diff --git a/adapters/Makefile b/adapters/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9374284
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adapters/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,225 @@
+#
+# Copyright 2018 the original author or authors.
+#
+# 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.
+#
+
+ifneq ($(VOLTHA_BUILD),docker)
+ifeq ($(VOLTHA_BASE)_set,_set)
+$(error To get started, please source the env.sh file)
+endif
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(TAG),)
+TAG := latest
+endif
+
+ifeq ($(TARGET_TAG),)
+TARGET_TAG := latest
+endif
+
+# If no DOCKER_HOST_IP is specified grab a v4 IP address associated with
+# the default gateway
+ifeq ($(DOCKER_HOST_IP),)
+DOCKER_HOST_IP := $(shell ifconfig $$(netstat -rn | grep -E '^(default|0.0.0.0)' | head -1 | awk '{print $$NF}') | grep inet | awk '{print $$2}' | sed -e 's/addr://g')
+endif
+
+ifneq ($(http_proxy)$(https_proxy),)
+# Include proxies from the environment
+DOCKER_PROXY_ARGS = \
+       --build-arg http_proxy=$(http_proxy) \
+       --build-arg https_proxy=$(https_proxy) \
+       --build-arg ftp_proxy=$(ftp_proxy) \
+       --build-arg no_proxy=$(no_proxy) \
+       --build-arg HTTP_PROXY=$(HTTP_PROXY) \
+       --build-arg HTTPS_PROXY=$(HTTPS_PROXY) \
+       --build-arg FTP_PROXY=$(FTP_PROXY) \
+       --build-arg NO_PROXY=$(NO_PROXY)
+endif
+
+DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS = \
+	--build-arg TAG=$(TAG) \
+	--build-arg REGISTRY=$(REGISTRY) \
+	--build-arg REPOSITORY=$(REPOSITORY) \
+	$(DOCKER_PROXY_ARGS) $(DOCKER_CACHE_ARG) \
+	 --rm --force-rm \
+	$(DOCKER_BUILD_EXTRA_ARGS)
+
+VENVDIR := venv-$(shell uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+
+DOCKER_IMAGE_LIST = \
+	base \
+	protoc \
+	protos \
+	adapter-ponsim-olt \
+	adapter-ponsim-onu \
+
+# The following list was scavanged from the compose / stack files as well as
+# from the Dockerfiles. If nothing else it highlights that VOLTHA is not
+# using consistent versions for some of the containers.
+
+FETCH_BUILD_IMAGE_LIST = \
+       alpine:3.6 \
+       centos:7 \
+       centurylink/ca-certs:latest \
+       grpc/python:latest \
+       ubuntu:xenial
+
+FETCH_COMPOSE_IMAGE_LIST = \
+        wurstmeister/kafka:latest \
+        wurstmeister/zookeeper:latest
+
+# find k8s -type f | xargs grep image: | awk '{print $NF}' | sed -e 's/\"//g' | sed '/:.*$/!s/$/:latest/g' | sort -u | sed -e 's/^/       /g' -e 's/$/ \\/g'
+# Manually remove some image from this list as they don't reflect the new 
+# naming conventions for the VOLTHA build
+FETCH_K8S_IMAGE_LIST = \
+       wurstmeister/kafka:1.0.0 \
+       zookeeper:3.4.11
+
+FETCH_IMAGE_LIST = $(shell echo $(FETCH_BUILD_IMAGE_LIST) $(FETCH_COMPOSE_IMAGE_LIST) $(FETCH_K8S_IMAGE_LIST) | tr ' ' '\n' | sort -u)
+
+.PHONY: $(DIRS) $(DIRS_CLEAN) $(DIRS_FLAKE8) flake8 base ponsim_olt ponsim_onu protos kafka common start stop tag push pull
+
+# This should to be the first and default target in this Makefile
+help:
+	@echo "Usage: make [<target>]"
+	@echo "where available targets are:"
+	@echo
+	@echo "build        : Build the Adapters protos and docker images.\n\
+               If this is the first time you are building, choose \"make build\" option."
+	@echo "clean        : Remove files created by the build and tests"
+	@echo "distclean    : Remove venv directory"
+	@echo "fetch        : Pre-fetch artifacts for subsequent local builds"
+	@echo "help         : Print this help"
+	@echo "protoc       : Build a container with protoc installed"
+	@echo "protos       : Compile all grpc/protobuf files"
+	@echo "rebuild-venv : Rebuild local Python virtualenv from scratch"
+	@echo "venv         : Build local Python virtualenv if did not exist yet"
+	@echo "containers   : Build all the docker containers"
+	@echo "base         : Build the base docker container used by all other dockers"
+	@echo "adapter_ponsim_olt       : Build the ponsim olt adapter docker container"
+	@echo "adapter_ponsim_onu       : Build the ponsim olt adapter docker container"
+	@echo "tag          : Tag a set of images"
+	@echo "push         : Push the docker images to an external repository"
+	@echo "pull         : Pull the docker images from a repository"
+	@echo
+
+## New directories can be added here
+#DIRS:=
+
+## If one directory depends on another directory that
+## dependency can be expressed here
+##
+## For example, if the Tibit directory depended on the eoam
+## directory being built first, then that can be expressed here.
+##  driver/tibit: eoam
+
+# Parallel Build
+$(DIRS):
+	@echo "    MK $@"
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $@
+
+# Parallel Clean
+DIRS_CLEAN = $(addsuffix .clean,$(DIRS))
+$(DIRS_CLEAN):
+	@echo "    CLEAN $(basename $@)"
+	$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $(basename $@) clean
+
+# Parallel Flake8
+DIRS_FLAKE8 = $(addsuffix .flake8,$(DIRS))
+$(DIRS_FLAKE8):
+	@echo "    FLAKE8 $(basename $@)"
+	-$(Q)$(MAKE) -C $(basename $@) flake8
+
+build: protoc protos containers
+
+containers: base adapter_ponsim_olt adapter_ponsim_onu
+
+base:
+	docker build $(DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS) -t ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-base:${TAG} -f docker/Dockerfile.base .
+
+adapter_ponsim_olt:
+	docker build $(DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS) -t ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-adapter-ponsim-olt:${TAG} -f docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_olt .
+
+adapter_ponsim_onu:
+	docker build $(DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS) -t ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-adapter-ponsim-onu:${TAG} -f docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_onu .
+
+tag: $(patsubst  %,%.tag,$(DOCKER_IMAGE_LIST))
+
+push: tag $(patsubst  %,%.push,$(DOCKER_IMAGE_LIST))
+
+pull: $(patsubst  %,%.pull,$(DOCKER_IMAGE_LIST))
+
+%.tag:
+	docker tag ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-$(subst .tag,,$@):${TAG} ${TARGET_REGISTRY}${TARGET_REPOSITORY}voltha-$(subst .tag,,$@):${TARGET_TAG}
+
+%.push:
+	docker push ${TARGET_REGISTRY}${TARGET_REPOSITORY}voltha-$(subst .push,,$@):${TARGET_TAG}
+
+%.pull:
+	docker pull ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-$(subst .pull,,$@):${TAG}
+
+protoc:
+ifeq ($(VOLTHA_BUILD),docker)
+	docker build $(DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS) -t ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-protoc:${TAG} -f docker/Dockerfile.protoc .
+endif
+
+protos:
+ifneq ($(VOLTHA_BUILD),docker)
+	make -C protos
+else
+	docker build $(DOCKER_BUILD_ARGS) -t ${REGISTRY}${REPOSITORY}voltha-protos:${TAG} -f docker/Dockerfile.protos .
+endif
+
+install-protoc:
+	make -C voltha/protos install-protoc
+
+clean:
+	find voltha -name '*.pyc' | xargs rm -f
+
+distclean: clean
+	rm -rf ${VENVDIR}
+
+fetch:
+	@bash -c ' \
+		for i in $(FETCH_IMAGE_LIST); do \
+			docker pull $$i; \
+		done'
+
+purge-venv:
+	rm -fr ${VENVDIR}
+
+rebuild-venv: purge-venv venv
+
+ifneq ($(VOLTHA_BUILD),docker)
+venv: ${VENVDIR}/.built
+else
+venv:
+endif
+
+${VENVDIR}/.built:
+	@ virtualenv ${VENVDIR}
+	@ . ${VENVDIR}/bin/activate && \
+	    pip install --upgrade pip; \
+	    if ! pip install -r requirements.txt; \
+	    then \
+	        echo "On MAC OS X, if the installation failed with an error \n'<openssl/opensslv.h>': file not found,"; \
+	        echo "see the BUILD.md file for a workaround"; \
+	    else \
+	        uname -s > ${VENVDIR}/.built; \
+	    fi
+
+
+flake8: $(DIRS_FLAKE8)
+
+# end file
diff --git a/adapters/README.md b/adapters/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3eda078
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adapters/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# How to Build and Develop a Voltha Adapter
+
+The build and development environment of a Voltha Adapter is left to the developer's choice.  
+
+### Build
+
+You can build the Voltha Adapter by:
+
+```
+cd adapters
+. env.sh
+make build
+```
+
+The above has generates a few docker images. An example is below:
+
+```
+$ docker images
+REPOSITORY                  TAG                                        IMAGE ID            CREATED             SIZE
+voltha-adapter-ponsim-onu   latest                                     3638b16b5262        36 seconds ago      774MB
+voltha-adapter-ponsim-olt   latest                                     9e98a3a8e1aa        58 seconds ago      775MB
+voltha-base                 latest                                     40ed93942a6a        23 minutes ago      771MB
+voltha-rw-core              latest                                     648be4bc594a        About an hour ago   29.1MB
+voltha-protos               latest                                     d458a391cc81        12 days ago         2.66MB
+```
+
+### Run the ponsim adapters 
+
+The simplest way to run the containerized adapters is using the docker compose command:
+
+```
+docker-compose -f ../compose/adapters-ponsim.yml up -d
+```
diff --git a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_olt b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_olt
similarity index 83%
rename from adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_olt
rename to adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_olt
index 5b714f1..209200d 100644
--- a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_olt
+++ b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_olt
@@ -23,18 +23,18 @@
 # Bundle app source
 RUN mkdir /adapters && touch /adapters/__init__.py
 ENV PYTHONPATH=/adapters
-COPY adapters/common /adapters/adapters/common
-COPY adapters/kafka /adapters/adapters/kafka
-COPY adapters/*.py /adapters/adapters/
+COPY common /adapters/adapters/common
+COPY kafka /adapters/adapters/kafka
+COPY ./*.py /adapters/adapters/
 #COPY pki /voltha/pki
-COPY adapters/ponsim_olt /adapters/adapters/ponsim_olt
+COPY ponsim_olt /adapters/adapters/ponsim_olt
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/__init__.py
 
 
 # Copy in the generated GRPC proto code
 COPY --from=protos /protos/voltha /adapters/adapters/protos
 COPY --from=protos /protos/google/api /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party/google/api
-COPY adapters/protos/third_party/__init__.py /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party
+COPY protos/third_party/__init__.py /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/protos/__init__.py
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party/google/__init__.py
 
diff --git a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_onu b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_onu
similarity index 83%
rename from adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_onu
rename to adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_onu
index 57cc113..d0d3e36 100644
--- a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.ponsim_adapter_onu
+++ b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.adapter_ponsim_onu
@@ -23,18 +23,18 @@
 # Bundle app source
 RUN mkdir /adapters && touch /adapters/__init__.py
 ENV PYTHONPATH=/adapters
-COPY adapters/common /adapters/adapters/common
-COPY adapters/kafka /adapters/adapters/kafka
-COPY adapters/*.py /adapters/adapters/
+COPY common /adapters/adapters/common
+COPY kafka /adapters/adapters/kafka
+COPY ./*.py /adapters/adapters/
 #COPY pki /voltha/pki
-COPY adapters/ponsim_onu /adapters/adapters/ponsim_onu
+COPY ponsim_onu /adapters/adapters/ponsim_onu
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/__init__.py
 
 
 # Copy in the generated GRPC proto code
 COPY --from=protos /protos/voltha /adapters/adapters/protos
 COPY --from=protos /protos/google/api /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party/google/api
-COPY adapters/protos/third_party/__init__.py /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party
+COPY protos/third_party/__init__.py /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/protos/__init__.py
 RUN touch /adapters/adapters/protos/third_party/google/__init__.py
 
diff --git a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.base b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.base
index a50a3ee..1b912e0 100644
--- a/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.base
+++ b/adapters/docker/Dockerfile.base
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 RUN apt-get update && \
     apt-get install -y python python-pip openssl iproute2 libpcap-dev wget
 
-COPY adapters/requirements.txt /tmp/requirements.txt
+COPY requirements.txt /tmp/requirements.txt
 
 # pip install cython enum34 six && \
 # Install app dependencies
diff --git a/adapters/env.sh b/adapters/env.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f4f9f97
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adapters/env.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Copyright 2017-present Open Networking Foundation
+#
+# 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.
+# sourcing this file is needed to make local development and integration testing work
+export VOLTHA_BASE=$PWD
+
+# load local python virtualenv if exists, otherwise create it
+VENVDIR="venv-$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
+if [ ! -e "$VENVDIR/.built" ]; then
+    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
+    echo "Initializing OS-appropriate virtual env."
+    echo "This will take a few minutes."
+    echo "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
+    make venv
+fi
+. $VENVDIR/bin/activate
+
+# add top-level voltha dir to pythonpath
+export PYTHONPATH=$VOLTHA_BASE/$VENVDIR/lib/python2.7/site-packages:$PYTHONPATH:$VOLTHA_BASE:$VOLTHA_BASE/protos/third_party