diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index a25a0cc88..93d439713 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 pbr>=1.6
 Babel>=1.3
-
+networkx>=1.10
 oslo.log>=1.12.0 # Apache-2.0
 pecan>=0.8.0
 PasteDeploy>=1.5.0
diff --git a/test-requirements.txt b/test-requirements.txt
index 5ff5975f2..e5da1f235 100644
--- a/test-requirements.txt
+++ b/test-requirements.txt
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@
 # process, which may cause wedges in the gate later.
 
 hacking<0.11,>=0.10.0
-
 coverage>=3.6
 discover
+networkx>=1.10
 python-subunit>=0.0.18
 sphinx!=1.2.0,!=1.3b1,<1.3,>=1.1.2
 oslo.log>=1.12.0 # Apache-2.0
diff --git a/vitrage/graph/__init__.py b/vitrage/graph/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93dfb1e0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vitrage/graph/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+# Copyright 2010 United States Government as represented by the
+# Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    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.
+"""
+Graph abstraction
+"""
+
+import networkx_graph
+
+
+def graph_factory(name):
+    """For now only return NXGraph
+
+    :rtype: Graph
+    """
+    return networkx_graph.NXGraph(name)
diff --git a/vitrage/graph/driver.py b/vitrage/graph/driver.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7c0b4c9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vitrage/graph/driver.py
@@ -0,0 +1,276 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2011 X.commerce, a business unit of eBay Inc.
+# Copyright 2010 United States Government as represented by the
+# Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    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.
+
+"""Defines interface for Graph access and manipulation
+
+Functions in this module are imported into the vitrage.graph namespace.
+Call these functions from vitrage.graph namespace and not the
+vitrage.graph.driver namespace.
+
+"""
+import abc
+import six
+
+
+class Vertex(object):
+    """Class Vertex
+
+    A vertex is defined as follows:
+    * vertex_id is a unique identifier
+    * properties is a dictionary
+
+    """
+    def __init__(self, vertex_id, properties=None):
+        """Create a Vertex instance
+
+        :type vertex_id: str
+        :type properties: dict
+        :rtype: Vertex
+        """
+        if not vertex_id:
+            raise AttributeError('Attribute vertex_id is missing')
+        self.vertex_id = vertex_id
+        self.properties = properties
+
+
+class Edge(object):
+    """Class Edge represents a directional edge between two vertices
+
+    An edge is defined as follows:
+    * source_id is the first vertex id
+    * target_id is the second vertex id
+    * properties is a dictionary
+
+    +---------------+    edge     +---------------+
+    | source vertex |-----------> | target vertex |
+    +---------------+             +---------------+
+
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, source_id, target_id, label, properties=None):
+        """Create an Edge instance
+
+        :param source_id: source vertex id
+        :type source_id: str
+
+        :param target_id: target vertex id
+        :type target_id: str
+
+        :param label:
+        :type label: str
+
+        :type properties: dict
+        :rtype: Edge
+        """
+        if not source_id:
+            raise AttributeError('Attribute source_id is missing')
+        if not target_id:
+            raise AttributeError('Attribute target_id is missing')
+        if not label:
+            raise AttributeError('Attribute label is missing')
+        self.source_id = source_id
+        self.target_id = target_id
+        self.label = label
+        self.properties = properties
+
+
+@six.add_metaclass(abc.ABCMeta)
+class Graph(object):
+    def __init__(self, name, graph_type):
+        """Create a Graph instance
+
+        :type name: str
+        :type graph_type: str
+        :rtype: Graph
+        """
+        self.name = name
+        self.graph_type = graph_type
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def copy(self):
+        """Create a copy of the graph
+
+        :return: A copy of the graph
+        :rtype: Graph
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def add_vertex(self, v):
+        """Add a vertex to the graph
+
+        A copy of Vertex v will be added to the graph.
+
+        Example:
+        --------
+        graph = Graph()
+        v = Vertex(vertex_id=1, properties={prop_key:prop_value})
+        graph.add_vertex(v)
+
+        :param v: the vertex to add
+        :type v: Vertex
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def add_edge(self, e):
+        """Add an edge to the graph
+
+        A copy of Edge e will be added to the graph.
+
+        Example:
+        --------
+        graph = Graph()
+
+        v1_prop = {'prop_key':'some value for my first vertex'}
+        v2_prop = {'prop_key':'another value for my second vertex'}
+        v1 = Vertex(vertex_id=1, properties=v1_prop)
+        v2 = Vertex(vertex_id=1, properties=v2_prop)
+        graph.add_vertex(v1)
+        graph.add_vertex(v2)
+
+        e_prop = {'edge_prop':'and here is my edge property value'}
+        e = Edge(source_id=v1.vertex_id, target_id=v2.vertex_id,
+                 label='BELONGS', properties=e_prop)
+        graph.add_edge(e)
+
+        :param e: the edge to add
+        :type e: Edge
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def get_vertex(self, v_id):
+        """Fetch a vertex from the graph
+
+        :param v_id: vertex id
+        :type v_id: str
+
+        :return: the vertex or None if it does not exist
+        :rtype: Vertex
+        """
+        pass
+
+    # TODO(ihefetz) uncomment:
+    # @abc.abstractmethod
+    # def get_vertices(self, properties_filter):
+    #     pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def get_edge(self, source_id, target_id, label):
+        """Fetch an edge from the graph,
+
+        Fetch an edge from the graph, according to its two vertices and label
+
+        :param source_id: vertex id of the source vertex
+        :type source_id: str
+
+        :param target_id: vertex id of the target vertex
+        :type target_id: str
+
+        :param label: the label property of the edge
+        :type label: str
+
+        :return: The edge between the two vertices or None
+        :rtype: Edge
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def get_edges(self, source_id, target_id, labels=None, directed=True):
+        """Fetch multiple edges from the graph,
+
+        Fetch an edge from the graph, according to its two vertices and label
+
+        :param source_id: vertex id of the source vertex
+        :type source_id: str
+
+        :param target_id: vertex id of the target vertex
+        :type target_id: str
+
+        :param labels: the label property of the edge
+        :type labels: str or list of str
+
+        :param directed: consider edge direction
+        :type directed: bool
+
+        :return: The edge between the two vertices or None
+        :rtype: Edge
+        """
+        pass
+
+    # TODO(ihefetz) uncomment:
+    # @abc.abstractmethod
+    # def get_neighboring_edges(self, v_id, properties_filter):
+    #     pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def update_vertex(self, v, hard_update=False):
+        """Update the vertex properties
+
+        Update an existing vertex and create it if non existing.
+        Hard update: can be used to remove existing fields.
+
+        :param v: the vertex with the new data
+        :type v: Vertex
+        :param hard_update: if True, original properties will be removed.
+        :type hard_update: bool
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def update_edge(self, e, hard_update=False):
+        """Update the edge properties
+
+        Update an existing edge and create it if non existing.
+        Hard update: can be used to remove existing fields.
+
+        :param e: the edge with the new data
+        :type e: Edge
+        :param hard_update: if True, original properties will be removed.
+        :type hard_update: bool
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def remove_vertex(self, v):
+        """Remove Vertex v and its edges from the graph
+
+        :type v: Vertex
+        """
+        pass
+
+    @abc.abstractmethod
+    def remove_edge(self, e):
+        """Remove an edge from the graph
+
+        :type e: Edge
+        """
+        pass
+
+    # @abc.abstractmethod
+    # def neighbors(self, v, vertex_attr=None, edge_attr=None):
+    #     # TODO(ihefetz) also direction? also return the edges?
+    #     """TODO(ihefetz)
+    #
+    #     :param v: TODO(ihefetz)
+    #     :param vertex_attr: TODO(ihefetz)
+    #     :param edge_attr: TODO(ihefetz)
+    #     :return: TODO(ihefetz)
+    #     :rtype: list of Vertex
+    #     """
+    #     pass
diff --git a/vitrage/graph/networkx_graph.py b/vitrage/graph/networkx_graph.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..775036589
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vitrage/graph/networkx_graph.py
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2011 X.commerce, a business unit of eBay Inc.
+# Copyright 2010 United States Government as represented by the
+# Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
+# All Rights Reserved.
+#
+#    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.
+
+import copy
+
+import networkx as nx
+
+from driver import Edge
+from driver import Graph
+from driver import Vertex
+
+
+class NXGraph(Graph):
+
+    GRAPH_TYPE = "networkx"
+
+    def __init__(self, name):
+        self.g = nx.MultiDiGraph()
+        super(NXGraph, self).__init__(name=name, graph_type=NXGraph.GRAPH_TYPE)
+
+    def __len__(self):
+        return len(self.g)
+
+    def copy(self):
+        self_copy = NXGraph(self.name)
+        self_copy.g = self.g.copy()
+        return self_copy
+
+    def add_vertex(self, v):
+        """Add a vertex to the graph
+
+        :type v: Vertex
+        """
+        properties_copy = copy.copy(v.properties)
+        self.g.add_node(n=v.vertex_id, attr_dict=properties_copy)
+
+    def add_edge(self, e):
+        """Add an edge to the graph
+
+        :type e: Edge
+        """
+        properties_copy = copy.copy(e.properties)
+        self.g.add_edge(u=e.source_id, v=e.target_id,
+                        key=e.label, attr_dict=properties_copy)
+
+    def get_vertex(self, v_id):
+        """Fetch a vertex from the graph
+
+        :rtype: Vertex
+        """
+        properties = self.g.node.get(v_id, None)
+        properties_copy = copy.copy(properties) if properties else None
+        vertex = Vertex(vertex_id=v_id, properties=properties_copy)
+        return vertex
+
+    def _get_edge_properties(self, source_id, target_id, label):
+        try:
+            properties = self.g.adj[source_id][target_id][label]
+            return properties
+        except KeyError:
+            return None
+
+    def get_edge(self, source_id, target_id, label):
+        """Fetch an edge from the graph,
+
+        :rtype: Edge
+        """
+        properties = self._get_edge_properties(source_id, target_id, label)
+        if properties:
+            properties_copy = copy.copy(properties)
+            item = Edge(source_id=source_id, target_id=target_id,
+                        label=label, properties=properties_copy)
+            return item
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    def get_edges(self, source_id, target_id, labels=None, directed=True):
+        """Fetch multiple edges from the graph
+
+        :rtype: list of Edge
+        """
+        # TODO(ihefetz) implement this function
+        pass
+
+    def update_vertex(self, v, hard_update=False):
+        """Update the vertex properties
+
+        :type v: Vertex
+        """
+        if hard_update:
+            properties = self.g.node.get(v.vertex_id, None)
+            if properties:
+                properties.clear()
+        self.add_vertex(v)
+
+    def update_edge(self, e, hard_update=False):
+        """Update the edge properties
+
+        :type e: Edge
+        """
+        if hard_update:
+            properties = self._get_edge_properties(e.source_id,
+                                                   e.target_id,
+                                                   e.label)
+            if properties:
+                properties.clear()
+        self.add_edge(e)
+
+    def remove_vertex(self, v):
+        """Remove Vertex v and its edges from the graph
+
+        :type v: Vertex
+        """
+        self.g.remove_node(n=v.vertex_id)
+
+    def remove_edge(self, e):
+        """Remove an edge from the graph
+
+        :type e: Edge
+        """
+        self.g.remove_edge(u=e.source_id, v=e.target_id)