diff --git a/network/devicenames.go b/network/devicenames.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8df817c0c80
--- /dev/null
+++ b/network/devicenames.go
@@ -0,0 +1,219 @@
+// Copyright 2016 Canonical Ltd.
+// Licensed under the AGPLv3, see LICENCE file for details.
+
+package network
+
+import (
+	"sort"
+	"strconv"
+	"unicode/utf8"
+)
+
+const (
+	EOF = iota
+	LITERAL
+	NUMBER
+)
+
+type token int
+
+type deviceNameScanner struct {
+	src string
+
+	// scanning state
+	ch       rune // current character
+	offset   int  // character offset
+	rdOffset int  // reading offset (position of next ch)
+}
+
+type deviceName struct {
+	name   string
+	tokens []int
+}
+
+type devices []deviceName
+
+func (d devices) Len() int {
+	return len(d)
+}
+
+func (d devices) Less(i, j int) bool {
+	if r := intCompare(d[i].tokens, d[j].tokens); r == -1 {
+		return true
+	} else {
+		return false
+	}
+}
+
+func (d devices) Swap(i, j int) {
+	d[i], d[j] = d[j], d[i]
+}
+
+// adapted from runtime/noasm.go
+func intCompare(s1, s2 []int) int {
+	l := len(s1)
+	if len(s2) < l {
+		l = len(s2)
+	}
+	if l == 0 || &s1[0] == &s2[0] {
+		goto samebytes
+	}
+	for i := 0; i < l; i++ {
+		c1, c2 := s1[i], s2[i]
+		if c1 < c2 {
+			return -1
+		}
+		if c1 > c2 {
+			return +1
+		}
+	}
+samebytes:
+	if len(s1) < len(s2) {
+		return -1
+	}
+	if len(s1) > len(s2) {
+		return +1
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
+func (s *deviceNameScanner) init(src string) {
+	s.src = src
+	s.ch = ' '
+	s.offset = 0
+	s.rdOffset = 0
+	s.next()
+}
+
+func (s *deviceNameScanner) next() {
+	if s.rdOffset < len(s.src) {
+		s.offset = s.rdOffset
+		r, w := rune(s.src[s.rdOffset]), 1
+		s.rdOffset += w
+		s.ch = r
+	} else {
+		s.offset = len(s.src)
+		s.ch = -1 // EOF
+	}
+}
+
+func (s *deviceNameScanner) peek() rune {
+	if s.rdOffset < len(s.src) {
+		r, _ := rune(s.src[s.rdOffset]), 1
+		return r
+	}
+	return -1
+}
+
+func isDigit(ch rune) bool {
+	return '0' <= ch && ch <= '9'
+}
+
+func (s *deviceNameScanner) scanNumber() string {
+	// Treat leading zeros as discrete numbers as this aids the
+	// natural sort ordering. We also only parse whole numbers;
+	// floating point values are considered an integer- and
+	// fractional-part.
+
+	if s.ch == '0' && s.peek() == '0' {
+		s.next()
+		return "0"
+	}
+
+	cur := s.offset
+
+	for isDigit(s.ch) {
+		s.next()
+	}
+
+	return string(s.src[cur:s.offset])
+}
+
+func (s *deviceNameScanner) scan() (tok token, lit string) {
+	switch ch := s.ch; {
+	case -1 == ch:
+		return EOF, ""
+	case '0' <= ch && ch <= '9':
+		return NUMBER, s.scanNumber()
+	default:
+		lit = string(s.ch)
+		s.next()
+		return LITERAL, lit
+	}
+}
+
+func parseDeviceName(src string) deviceName {
+	var s deviceNameScanner
+
+	s.init(src)
+
+	d := deviceName{name: src}
+
+	for {
+		tok, lit := s.scan()
+		switch tok {
+		case EOF:
+			return d
+		case LITERAL:
+			x, _ := utf8.DecodeRuneInString(lit)
+			d.tokens = append(d.tokens, int(x))
+		case NUMBER:
+			val, _ := strconv.Atoi(lit)
+			d.tokens = append(d.tokens, val)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func parseDeviceNames(args ...string) devices {
+	devices := make(devices, 0)
+
+	for _, a := range args {
+		devices = append(devices, parseDeviceName(a))
+	}
+
+	return devices
+}
+
+// NaturallySortDeviceNames returns an ordered list of names based on
+// a natural ordering where 'natural' is an ordering of the string
+// value in alphabetical order, execept that multi-digit numbers are
+// ordered as a single character.
+//
+// For example, sorting:
+//
+//  [ br-eth10 br-eth1 br-eth2 ]
+//
+// would sort as:
+//
+//  [ br-eth1 br-eth2 br-eth10 ]
+//
+// In purely alphabetical sorting "br-eth10" would be sorted before
+// "br-eth2" because "1" is sorted as smaller than "2", while in
+// natural sorting "br-eth2" is sorted before "br-eth10" because "2"
+// is sorted as smaller than "10".
+//
+// This also extends to multiply repeated numbers (e.g., VLANs).
+//
+// For example, sorting:
+//
+//  [ br-eth2 br-eth10.10 br-eth200.0 br-eth1.0 br-eth2.0 ]
+//
+// would sort as:
+//
+//  [ br-eth1.0 br-eth2 br-eth2.0 br-eth10.10 br-eth200.0 ]
+//
+func NaturallySortDeviceNames(names ...string) []string {
+	if names == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	devices := parseDeviceNames(names...)
+	sort.Sort(devices)
+	sortedNames := make([]string, len(devices))
+
+	for i, v := range devices {
+		sortedNames[i] = v.name
+	}
+
+	return sortedNames
+}
diff --git a/network/devicenames_test.go b/network/devicenames_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1cd5f138396
--- /dev/null
+++ b/network/devicenames_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+// Copyright 2016 Canonical Ltd.
+// Licensed under the AGPLv3, see LICENCE file for details.
+
+package network_test
+
+import (
+	gc "gopkg.in/check.v1"
+
+	"github.com/juju/juju/network"
+)
+
+type DeviceNamesSuite struct{}
+
+var _ = gc.Suite(&DeviceNamesSuite{})
+
+func (s *DeviceNamesSuite) TestNaturallySortDeviceNames(c *gc.C) {
+	for i, test := range []struct {
+		message  string
+		input    []string
+		expected []string
+	}{{
+		message:  "empty input, empty output",
+		input:    []string{},
+		expected: []string{},
+	}, {
+		message: "nil input, nil output",
+	}, {
+		message:  "one input",
+		input:    []string{"a"},
+		expected: []string{"a"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "two values, no numbers",
+		input:    []string{"b", "a"},
+		expected: []string{"a", "b"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "two values, mixed content",
+		input:    []string{"b1", "a1"},
+		expected: []string{"a1", "b1"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "identical values, numbers only",
+		input:    []string{"1", "1", "1", "1"},
+		expected: []string{"1", "1", "1", "1"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "identical values, mixed content",
+		input:    []string{"a1", "a1", "a1", "a1"},
+		expected: []string{"a1", "a1", "a1", "a1"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "reversed input",
+		input:    []string{"a10", "a9", "a8", "a7", "a6", "a5", "a4", "a3", "a2", "a1", "a0"},
+		expected: []string{"a0", "a1", "a2", "a3", "a4", "a5", "a6", "a7", "a8", "a9", "a10"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "multiple numbers per value",
+		input:    []string{"a10.11", "a10.10", "a10.1"},
+		expected: []string{"a10.1", "a10.10", "a10.11"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "value with leading zero",
+		input:    []string{"a50", "a51.", "a50.31", "a50.4", "a5.034e1", "a50.300"},
+		expected: []string{"a5.034e1", "a50", "a50.4", "a50.31", "a50.300", "a51."},
+	}, {
+		message:  "value with multiple leading zeros",
+		input:    []string{"a50", "a51.", "a0050.31", "a50.4", "a5.034e1", "a00050.300"},
+		expected: []string{"a00050.300", "a0050.31", "a5.034e1", "a50", "a50.4", "a51."},
+	}, {
+		message:  "strings with numbers in ascending order",
+		input:    []string{"a2", "a5", "a9", "a1", "a4", "a10", "a6"},
+		expected: []string{"a1", "a2", "a4", "a5", "a6", "a9", "a10"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "values that look like version numbers",
+		input:    []string{"1.9.9a", "1.11", "1.9.9b", "1.11.4", "1.10.1"},
+		expected: []string{"1.9.9a", "1.9.9b", "1.10.1", "1.11", "1.11.4"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "bridge device names",
+		input:    []string{"br-eth10", "br-eth2", "br-eth1"},
+		expected: []string{"br-eth1", "br-eth2", "br-eth10"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "bridge device names with VLAN numbers",
+		input:    []string{"br-eth10.10", "br-eth2.10", "br-eth200", "br-eth1.100", "br-eth1.10"},
+		expected: []string{"br-eth1.10", "br-eth1.100", "br-eth2.10", "br-eth10.10", "br-eth200"},
+	}, {
+		message:  "bridge device names with leading zero",
+		input:    []string{"br-eth0", "br-eth10.10", "br-eth2.10", "br-eth1.100", "br-eth1.10", "br-eth10"},
+		expected: []string{"br-eth0", "br-eth1.10", "br-eth1.100", "br-eth2.10", "br-eth10", "br-eth10.10"},
+	}} {
+		c.Logf("%v: %s", i, test.message)
+		result := network.NaturallySortDeviceNames(test.input...)
+		c.Assert(result, gc.HasLen, len(test.input))
+		c.Assert(result, gc.DeepEquals, test.expected)
+	}
+}