diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-redis-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/RedisBasedMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-redis-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/RedisBasedMailbox.scala
index ffccee269b..3b4efac5e9 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-redis-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/RedisBasedMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-redis-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/RedisBasedMailbox.scala
@@ -15,48 +15,29 @@ import com.redis._
 
 class RedisBasedMailboxException(message: String) extends AkkaException(message)
 
-trait Base64StringEncoder {
-  def byteArrayToString(bytes: Array[Byte]): String
-  def stringToByteArray(str: String): Array[Byte]
-}
-
-object CommonsCodec {
-  import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64
-  import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64._
-
-  val b64 = new Base64(true)
-
-  trait CommonsCodecBase64StringEncoder {
-    def byteArrayToString(bytes: Array[Byte]) = encodeBase64URLSafeString(bytes)
-    def stringToByteArray(str: String) = b64.decode(str)
-  }
-
-  object Base64StringEncoder extends Base64StringEncoder with CommonsCodecBase64StringEncoder
-}
-
-import CommonsCodec._
-import CommonsCodec.Base64StringEncoder._
-
 /**
  * @author <a href="http://jonasboner.com">Jonas Bon&#233;r</a>
  */
 class RedisBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailbox(owner) {
-  val nodes = config.getList("akka.persistence.redis.cluster") // need an explicit definition in akka-conf
-
   @volatile
-  private var db = connect() //review Is the Redis connection thread safe?
+  private var clients = connect() // returns a RedisClientPool for multiple asynchronous message handling
 
   def enqueue(message: MessageInvocation) = {
     EventHandler.debug(this,
       "\nENQUEUING message in redis-based mailbox [%s]".format(message))
     withErrorHandling {
-      db.rpush(name, byteArrayToString(serialize(message)))
+      clients.withClient { client ⇒
+        client.rpush(name, serialize(message))
+      }
     }
   }
 
   def dequeue: MessageInvocation = withErrorHandling {
     try {
-      val item = db.lpop(name).map(stringToByteArray(_)).getOrElse(throw new NoSuchElementException(name + " not present"))
+      import serialization.Parse.Implicits.parseByteArray
+      val item = clients.withClient { client ⇒
+        client.lpop[Array[Byte]](name).getOrElse(throw new NoSuchElementException(name + " not present"))
+      }
       val messageInvocation = deserialize(item)
       EventHandler.debug(this,
         "\nDEQUEUING message in redis-based mailbox [%s]".format(messageInvocation))
@@ -70,34 +51,25 @@ class RedisBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailbox(ow
   }
 
   def size: Int = withErrorHandling {
-    db.llen(name).getOrElse(throw new NoSuchElementException(name + " not present"))
+    clients.withClient { client ⇒
+      client.llen(name).getOrElse(throw new NoSuchElementException(name + " not present"))
+    }
   }
 
   def isEmpty: Boolean = size == 0 //TODO review find other solution, this will be very expensive
 
-  private[akka] def connect() =
-    nodes match {
-      case Seq() ⇒
-        // no cluster defined
-        new RedisClient(
-          config.getString("akka.actor.mailbox.redis.hostname", "127.0.0.1"),
-          config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.redis.port", 6379))
-
-      case s ⇒
-        // with cluster
-        import com.redis.cluster._
-        EventHandler.info(this, "Running on Redis cluster")
-        new RedisCluster(nodes: _*) {
-          val keyTag = Some(NoOpKeyTag)
-        }
-    }
+  private[akka] def connect() = {
+    new RedisClientPool(
+      config.getString("akka.actor.mailbox.redis.hostname", "127.0.0.1"),
+      config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.redis.port", 6379))
+  }
 
   private def withErrorHandling[T](body: ⇒ T): T = {
     try {
       body
     } catch {
       case e: RedisConnectionException ⇒ {
-        db = connect()
+        clients = connect()
         body
       }
       case e ⇒
@@ -107,3 +79,4 @@ class RedisBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorRef) extends DurableExecutableMailbox(ow
     }
   }
 }
+