diff --git a/model/ndn-name-components.cc b/model/ndn-name-components.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96d40ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/model/ndn-name-components.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,152 @@
+/* -*- Mode:C++; c-file-style:"gnu"; indent-tabs-mode:nil -*- */
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2011 University of California, Los Angeles
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation;
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+ * Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
+ *
+ * Author: Alexander Afanasyev <alexander.afanasyev@ucla.edu>
+ *         Ilya Moiseenko <iliamo@cs.ucla.edu>
+ */
+
+#include "ndn-name-components.h"
+#include <boost/foreach.hpp>
+#include "ns3/log.h"
+
+#include <iostream>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+NS_LOG_COMPONENT_DEFINE ("NdnNameComponents");
+
+namespace ns3 {
+
+ATTRIBUTE_HELPER_CPP (NdnNameComponents);
+
+NdnNameComponents::NdnNameComponents (/* root */)
+{
+}
+
+NdnNameComponents::NdnNameComponents (const std::list<boost::reference_wrapper<const std::string> > &components)
+{
+  BOOST_FOREACH (const boost::reference_wrapper<const std::string> &component, components)
+    {
+      Add (component.get ());
+    }
+}
+
+NdnNameComponents::NdnNameComponents (const std::string &prefix)
+{
+  istringstream is (prefix);
+  is >> *this;
+}
+
+NdnNameComponents::NdnNameComponents (const char *prefix)
+{
+  NS_ASSERT (prefix != 0);
+  
+  istringstream is (prefix);
+  is >> *this;
+}
+
+const std::list<std::string> &
+NdnNameComponents::GetComponents () const
+{
+  return m_prefix;
+}
+
+std::string
+NdnNameComponents::GetLastComponent () const
+{
+  if (m_prefix.size () == 0)
+    {
+      return "";
+    }
+
+  return m_prefix.back ();
+}
+
+std::list<boost::reference_wrapper<const std::string> >
+NdnNameComponents::GetSubComponents (size_t num) const
+{
+  NS_ASSERT_MSG (0<=num && num<=m_prefix.size (), "Invalid number of subcomponents requested");
+  
+  std::list<boost::reference_wrapper<const std::string> > subComponents;
+  std::list<std::string>::const_iterator component = m_prefix.begin();
+  for (size_t i=0; i<num; i++, component++)
+    {
+      subComponents.push_back (boost::ref (*component));
+    }
+    
+  return subComponents;
+}
+
+NdnNameComponents
+NdnNameComponents::cut (size_t minusComponents) const
+{
+  NdnNameComponents retval;
+  std::list<std::string>::const_iterator component = m_prefix.begin (); 
+  for (uint32_t i = 0; i < m_prefix.size () - minusComponents; i++, component++)
+    {
+      retval.Add (*component);
+    }
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+void
+NdnNameComponents::Print (std::ostream &os) const
+{
+  for (const_iterator i=m_prefix.begin(); i!=m_prefix.end(); i++)
+    {
+      os << "/" << *i;
+    }
+  if (m_prefix.size ()==0) os << "/";
+}
+  
+std::ostream &
+operator << (std::ostream &os, const NdnNameComponents &components)
+{
+  components.Print (os);
+  return os;
+}
+
+std::istream &
+operator >> (std::istream &is, NdnNameComponents &components)
+{
+  istream_iterator<char> eos; // end of stream
+  
+  std::string component = "";
+  istream_iterator<char> it (is);
+  for (; it != eos; it++)
+    {
+      if (*it == '/')
+        {
+          if (component != "")
+              components.Add (component);
+          component = "";
+        }
+      else
+        component.push_back (*it);
+    }
+  if (component != "")
+      components.Add (component);
+
+  is.clear (); 
+  // NS_LOG_ERROR (components << ", bad: " << is.bad () <<", fail: " << is.fail ());
+  
+  return is;
+}
+
+}
+