diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/actor/NIOActor.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/actor/NIOActor.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1694c4d8e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/actor/NIOActor.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Scalable Solutions AB <http://scalablesolutions.se>
+ */
+
+package akka.actor
+
+import org.scalatest.WordSpec
+import org.scalatest.matchers.MustMatchers
+import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfterEach
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer
+import java.nio.channels.{ SelectableChannel, SocketChannel, ServerSocketChannel, SelectionKey }
+import java.io.IOException
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress
+
+import scala.collection.immutable.Queue
+
+object NIOActorSpec {
+
+  class NIOTestActor(val nioHandler: NIOHandler) extends Actor with NIO {
+
+    val readBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(8192)
+
+    var writeBuffers = Map.empty[SocketChannel, Queue[ByteBuffer]].withDefaultValue(Queue.empty)
+
+    override def preStart = {
+      val inetAddress = new InetSocketAddress("localhost", 8064)
+      val channel = ServerSocketChannel.open()
+      channel.configureBlocking(false)
+      channel.socket.bind(inetAddress)
+
+      nioHandler.register(channel, SelectionKey.OP_ACCEPT)
+    }
+
+    def accept(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit = channel match {
+      case serverChannel: ServerSocketChannel ⇒
+        val ch = serverChannel.accept()
+        ch.configureBlocking(false)
+        nioHandler.register(ch, SelectionKey.OP_READ)
+    }
+
+    def read(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit = channel match {
+      case ch: SocketChannel ⇒
+        readBuffer.clear
+        try {
+          val readLen = ch.read(readBuffer)
+          if (readLen == -1) {
+            nioHandler.unregister(ch)
+            ch.close
+          } else {
+            val ar = new Array[Byte](readLen)
+            readBuffer.flip
+            readBuffer.get(ar)
+            writeBuffers += (ch -> writeBuffers(ch).enqueue(ByteBuffer.wrap(ar)))
+            nioHandler.interestOps(ch, SelectionKey.OP_WRITE)
+          }
+        } catch {
+          case e: IOException ⇒
+            nioHandler.unregister(ch)
+            ch.close
+        }
+    }
+
+    def write(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit = {
+      def writeChannel(ch: SocketChannel): Unit = {
+        val queue = writeBuffers(ch)
+        if (queue.nonEmpty) {
+          val (buf, bufs) = writeBuffers(ch).dequeue
+          ch.write(buf)
+          if (buf.remaining == 0) {
+            if (bufs.isEmpty) {
+              writeBuffers -= ch
+              nioHandler.interestOps(ch, SelectionKey.OP_READ)
+            } else {
+              writeBuffers += (ch -> bufs)
+              writeChannel(ch)
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+      channel match {
+        case ch: SocketChannel ⇒
+          writeChannel(channel.asInstanceOf[SocketChannel])
+      }
+    }
+
+    def receive = {
+      case msg ⇒ println(msg)
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+class NIOActorSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers with BeforeAndAfterEach {
+  import NIOActorSpec._
+
+  "an NIO Actor" must {
+    "run" in {
+      val nioHandler = new NIOHandler
+      val actor = Actor.actorOf(new NIOTestActor(nioHandler)).start
+      Thread.sleep(600000)
+    }
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/NIO.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/NIO.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2f5d8336e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/NIO.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Scalable Solutions AB <http://scalablesolutions.se>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.nio.channels.{ SelectableChannel, Selector, SelectionKey }
+import java.io.IOException
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
+
+object NIO {
+  private[akka] case class Accept(key: SelectionKey)
+  private[akka] case class Read(key: SelectionKey)
+  private[akka] case class Write(key: SelectionKey)
+}
+
+class NIOHandler {
+  private[akka] val activeKeys = java.util.Collections.synchronizedSet(new java.util.HashSet[SelectionKey]())
+
+  private val pendingInterestOps = new AtomicReference(Map.empty[SelectableChannel, Int])
+  private val pendingRegister = new AtomicReference(Map.empty[SelectableChannel, (Int, ActorRef)])
+
+  private val selector: Selector = Selector.open()
+
+  private val select = new Runnable {
+    def run(): Unit = {
+      while (true) {
+        selector.select
+        selector.selectedKeys.removeAll(activeKeys)
+        val selectedKeys = selector.selectedKeys.iterator
+        while (selectedKeys.hasNext) {
+          val key = selectedKeys.next
+          selectedKeys.remove
+          activeKeys.add(key)
+          if (key.isValid) {
+            val owner = key.attachment.asInstanceOf[ActorRef]
+            if (key.isAcceptable) owner ! NIO.Accept(key)
+            else if (key.isReadable) owner ! NIO.Read(key)
+            else if (key.isWritable) owner ! NIO.Write(key)
+          }
+        }
+        pendingRegister.getAndSet(Map.empty[SelectableChannel, (Int, ActorRef)]) foreach {
+          case (channel, (interestOps, actor)) ⇒ channel.register(selector, interestOps, actor)
+        }
+        pendingInterestOps.getAndSet(Map.empty[SelectableChannel, Int]) foreach {
+          case (channel, interestOps) ⇒ channel.keyFor(selector).interestOps(interestOps)
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private val thread = new Thread(select)
+  thread.start
+
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
+  final def register(channel: SelectableChannel, interestOps: Int)(implicit owner: Some[ActorRef]): Unit = {
+    val orig = pendingRegister.get
+    if (pendingRegister.compareAndSet(orig, orig + (channel -> (interestOps, owner.get))))
+      selector.wakeup
+    else
+      register(channel, interestOps)
+  }
+
+  final def unregister(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit =
+    channel.keyFor(selector).cancel
+
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
+  final def interestOps(channel: SelectableChannel, interestOps: Int): Unit = {
+    val orig = pendingInterestOps.get
+    if (pendingInterestOps.compareAndSet(orig, orig + (channel -> interestOps)))
+      selector.wakeup
+    else
+      this.interestOps(channel, interestOps)
+  }
+}
+
+trait NIO {
+  this: Actor ⇒
+
+  import NIO._
+
+  def nioHandler: NIOHandler
+
+  val originalReceive = receive
+
+  become {
+    case Accept(key) ⇒
+      accept(key.channel())
+      nioHandler.activeKeys.remove(key)
+    case Read(key) ⇒
+      read(key.channel())
+      nioHandler.activeKeys.remove(key)
+    case Write(key) ⇒
+      write(key.channel())
+      nioHandler.activeKeys.remove(key)
+    case other if originalReceive.isDefinedAt(other) ⇒ originalReceive(other)
+  }
+
+  def accept(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit
+
+  def read(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit
+
+  def write(channel: SelectableChannel): Unit
+}