ( length - offset );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeByte( byte value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        stream.write( value );
+        writtenBytes++;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeUnsignedByte( short value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        stream.write( (byte) value );
+        writtenBytes++;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeShort( short value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        ByteOrderUtils.putShort( value, this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+        writtenBytes += 2;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeChar( char value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeShort( (short) value );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeInt( int value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        ByteOrderUtils.putInt( value, this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+        writtenBytes += 4;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeLong( long value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        ByteOrderUtils.putLong( value, this, byteOrder == ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN );
+        writtenBytes += 8;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeFloat( float value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeInt( Float.floatToIntBits( value ) );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void writeDouble( double value )
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        writeLong( Double.doubleToLongBits( value ) );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void clear()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+        throw new UnsupportedOperationException( "OutputStreamTarget cannot be reused" );
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void free()
+        throws IOException
+    {
+    }
+
+}