diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMapSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMapSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..298b9f2d81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMapSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,151 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2016-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.util
+import org.scalatest.Matchers
+import org.scalatest.WordSpec
+
+import scala.util.Random
+
+class ImmutableIntMapSpec extends WordSpec with Matchers {
+
+  "ImmutableIntMap" must {
+
+    "have no entries when empty" in {
+      val empty = ImmutableIntMap.empty
+      empty.size should be(0)
+      empty.keysIterator.toList should be(Nil)
+    }
+
+    "add and get entries" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10)
+      m1.keysIterator.toList should be(List(10))
+      m1.keysIterator.map(m1.get).toList should be(List(10))
+
+      val m2 = m1.updated(20, 20)
+      m2.keysIterator.toList should be(List(10, 20))
+      m2.keysIterator.map(m2.get).toList should be(List(10, 20))
+
+      val m3 = m1.updated(5, 5)
+      m3.keysIterator.toList should be(List(5, 10))
+      m3.keysIterator.map(m3.get).toList should be(List(5, 10))
+
+      val m4 = m2.updated(5, 5)
+      m4.keysIterator.toList should be(List(5, 10, 20))
+      m4.keysIterator.map(m4.get).toList should be(List(5, 10, 20))
+
+      val m5 = m4.updated(15, 15)
+      m5.keysIterator.toList should be(List(5, 10, 15, 20))
+      m5.keysIterator.map(m5.get).toList should be(List(5, 10, 15, 20))
+    }
+
+    "replace entries" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(10, 11)
+      m1.keysIterator.map(m1.get).toList should be(List(11))
+
+      val m2 = m1.updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30)
+        .updated(20, 21).updated(30, 31)
+      m2.keysIterator.map(m2.get).toList should be(List(11, 21, 31))
+    }
+
+    "update if absent" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 11)
+      m1.updateIfAbsent(10, 15) should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 11))
+      m1.updateIfAbsent(30, 12) should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 11).updated(30, 12))
+    }
+
+    "have toString" in {
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.toString should be("ImmutableIntMap()")
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).toString should be("ImmutableIntMap(10 -> 10)")
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).toString should be(
+        "ImmutableIntMap(10 -> 10, 20 -> 20)")
+    }
+
+    "have equals and hashCode" in {
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10) should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10))
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).hashCode should be(
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).hashCode)
+
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30) should be(
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30))
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30).hashCode should be(
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30).hashCode)
+
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20) should not be ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10)
+
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30) should not be
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 31)
+
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30) should not be
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(31, 30)
+
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty)
+      ImmutableIntMap.empty.hashCode should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty.hashCode)
+    }
+
+    "remove entries" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30)
+
+      val m2 = m1.remove(10)
+      m2.keysIterator.map(m2.get).toList should be(List(20, 30))
+
+      val m3 = m1.remove(20)
+      m3.keysIterator.map(m3.get).toList should be(List(10, 30))
+
+      val m4 = m1.remove(30)
+      m4.keysIterator.map(m4.get).toList should be(List(10, 20))
+
+      m1.remove(5) should be(m1)
+
+      m1.remove(10).remove(20).remove(30) should be(ImmutableIntMap.empty)
+    }
+
+    "get None when entry doesn't exist" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30)
+      m1.get(5) should be(Int.MinValue)
+      m1.get(15) should be(Int.MinValue)
+      m1.get(25) should be(Int.MinValue)
+      m1.get(35) should be(Int.MinValue)
+    }
+
+    "contain keys" in {
+      val m1 = ImmutableIntMap.empty.updated(10, 10).updated(20, 20).updated(30, 30)
+      m1.contains(10) should be(true)
+      m1.contains(20) should be(true)
+      m1.contains(30) should be(true)
+      m1.contains(5) should be(false)
+      m1.contains(25) should be(false)
+    }
+
+    "have correct behavior for random operations" in {
+      val seed = System.nanoTime()
+      val rnd = new Random(seed)
+
+      var longMap = ImmutableIntMap.empty
+      var reference = Map.empty[Long, Int]
+
+      def verify(): Unit = {
+        val m = longMap.keysIterator.map(key ⇒ key → longMap.get(key)).toMap
+
+        m should be(reference)
+      }
+
+      (1 to 1000).foreach { i ⇒
+        withClue(s"seed=$seed, iteration=$i") {
+          val key = rnd.nextInt(100)
+          val value = rnd.nextPrintableChar()
+          rnd.nextInt(3) match {
+            case 0 | 1 ⇒
+              longMap = longMap.updated(key, value)
+              reference = reference.updated(key, value)
+            case 2 ⇒
+              longMap = longMap.remove(key)
+              reference = reference - key
+          }
+          verify()
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 6d4039c416..b810e4e64b 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -335,6 +335,7 @@ akka {
       #  - "default-executor" requires a "default-executor" section
       #  - "fork-join-executor" requires a "fork-join-executor" section
       #  - "thread-pool-executor" requires a "thread-pool-executor" section
+      #  - "affinity-pool-executor" requires an "affinity-pool-executor" section
       #  - A FQCN of a class extending ExecutorServiceConfigurator
       executor = "default-executor"
 
@@ -350,6 +351,69 @@ akka {
         fallback = "fork-join-executor"
       }
 
+      # This will be used if you have set "executor = "affinity-pool-executor""
+      # Underlying thread pool implementation is akka.dispatch.affinity.AffinityPool.
+      # This executor is classified as "ApiMayChange".
+      affinity-pool-executor {
+        # Min number of threads to cap factor-based parallelism number to
+        parallelism-min = 4
+
+        # The parallelism factor is used to determine thread pool size using the
+        # following formula: ceil(available processors * factor). Resulting size
+        # is then bounded by the parallelism-min and parallelism-max values.
+        parallelism-factor = 0.8
+
+        # Max number of threads to cap factor-based parallelism number to.
+        parallelism-max = 64
+
+        # Each worker in the pool uses a separate bounded MPSC queue. This value
+        # indicates the upper bound of the queue. Whenever an attempt to enqueue
+        # a task is made and the queue does not have capacity to accomodate
+        # the task, the rejection handler created by the factory specified
+        # in "rejection-handler-factory" is invoked.
+        task-queue-size = 512
+
+        # FQCN of the Rejection handler used in the pool.
+        # Must have an empty public constructor constructor with and needs
+        # to implement akka.actor.affinity.RejectionHandlerFactory.
+        rejection-handler-factory = "akka.dispatch.affinity.DefaultRejectionHandlerFactory"
+
+        # Level of CPU time used, on a scale between 1 and 10, during backoff/idle.
+        # The tradeoff is that to have low latency more CPU time must be used to be
+        # able to react quickly on incoming messages or send as fast as possible after
+        # backoff backpressure.
+        # Level 1 strongly prefer low CPU consumption over low latency.
+        # Level 10 strongly prefer low latency over low CPU consumption.
+        idle-cpu-level = 5
+
+        # Internally the AffinityPool uses two methods to determine which task
+        # queue to allocate a Runnable to:
+        # - map based - maintains a round robin counter and a map of Runnable
+        # hashcodes to queues that they have been associated with. This ensures
+        # maximum fairness in terms of work distribution, meaning that each worker
+        # will get approximately equal amount of mailboxes to execute. This is suitable
+        # in cases where we have a small number of actors that will be scheduled on
+        # the pool and we want to ensure the maximum possible utilization of the
+        # available threads.
+        # - hash based - the task - queue in which the runnable should go is determined
+        # by using an uniformly distributed int to int hash function which uses the
+        # hash code of the Runnable as an input. This is preferred in situations where we
+        # have enough number of distinct actors to ensure statistically uniform
+        # distribution of work across threads or we are ready to sacrifice the
+        # former for the added benefit of avoiding map look-ups.
+        #
+        # The value serves as a threshold which determines the point at which the
+        # pool switches from the first to the second work distribution schemes.
+        # For example, if the value is set to 128, the pool can observe up to
+        # 128 unique actors and schedule their mailboxes using the map based
+        # approach. Once this number is reached the pool switches to hash based
+        # task distribution mode. If the value is set to 0, the map based
+        # work distribution approach is disabled and only the hash based is
+        # used irrespective of the number of unique actors. Valid range is
+        # 0 to 2048 (inclusive)
+        fair-work-distribution-threshold = 128
+      }
+
       # This will be used if you have set "executor = "fork-join-executor""
       # Underlying thread pool implementation is akka.dispatch.forkjoin.ForkJoinPool
       fork-join-executor {
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
index 285337dc4d..28dd212522 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
@@ -8,11 +8,13 @@ import java.util.concurrent._
 import java.{ util ⇒ ju }
 
 import akka.actor._
+import akka.dispatch.affinity.AffinityPoolConfigurator
 import akka.dispatch.sysmsg._
 import akka.event.EventStream
 import akka.event.Logging.{ Debug, Error, LogEventException }
 import akka.util.{ Index, Unsafe }
 import com.typesafe.config.Config
+
 import scala.annotation.tailrec
 import scala.concurrent.{ ExecutionContext, ExecutionContextExecutor }
 import scala.concurrent.duration.{ Duration, FiniteDuration }
@@ -327,6 +329,8 @@ abstract class MessageDispatcherConfigurator(_config: Config, val prerequisites:
     def configurator(executor: String): ExecutorServiceConfigurator = executor match {
       case null | "" | "fork-join-executor" ⇒ new ForkJoinExecutorConfigurator(config.getConfig("fork-join-executor"), prerequisites)
       case "thread-pool-executor"           ⇒ new ThreadPoolExecutorConfigurator(config.getConfig("thread-pool-executor"), prerequisites)
+      case "affinity-pool-executor"         ⇒ new AffinityPoolConfigurator(config.getConfig("affinity-pool-executor"), prerequisites)
+
       case fqcn ⇒
         val args = List(
           classOf[Config] → config,
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/affinity/AffinityPool.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/affinity/AffinityPool.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a53019df1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/affinity/AffinityPool.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,423 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.dispatch.affinity
+
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodHandles
+import java.lang.invoke.MethodType.methodType
+import java.util
+import java.util.Collections
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.MICROSECONDS
+import java.util.concurrent._
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.{ AtomicInteger, AtomicReference }
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.{ Lock, LockSupport, ReentrantLock }
+
+import akka.dispatch._
+import akka.util.Helpers.Requiring
+import com.typesafe.config.Config
+
+import scala.annotation.tailrec
+import java.lang.Integer.reverseBytes
+
+import akka.annotation.InternalApi
+import akka.annotation.ApiMayChange
+import akka.util.ImmutableIntMap
+import akka.util.OptionVal
+
+import scala.collection.mutable
+import scala.util.control.NonFatal
+
+/**
+ * An [[ExecutorService]] implementation which pins actor to particular threads
+ * and guaranteed that an actor's [[Mailbox]] will e run on the thread it used
+ * it used to run. In situations where we see a lot of cache ping pong, this
+ * might lead to significant performance improvements.
+ *
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi
+@ApiMayChange
+private[akka] class AffinityPool(
+  parallelism:               Int,
+  affinityGroupSize:         Int,
+  tf:                        ThreadFactory,
+  idleCpuLevel:              Int,
+  fairDistributionThreshold: Int,
+  rejectionHandler:          RejectionHandler)
+  extends AbstractExecutorService {
+
+  if (parallelism <= 0)
+    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Size of pool cannot be less or equal to 0")
+
+  // Held while starting/shutting down workers/pool in order to make
+  // the operations linear and enforce atomicity. An example of that would be
+  // adding a worker. We want the creation of the worker, addition
+  // to the set and starting to worker to be an atomic action. Using
+  // a concurrent set would not give us that
+  private val bookKeepingLock = new ReentrantLock()
+
+  // condition used for awaiting termination
+  private val terminationCondition = bookKeepingLock.newCondition()
+
+  // indicates the current state of the pool
+  @volatile final private var poolState: PoolState = Running
+
+  private final val workQueues = Array.fill(parallelism)(new BoundedTaskQueue(affinityGroupSize))
+  private final val workers = mutable.Set[ThreadPoolWorker]()
+
+  // a counter that gets incremented every time a task is queued
+  private val executionCounter: AtomicInteger = new AtomicInteger(0)
+  // maps a runnable to an index of a worker queue
+  private val runnableToWorkerQueueIndex = new AtomicReference(ImmutableIntMap.empty)
+
+  private def locked[T](l: Lock)(body: ⇒ T) = {
+    l.lock()
+    try {
+      body
+    } finally {
+      l.unlock()
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def getQueueForRunnable(command: Runnable) = {
+
+    val runnableHash = command.hashCode()
+
+    def sbhash(i: Int) = reverseBytes(i * 0x9e3775cd) * 0x9e3775cd
+
+    def getNext = executionCounter.incrementAndGet() % parallelism
+
+    def updateIfAbsentAndGetQueueIndex(
+      workerQueueIndex: AtomicReference[ImmutableIntMap],
+      runnableHash:     Int, queueIndex: ⇒ Int): Int = {
+      @tailrec
+      def updateIndex(): Unit = {
+        val prev = workerQueueIndex.get()
+        if (!runnableToWorkerQueueIndex.compareAndSet(prev, prev.updateIfAbsent(runnableHash, queueIndex))) {
+          updateIndex()
+        }
+      }
+      updateIndex()
+      workerQueueIndex.get().get(runnableHash) // can safely call get..
+    }
+
+    val workQueueIndex =
+      if (fairDistributionThreshold == 0 || runnableToWorkerQueueIndex.get().size > fairDistributionThreshold)
+        Math.abs(sbhash(runnableHash)) % parallelism
+      else
+        updateIfAbsentAndGetQueueIndex(runnableToWorkerQueueIndex, runnableHash, getNext)
+
+    workQueues(workQueueIndex)
+  }
+
+  //fires up initial workers
+  locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+    workQueues.foreach(q ⇒ addWorker(workers, q))
+  }
+
+  private def addWorker(workers: mutable.Set[ThreadPoolWorker], q: BoundedTaskQueue): Unit = {
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      val worker = new ThreadPoolWorker(q, new IdleStrategy(idleCpuLevel))
+      workers.add(worker)
+      worker.startWorker()
+    }
+  }
+
+  private def tryEnqueue(command: Runnable) = getQueueForRunnable(command).add(command)
+
+  /**
+   * Each worker should go through that method while terminating.
+   * In turn each worker is responsible for modifying the pool
+   * state accordingly. For example if this is the last worker
+   * and the queue is empty and we are in a ShuttingDown state
+   * the worker can transition the pool to ShutDown and attempt
+   * termination
+   *
+   * Furthermore, if this worker has experienced abrupt termination
+   * due to an exception being thrown in user code, the worker is
+   * responsible for adding one more worker to compensate for its
+   * own termination
+   *
+   */
+  private def onWorkerExit(w: ThreadPoolWorker, abruptTermination: Boolean): Unit =
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      workers.remove(w)
+      if (workers.isEmpty && !abruptTermination && poolState >= ShuttingDown) {
+        poolState = ShutDown // transition to shutdown and try to transition to termination
+        attemptPoolTermination()
+      }
+      if (abruptTermination && poolState == Running)
+        addWorker(workers, w.q)
+    }
+
+  override def execute(command: Runnable): Unit = {
+    if (command == null)
+      throw new NullPointerException
+    if (!(poolState == Running && tryEnqueue(command)))
+      rejectionHandler.reject(command, this)
+  }
+
+  override def awaitTermination(timeout: Long, unit: TimeUnit): Boolean = {
+
+    // recurse until pool is terminated or time out reached
+    @tailrec
+    def awaitTermination(nanos: Long): Boolean = {
+      if (poolState == Terminated) true
+      else if (nanos <= 0) false
+      else awaitTermination(terminationCondition.awaitNanos(nanos))
+    }
+
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      // need to hold the lock to avoid monitor exception
+      awaitTermination(unit.toNanos(timeout))
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  private def attemptPoolTermination() =
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      if (workers.isEmpty && poolState == ShutDown) {
+        poolState = Terminated
+        terminationCondition.signalAll()
+      }
+    }
+
+  override def shutdownNow(): util.List[Runnable] =
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      poolState = ShutDown
+      workers.foreach(_.stop())
+      attemptPoolTermination()
+      // like in the FJ executor, we do not provide facility to obtain tasks that were in queue
+      Collections.emptyList[Runnable]()
+    }
+
+  override def shutdown(): Unit =
+    locked(bookKeepingLock) {
+      poolState = ShuttingDown
+      // interrupts only idle workers.. so others can process their queues
+      workers.foreach(_.stopIfIdle())
+      attemptPoolTermination()
+    }
+
+  override def isShutdown: Boolean = poolState == ShutDown
+
+  override def isTerminated: Boolean = poolState == Terminated
+
+  // Following are auxiliary class and trait definitions
+
+  private sealed trait PoolState extends Ordered[PoolState] {
+    def order: Int
+    override def compare(that: PoolState): Int = this.order compareTo that.order
+  }
+
+  // accepts new tasks and processes tasks that are enqueued
+  private case object Running extends PoolState {
+    override val order: Int = 0
+  }
+
+  // does not accept new tasks, processes tasks that are in the queue
+  private case object ShuttingDown extends PoolState {
+    override def order: Int = 1
+  }
+
+  // does not accept new tasks, does not process tasks in queue
+  private case object ShutDown extends PoolState {
+    override def order: Int = 2
+  }
+
+  // all threads have been stopped, does not process tasks and does not accept new ones
+  private case object Terminated extends PoolState {
+    override def order: Int = 3
+  }
+
+  private final class IdleStrategy(val idleCpuLevel: Int) {
+
+    private val maxSpins = 1100 * idleCpuLevel - 1000
+    private val maxYields = 5 * idleCpuLevel
+    private val minParkPeriodNs = 1
+    private val maxParkPeriodNs = MICROSECONDS.toNanos(280 - 30 * idleCpuLevel)
+
+    private sealed trait State
+    private case object NotIdle extends State
+    private case object Spinning extends State
+    private case object Yielding extends State
+    private case object Parking extends State
+
+    private var state: State = NotIdle
+    private var spins = 0L
+    private var yields = 0L
+    private var parkPeriodNs = 0L
+
+    private val onSpinWaitMethodHandle =
+      try
+        OptionVal.Some(MethodHandles.lookup.findStatic(classOf[Thread], "onSpinWait", methodType(classOf[Unit])))
+      catch {
+        case NonFatal(_) ⇒ OptionVal.None
+      }
+
+    def idle(): Unit = {
+      state match {
+        case NotIdle ⇒
+          state = Spinning
+          spins += 1
+        case Spinning ⇒
+          onSpinWaitMethodHandle match {
+            case OptionVal.Some(m) ⇒ m.invokeExact()
+            case OptionVal.None    ⇒
+          }
+          spins += 1
+          if (spins > maxSpins) {
+            state = Yielding
+            yields = 0
+          }
+        case Yielding ⇒
+          yields += 1
+          if (yields > maxYields) {
+            state = Parking
+            parkPeriodNs = minParkPeriodNs
+          } else Thread.`yield`()
+        case Parking ⇒
+          LockSupport.parkNanos(parkPeriodNs)
+          parkPeriodNs = Math.min(parkPeriodNs << 1, maxParkPeriodNs)
+      }
+    }
+
+    def reset(): Unit = {
+      spins = 0
+      yields = 0
+      state = NotIdle
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  private final class BoundedTaskQueue(capacity: Int) extends AbstractBoundedNodeQueue[Runnable](capacity)
+
+  private final class ThreadPoolWorker(val q: BoundedTaskQueue, val idleStrategy: IdleStrategy) extends Runnable {
+
+    private sealed trait WorkerState
+    private case object NotStarted extends WorkerState
+    private case object InExecution extends WorkerState
+    private case object Idle extends WorkerState
+
+    val thread: Thread = tf.newThread(this)
+    @volatile private var workerState: WorkerState = NotStarted
+
+    def startWorker(): Unit = {
+      workerState = Idle
+      thread.start()
+    }
+
+    private def runCommand(command: Runnable) = {
+      workerState = InExecution
+      try
+        command.run()
+      finally
+        workerState = Idle
+    }
+
+    override def run(): Unit = {
+
+      /**
+       * Determines whether the worker can keep running or not.
+       * In order to continue polling for tasks three conditions
+       * need to be satisfied:
+       *
+       * 1) pool state is less than Shutting down or queue
+       * is not empty (e.g pool state is ShuttingDown but there are still messages to process)
+       *
+       * 2) the thread backing up this worker has not been interrupted
+       *
+       * 3) We are not in ShutDown state (in which we should not be processing any enqueued tasks)
+       */
+      def shouldKeepRunning =
+        (poolState < ShuttingDown || !q.isEmpty) &&
+          !Thread.interrupted() &&
+          poolState != ShutDown
+
+      var abruptTermination = true
+      try {
+        while (shouldKeepRunning) {
+          val c = q.poll()
+          if (c ne null) {
+            runCommand(c)
+            idleStrategy.reset()
+          } else // if not wait for a bit
+            idleStrategy.idle()
+        }
+        abruptTermination = false // if we have reached here, our termination is not due to an exception
+      } finally {
+        onWorkerExit(this, abruptTermination)
+      }
+    }
+
+    def stop() =
+      if (!thread.isInterrupted && workerState != NotStarted)
+        thread.interrupt()
+
+    def stopIfIdle() =
+      if (workerState == Idle)
+        stop()
+  }
+
+}
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi
+@ApiMayChange
+private[akka] final class AffinityPoolConfigurator(config: Config, prerequisites: DispatcherPrerequisites)
+  extends ExecutorServiceConfigurator(config, prerequisites) {
+
+  private final val MaxfairDistributionThreshold = 2048
+
+  private val poolSize = ThreadPoolConfig.scaledPoolSize(
+    config.getInt("parallelism-min"),
+    config.getDouble("parallelism-factor"),
+    config.getInt("parallelism-max"))
+  private val taskQueueSize = config.getInt("task-queue-size")
+
+  private val idleCpuLevel = config.getInt("idle-cpu-level").requiring(level ⇒
+    1 <= level && level <= 10, "idle-cpu-level must be between 1 and 10")
+
+  private val fairDistributionThreshold = config.getInt("fair-work-distribution-threshold").requiring(thr ⇒
+    0 <= thr && thr <= MaxfairDistributionThreshold, s"idle-cpu-level must be between 1 and $MaxfairDistributionThreshold")
+
+  private val rejectionHandlerFCQN = config.getString("rejection-handler-factory")
+
+  private val rejectionHandlerFactory = prerequisites.dynamicAccess
+    .createInstanceFor[RejectionHandlerFactory](rejectionHandlerFCQN, Nil).recover({
+      case exception ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+        s"Cannot instantiate RejectionHandlerFactory (rejection-handler-factory = $rejectionHandlerFCQN),make sure it has an accessible empty constructor",
+        exception)
+    }).get
+
+  override def createExecutorServiceFactory(id: String, threadFactory: ThreadFactory): ExecutorServiceFactory =
+    new ExecutorServiceFactory {
+      override def createExecutorService: ExecutorService =
+        new AffinityPool(poolSize, taskQueueSize, threadFactory, idleCpuLevel, fairDistributionThreshold, rejectionHandlerFactory.create())
+    }
+}
+
+trait RejectionHandler {
+  def reject(command: Runnable, service: ExecutorService)
+}
+
+trait RejectionHandlerFactory {
+  def create(): RejectionHandler
+}
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi
+@ApiMayChange
+private[akka] final class DefaultRejectionHandlerFactory extends RejectionHandlerFactory {
+  private class DefaultRejectionHandler extends RejectionHandler {
+    override def reject(command: Runnable, service: ExecutorService): Unit =
+      throw new RejectedExecutionException(s"Task ${command.toString} rejected from ${service.toString}")
+  }
+  override def create(): RejectionHandler = new DefaultRejectionHandler()
+}
+
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMap.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMap.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8b981c28b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ImmutableIntMap.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2016-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.util
+import java.util.Arrays
+
+import akka.annotation.InternalApi
+
+import scala.annotation.tailrec
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ */
+@InternalApi private[akka] object ImmutableIntMap {
+  val empty: ImmutableIntMap =
+    new ImmutableIntMap(Array.emptyIntArray, Array.empty)
+
+  private final val MaxScanLength = 10
+}
+
+/**
+ * INTERNAL API
+ * Specialized Map for primitive `Int` keys to avoid allocations (boxing).
+ * Keys and values are backed by arrays and lookup is performed with binary
+ * search. It's intended for rather small (<1000) maps.
+ */
+@InternalApi private[akka] final class ImmutableIntMap private (
+  private val keys: Array[Int], private val values: Array[Int]) {
+
+  final val size: Int = keys.length
+
+  /**
+   * Worst case `O(log n)`, allocation free.
+   */
+  def get(key: Int): Int = {
+    val i = Arrays.binarySearch(keys, key)
+    if (i >= 0) values(i)
+    else Int.MinValue // cant use null, cant use OptionVal, other option is to throw an exception...
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Worst case `O(log n)`, allocation free.
+   */
+  def contains(key: Int): Boolean = {
+    Arrays.binarySearch(keys, key) >= 0
+  }
+
+  def updateIfAbsent(key: Int, value: ⇒ Int): ImmutableIntMap = {
+    if (contains(key))
+      this
+    else
+      updated(key, value)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Worst case `O(log n)`, creates new `ImmutableIntMap`
+   * with copies of the internal arrays for the keys and
+   * values.
+   */
+  def updated(key: Int, value: Int): ImmutableIntMap = {
+    if (size == 0)
+      new ImmutableIntMap(Array(key), Array(value))
+    else {
+      val i = Arrays.binarySearch(keys, key)
+      if (i >= 0) {
+        // existing key, replace value
+        val newValues = new Array[Int](values.length)
+        System.arraycopy(values, 0, newValues, 0, values.length)
+        newValues(i) = value
+        new ImmutableIntMap(keys, newValues)
+      } else {
+        // insert the entry at the right position, and keep the arrays sorted
+        val j = -(i + 1)
+        val newKeys = new Array[Int](size + 1)
+        System.arraycopy(keys, 0, newKeys, 0, j)
+        newKeys(j) = key
+        System.arraycopy(keys, j, newKeys, j + 1, keys.length - j)
+
+        val newValues = new Array[Int](size + 1)
+        System.arraycopy(values, 0, newValues, 0, j)
+        newValues(j) = value
+        System.arraycopy(values, j, newValues, j + 1, values.length - j)
+
+        new ImmutableIntMap(newKeys, newValues)
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  def remove(key: Int): ImmutableIntMap = {
+    val i = Arrays.binarySearch(keys, key)
+    if (i >= 0) {
+      if (size == 1)
+        ImmutableIntMap.empty
+      else {
+        val newKeys = new Array[Int](size - 1)
+        System.arraycopy(keys, 0, newKeys, 0, i)
+        System.arraycopy(keys, i + 1, newKeys, i, keys.length - i - 1)
+
+        val newValues = new Array[Int](size - 1)
+        System.arraycopy(values, 0, newValues, 0, i)
+        System.arraycopy(values, i + 1, newValues, i, values.length - i - 1)
+
+        new ImmutableIntMap(newKeys, newValues)
+      }
+    } else
+      this
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * All keys
+   */
+  def keysIterator: Iterator[Int] =
+    keys.iterator
+
+  override def toString: String =
+    keysIterator.map(key ⇒ s"$key -> ${get(key)}").mkString("ImmutableIntMap(", ", ", ")")
+
+  override def hashCode: Int = {
+    var result = HashCode.SEED
+    result = HashCode.hash(result, keys)
+    result = HashCode.hash(result, values)
+    result
+  }
+
+  override def equals(obj: Any): Boolean = obj match {
+    case other: ImmutableIntMap ⇒
+      if (other eq this) true
+      else if (size != other.size) false
+      else if (size == 0 && other.size == 0) true
+      else {
+        @tailrec def check(i: Int): Boolean = {
+          if (i < 0) true
+          else if (keys(i) == other.keys(i) && values(i) == other.values(i))
+            check(i - 1) // recur, next elem
+          else false
+        }
+        check(size - 1)
+      }
+    case _ ⇒ false
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84e9d64c93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+
+import akka.actor.BenchmarkActors._
+import akka.actor.ForkJoinActorBenchmark.cores
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations._
+
+@State(Scope.Benchmark)
+@BenchmarkMode(Array(Mode.Throughput))
+@Fork(1)
+@Threads(1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 10, time = 5, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+@Measurement(iterations = 10, time = 15, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+class AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark {
+
+  @Param(Array("1"))
+  var throughPut = 0
+
+  @Param(Array("affinity-dispatcher", "default-fj-dispatcher", "fixed-size-dispatcher"))
+  var dispatcher = ""
+
+  @Param(Array("SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox")) //"default"
+  var mailbox = ""
+
+  final val numThreads, numActors = 8
+  final val numMessagesPerActorPair = 2000000
+  final val totalNumberOfMessages = numMessagesPerActorPair * (numActors / 2)
+
+  implicit var system: ActorSystem = _
+
+  @Setup(Level.Trial)
+  def setup(): Unit = {
+
+    requireRightNumberOfCores(cores)
+
+    val mailboxConf = mailbox match {
+      case "default" => ""
+      case "SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox" =>
+        s"""default-mailbox.mailbox-type = "${classOf[akka.dispatch.SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox].getName}""""
+    }
+
+    system = ActorSystem("AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+      s"""| akka {
+          |   log-dead-letters = off
+          |   actor {
+          |     default-fj-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "fork-join-executor"
+          |       fork-join-executor {
+          |         parallelism-min = $numThreads
+          |         parallelism-factor = 1.0
+          |         parallelism-max = $numThreads
+          |       }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |
+          |     fixed-size-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "thread-pool-executor"
+          |       thread-pool-executor {
+          |         fixed-pool-size = $numThreads
+          |     }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |
+          |     affinity-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "affinity-pool-executor"
+          |       affinity-pool-executor {
+          |         parallelism-min = $numThreads
+          |         parallelism-factor = 1.0
+          |         parallelism-max = $numThreads
+          |         task-queue-size = 512
+          |         idle-cpu-level = 5
+          |         fair-work-distribution-threshold = 2048
+          |     }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |     $mailboxConf
+          |   }
+          | }
+      """.stripMargin
+    ))
+  }
+
+  @TearDown(Level.Trial)
+  def shutdown(): Unit = tearDownSystem()
+
+  @Benchmark
+  @OperationsPerInvocation(totalNumberOfMessages)
+  def pingPong(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(numMessagesPerActorPair, numActors, dispatcher, throughPut, timeout)
+}
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolIdleCPULevelBenchmark.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolIdleCPULevelBenchmark.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e264a4f45b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolIdleCPULevelBenchmark.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+
+import akka.actor.BenchmarkActors._
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations._
+
+@State(Scope.Benchmark)
+@BenchmarkMode(Array(Mode.Throughput))
+@Fork(1)
+@Threads(1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 10, time = 5, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+@Measurement(iterations = 10, time = 15, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+class AffinityPoolIdleCPULevelBenchmark {
+
+  final val numThreads, numActors = 8
+  final val numMessagesPerActorPair = 2000000
+  final val totalNumberOfMessages = numMessagesPerActorPair * (numActors / 2)
+
+  implicit var system: ActorSystem = _
+
+  @Param(Array("1", "3", "5", "7", "10"))
+  var idleCPULevel = ""
+
+  @Param(Array("25"))
+  var throughPut = 0
+
+  @Setup(Level.Trial)
+  def setup(): Unit = {
+
+    requireRightNumberOfCores(numThreads)
+
+    system = ActorSystem("AffinityPoolWaitingStrategyBenchmark", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+      s""" | akka {
+         |   log-dead-letters = off
+         |   actor {
+         |     affinity-dispatcher {
+         |       executor = "affinity-pool-executor"
+         |       affinity-pool-executor {
+         |         parallelism-min = $numThreads
+         |         parallelism-factor = 1.0
+         |         parallelism-max = $numThreads
+         |         task-queue-size = 512
+         |         idle-cpu-level = $idleCPULevel
+         |         fair-work-distribution-threshold = 2048
+         |     }
+         |     throughput = $throughPut
+         |    }
+         |
+         |   }
+         | }
+      """.stripMargin
+    ))
+  }
+
+  @TearDown(Level.Trial)
+  def shutdown(): Unit = tearDownSystem()
+
+  @Benchmark
+  @OutputTimeUnit(TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS)
+  @OperationsPerInvocation(8000000)
+  def pingPong(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(numMessagesPerActorPair, numActors, "affinity-dispatcher", throughPut, timeout)
+
+}
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolRequestResponseBenchmark.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolRequestResponseBenchmark.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dc8df65d04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/AffinityPoolRequestResponseBenchmark.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.util.concurrent.{ CountDownLatch, TimeUnit }
+
+import akka.actor.BenchmarkActors._
+import akka.actor.ForkJoinActorBenchmark.cores
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations._
+
+@State(Scope.Benchmark)
+@BenchmarkMode(Array(Mode.Throughput))
+@Fork(1)
+@Threads(1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 10, time = 15, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+@Measurement(iterations = 10, time = 20, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
+class AffinityPoolRequestResponseBenchmark {
+
+  @Param(Array("1", "5", "50"))
+  var throughPut = 0
+
+  @Param(Array("affinity-dispatcher", "default-fj-dispatcher", "fixed-size-dispatcher"))
+  var dispatcher = ""
+
+  @Param(Array("SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox")) //"default"
+  var mailbox = ""
+
+  final val numThreads, numActors = 8
+  final val numQueriesPerActor = 400000
+  final val totalNumberOfMessages = numQueriesPerActor * numActors
+  final val numUsersInDB = 300000
+
+  implicit var system: ActorSystem = _
+
+  var actors: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = null
+  var latch: CountDownLatch = null
+
+  @Setup(Level.Trial)
+  def setup(): Unit = {
+
+    requireRightNumberOfCores(cores)
+
+    val mailboxConf = mailbox match {
+      case "default" => ""
+      case "SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox" =>
+        s"""default-mailbox.mailbox-type = "${classOf[akka.dispatch.SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox].getName}""""
+    }
+
+    system = ActorSystem("AffinityPoolComparativeBenchmark", ConfigFactory.parseString(
+      s"""| akka {
+          |   log-dead-letters = off
+          |   actor {
+          |     default-fj-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "fork-join-executor"
+          |       fork-join-executor {
+          |         parallelism-min = $numThreads
+          |         parallelism-factor = 1.0
+          |         parallelism-max = $numThreads
+          |       }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |
+          |     fixed-size-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "thread-pool-executor"
+          |       thread-pool-executor {
+          |         fixed-pool-size = $numThreads
+          |     }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |
+          |     affinity-dispatcher {
+          |       executor = "affinity-pool-executor"
+          |       affinity-pool-executor {
+          |         parallelism-min = $numThreads
+          |         parallelism-factor = 1.0
+          |         parallelism-max = $numThreads
+          |         task-queue-size = 512
+          |         idle-cpu-level = 5
+          |         fair-work-distribution-threshold = 2048
+          |     }
+          |       throughput = $throughPut
+          |     }
+          |     $mailboxConf
+          |   }
+          | }
+      """.stripMargin
+    ))
+  }
+
+  @TearDown(Level.Trial)
+  def shutdown(): Unit = tearDownSystem()
+
+  @Setup(Level.Invocation)
+  def setupActors(): Unit = {
+    val (_actors, _latch) = RequestResponseActors.startUserQueryActorPairs(numActors, numQueriesPerActor, numUsersInDB, dispatcher)
+    actors = _actors
+    latch = _latch
+  }
+
+  @Benchmark
+  @OperationsPerInvocation(totalNumberOfMessages)
+  def queryUserServiceActor(): Unit = {
+    val startNanoTime = System.nanoTime()
+    RequestResponseActors.initiateQuerySimulation(actors, throughPut * 2)
+    latch.await(BenchmarkActors.timeout.toSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+    BenchmarkActors.printProgress(totalNumberOfMessages, numActors, startNanoTime)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/BenchmarkActors.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/BenchmarkActors.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..618ae35868
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/BenchmarkActors.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.util.concurrent.{ CountDownLatch, TimeUnit }
+
+import scala.concurrent.Await
+import scala.concurrent.duration.Duration
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
+
+object BenchmarkActors {
+
+  val timeout = 30.seconds
+
+  case object Message
+  case object Stop
+
+  class PingPong(val messages: Int, latch: CountDownLatch) extends Actor {
+    var left = messages / 2
+    def receive = {
+      case Message =>
+
+        if (left == 0) {
+          latch.countDown()
+          context stop self
+        }
+
+        sender() ! Message
+        left -= 1
+    }
+  }
+
+  object PingPong {
+    def props(messages: Int, latch: CountDownLatch) = Props(new PingPong(messages, latch))
+  }
+
+  class Pipe(next: Option[ActorRef]) extends Actor {
+    def receive = {
+      case Message =>
+        if (next.isDefined) next.get forward Message
+      case Stop =>
+        context stop self
+        if (next.isDefined) next.get forward Stop
+    }
+  }
+
+  object Pipe {
+    def props(next: Option[ActorRef]) = Props(new Pipe(next))
+  }
+
+  private def startPingPongActorPairs(messagesPerPair: Int, numPairs: Int, dispatcher: String)(implicit system: ActorSystem) = {
+    val fullPathToDispatcher = "akka.actor." + dispatcher
+    val latch = new CountDownLatch(numPairs * 2)
+    val actors = for {
+      i <- (1 to numPairs).toVector
+    } yield {
+      val ping = system.actorOf(PingPong.props(messagesPerPair, latch).withDispatcher(fullPathToDispatcher))
+      val pong = system.actorOf(PingPong.props(messagesPerPair, latch).withDispatcher(fullPathToDispatcher))
+      (ping, pong)
+    }
+    (actors, latch)
+  }
+
+  private def initiatePingPongForPairs(refs: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)], inFlight: Int) = {
+    for {
+      (ping, pong) <- refs
+      _ <- 1 to inFlight
+    } {
+      ping.tell(Message, pong)
+    }
+  }
+
+  def printProgress(totalMessages: Long, numActors: Int, startNanoTime: Long) = {
+    val durationMicros = (System.nanoTime() - startNanoTime) / 1000
+    println(f"  $totalMessages messages by $numActors actors took ${durationMicros / 1000} ms, " +
+      f"${totalMessages.toDouble / durationMicros}%,.2f M msg/s")
+  }
+
+  def requireRightNumberOfCores(numCores: Int) =
+    require(
+      Runtime.getRuntime.availableProcessors == numCores,
+      s"Update the cores constant to ${Runtime.getRuntime.availableProcessors}"
+    )
+
+  def benchmarkPingPongActors(numMessagesPerActorPair: Int, numActors: Int, dispatcher: String, throughPut: Int, shutdownTimeout: Duration)(implicit system: ActorSystem): Unit = {
+    val numPairs = numActors / 2
+    val totalNumMessages = numPairs * numMessagesPerActorPair
+    val (actors, latch) = startPingPongActorPairs(numMessagesPerActorPair, numPairs, dispatcher)
+    val startNanoTime = System.nanoTime()
+    initiatePingPongForPairs(actors, inFlight = throughPut * 2)
+    latch.await(shutdownTimeout.toSeconds, TimeUnit.SECONDS)
+    printProgress(totalNumMessages, numActors, startNanoTime)
+  }
+
+  def tearDownSystem()(implicit system: ActorSystem): Unit = {
+    system.terminate()
+    Await.ready(system.whenTerminated, timeout)
+  }
+
+}
+
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ForkJoinActorBenchmark.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ForkJoinActorBenchmark.scala
index ca8f5529a9..93f1d1d1a5 100644
--- a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ForkJoinActorBenchmark.scala
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ForkJoinActorBenchmark.scala
@@ -6,46 +6,61 @@ package akka.actor
 import akka.testkit.TestProbe
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations._
-import scala.concurrent.duration._
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
 import scala.concurrent.Await
 import scala.annotation.tailrec
+import BenchmarkActors._
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
 
 @State(Scope.Benchmark)
 @BenchmarkMode(Array(Mode.Throughput))
 @Fork(1)
 @Threads(1)
 @Warmup(iterations = 10, time = 5, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
-@Measurement(iterations = 20)
+@Measurement(iterations = 10, time = 15, timeUnit = TimeUnit.SECONDS, batchSize = 1)
 class ForkJoinActorBenchmark {
   import ForkJoinActorBenchmark._
 
-  @Param(Array("5"))
+  @Param(Array("5", "25", "50"))
   var tpt = 0
 
-  @Param(Array("1"))
+  @Param(Array(coresStr)) // coresStr, cores2xStr, cores4xStr
   var threads = ""
 
+  @Param(Array("SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox")) //"default"
+  var mailbox = ""
+
   implicit var system: ActorSystem = _
 
   @Setup(Level.Trial)
   def setup(): Unit = {
+
+    requireRightNumberOfCores(cores)
+
+    val mailboxConf = mailbox match {
+      case "default" => ""
+      case "SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox" =>
+        s"""default-mailbox.mailbox-type = "${classOf[akka.dispatch.SingleConsumerOnlyUnboundedMailbox].getName}""""
+    }
+
     system = ActorSystem("ForkJoinActorBenchmark", ConfigFactory.parseString(
-      s"""| akka {
-        |   log-dead-letters = off
-        |   actor {
-        |     default-dispatcher {
-        |       executor = "fork-join-executor"
-        |       fork-join-executor {
-        |         parallelism-min = 1
-        |         parallelism-factor = $threads
-        |         parallelism-max = 64
-        |       }
-        |       throughput = $tpt
-        |     }
-        |   }
-        | }
-      """.stripMargin
+      s"""
+        akka {
+          log-dead-letters = off
+           actor {
+             default-dispatcher {
+               executor = "fork-join-executor"
+               fork-join-executor {
+                 parallelism-min = $threads
+                 parallelism-factor = 1
+                 parallelism-max = $threads
+               }
+               throughput = $tpt
+             }
+             $mailboxConf
+           }
+         }
+      """
     ))
   }
 
@@ -55,110 +70,31 @@ class ForkJoinActorBenchmark {
     Await.ready(system.whenTerminated, 15.seconds)
   }
 
-  var pingPongActors: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = null
-  var pingPongLessActorsThanCoresActors: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = null
-  var pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCoresActors: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = null
-  var pingPongMoreActorsThanCoresActors: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = null
-
-  @Setup(Level.Invocation)
-  def setupActors(): Unit = {
-    pingPongActors = startActors(1)
-    pingPongLessActorsThanCoresActors = startActors(lessThanCoresActorPairs)
-    pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCoresActors = startActors(cores / 2)
-    pingPongMoreActorsThanCoresActors = startActors(moreThanCoresActorPairs)
-  }
-
-  @TearDown(Level.Invocation)
-  def tearDownActors(): Unit = {
-    stopActors(pingPongActors)
-    stopActors(pingPongLessActorsThanCoresActors)
-    stopActors(pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCoresActors)
-    stopActors(pingPongMoreActorsThanCoresActors)
-  }
-
-  def startActors(n: Int): Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)] = {
-    for {
-      i <- (1 to n).toVector
-    } yield {
-      val ping = system.actorOf(Props[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.PingPong])
-      val pong = system.actorOf(Props[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.PingPong])
-      (ping, pong)
-    }
-  }
-
-  def stopActors(refs: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)]): Unit = {
-    if (refs ne null) {
-      refs.foreach {
-        case (ping, pong) =>
-          system.stop(ping)
-          system.stop(pong)
-      }
-      awaitTerminated(refs)
-    }
-  }
-
-  def awaitTerminated(refs: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)]): Unit = {
-    if (refs ne null) refs.foreach {
-      case (ping, pong) =>
-        val p = TestProbe()
-        p.watch(ping)
-        p.expectTerminated(ping, timeout)
-        p.watch(pong)
-        p.expectTerminated(pong, timeout)
-    }
-  }
-
-  def sendMessage(refs: Vector[(ActorRef, ActorRef)], inFlight: Int): Unit = {
-    for {
-      (ping, pong) <- refs
-      _ <- 1 to inFlight
-    } {
-      ping.tell(Message, pong)
-    }
-  }
+  @Benchmark
+  @OperationsPerInvocation(totalMessagesTwoActors)
+  def pingPong(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(messages, twoActors, "default-dispatcher", tpt, timeout)
 
   @Benchmark
-  @Measurement(timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
-  @OperationsPerInvocation(messages)
-  def pingPong(): Unit = {
-    // only one message in flight
-    sendMessage(pingPongActors, inFlight = 1)
-    awaitTerminated(pingPongActors)
-  }
-
-  @Benchmark
-  @Measurement(timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
   @OperationsPerInvocation(totalMessagesLessThanCores)
-  def pingPongLessActorsThanCores(): Unit = {
-    sendMessage(pingPongLessActorsThanCoresActors, inFlight = 2 * tpt)
-    awaitTerminated(pingPongLessActorsThanCoresActors)
-  }
+  def pingPongLessActorsThanCores(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(messages, lessThanCoresActors, "default-dispatcher", tpt, timeout)
 
   @Benchmark
-  @Measurement(timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
   @OperationsPerInvocation(totalMessagesSameAsCores)
-  def pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCores(): Unit = {
-    sendMessage(pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCoresActors, inFlight = 2 * tpt)
-    awaitTerminated(pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCoresActors)
-  }
+  def pingPongSameNumberOfActorsAsCores(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(messages, sameAsCoresActors, "default-dispatcher", tpt, timeout)
 
   @Benchmark
-  @Measurement(timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
   @OperationsPerInvocation(totalMessagesMoreThanCores)
-  def pingPongMoreActorsThanCores(): Unit = {
-    sendMessage(pingPongMoreActorsThanCoresActors, inFlight = 2 * tpt)
-    awaitTerminated(pingPongMoreActorsThanCoresActors)
-  }
+  def pingPongMoreActorsThanCores(): Unit = benchmarkPingPongActors(messages, moreThanCoresActors, "default-dispatcher", tpt, timeout)
 
   //  @Benchmark
   //  @Measurement(timeUnit = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
   //  @OperationsPerInvocation(messages)
   def floodPipe(): Unit = {
 
-    val end = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.Pipe], None))
-    val middle = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.Pipe], Some(end)))
-    val penultimate = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.Pipe], Some(middle)))
-    val beginning = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[ForkJoinActorBenchmark.Pipe], Some(penultimate)))
+    val end = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[Pipe], None))
+    val middle = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[Pipe], Some(end)))
+    val penultimate = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[Pipe], Some(middle)))
+    val beginning = system.actorOf(Props(classOf[Pipe], Some(penultimate)))
 
     val p = TestProbe()
     p.watch(end)
@@ -178,39 +114,23 @@ class ForkJoinActorBenchmark {
 }
 
 object ForkJoinActorBenchmark {
-  case object Stop
-  case object Message
-  final val timeout = 15.seconds
-  final val messages = 400000
+  final val messages = 2000000 // messages per actor pair
 
+  // Constants because they are used in annotations
   // update according to cpu
   final val cores = 8
-  // 2 actors per
-  final val moreThanCoresActorPairs = cores * 2
-  final val lessThanCoresActorPairs = (cores / 2) - 1
-  final val totalMessagesMoreThanCores = moreThanCoresActorPairs * messages
-  final val totalMessagesLessThanCores = lessThanCoresActorPairs * messages
-  final val totalMessagesSameAsCores = cores * messages
+  final val coresStr = "8"
+  final val cores2xStr = "16"
+  final val cores4xStr = "24"
 
-  class Pipe(next: Option[ActorRef]) extends Actor {
-    def receive = {
-      case Message =>
-        if (next.isDefined) next.get forward Message
-      case Stop =>
-        context stop self
-        if (next.isDefined) next.get forward Stop
-    }
-  }
-  class PingPong extends Actor {
-    var left = messages / 2
-    def receive = {
-      case Message =>
+  final val twoActors = 2
+  final val moreThanCoresActors = cores * 2
+  final val lessThanCoresActors = cores / 2
+  final val sameAsCoresActors = cores
 
-        if (left <= 1)
-          context stop self
+  final val totalMessagesTwoActors = messages
+  final val totalMessagesMoreThanCores = (moreThanCoresActors * messages) / 2
+  final val totalMessagesLessThanCores = (lessThanCoresActors * messages) / 2
+  final val totalMessagesSameAsCores = (sameAsCoresActors * messages) / 2
 
-        sender() ! Message
-        left -= 1
-    }
-  }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/RequestResponseActors.scala b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/RequestResponseActors.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dd7e0f8e41
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-bench-jmh/src/main/scala/akka/actor/RequestResponseActors.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2014-2017 Lightbend Inc. <http://www.lightbend.com>
+ */
+package akka.actor
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch
+
+import scala.collection.mutable
+import scala.util.Random
+
+object RequestResponseActors {
+
+  case class Request(userId: Int)
+  case class User(userId: Int, firstName: String, lastName: String, ssn: Int, friends: Seq[Int])
+
+  class UserQueryActor(latch: CountDownLatch, numQueries: Int, numUsersInDB: Int) extends Actor {
+
+    private var left = numQueries
+    private val receivedUsers: mutable.Map[Int, User] = mutable.Map()
+    private val randGenerator = new Random()
+
+    override def receive: Receive = {
+      case u: User => {
+        receivedUsers.put(u.userId, u)
+        if (left == 0) {
+          latch.countDown()
+          context stop self
+        } else {
+          sender() ! Request(randGenerator.nextInt(numUsersInDB))
+        }
+        left -= 1
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  object UserQueryActor {
+    def props(latch: CountDownLatch, numQueries: Int, numUsersInDB: Int) = {
+      Props(new UserQueryActor(latch, numQueries, numUsersInDB))
+    }
+  }
+
+  class UserServiceActor(userDb: Map[Int, User], latch: CountDownLatch, numQueries: Int) extends Actor {
+    private var left = numQueries
+    def receive = {
+      case Request(id) =>
+        userDb.get(id) match {
+          case Some(u) => sender() ! u
+          case None =>
+        }
+        if (left == 0) {
+          latch.countDown()
+          context stop self
+        }
+        left -= 1
+    }
+
+  }
+
+  object UserServiceActor {
+    def props(latch: CountDownLatch, numQueries: Int, numUsersInDB: Int) = {
+      val r = new Random()
+      val users = for {
+        id <- 0 until numUsersInDB
+        firstName = r.nextString(5)
+        lastName = r.nextString(7)
+        ssn = r.nextInt()
+        friendIds = for { _ <- 0 until 5 } yield r.nextInt(numUsersInDB)
+      } yield id -> User(id, firstName, lastName, ssn, friendIds)
+      Props(new UserServiceActor(users.toMap, latch, numQueries))
+    }
+  }
+
+  def startUserQueryActorPairs(numActors: Int, numQueriesPerActor: Int, numUsersInDBPerActor: Int, dispatcher: String)(implicit system: ActorSystem) = {
+    val fullPathToDispatcher = "akka.actor." + dispatcher
+    val latch = new CountDownLatch(numActors)
+    val actorsPairs = for {
+      i <- (1 to (numActors / 2)).toVector
+      userQueryActor = system.actorOf(UserQueryActor.props(latch, numQueriesPerActor, numUsersInDBPerActor).withDispatcher(fullPathToDispatcher))
+      userServiceActor = system.actorOf(UserServiceActor.props(latch, numQueriesPerActor, numUsersInDBPerActor).withDispatcher(fullPathToDispatcher))
+    } yield (userQueryActor, userServiceActor)
+    (actorsPairs, latch)
+  }
+
+  def initiateQuerySimulation(requestResponseActorPairs: Seq[(ActorRef, ActorRef)], inFlight: Int) = {
+    for {
+      (queryActor, serviceActor) <- requestResponseActorPairs
+      i <- 1 to inFlight
+    } {
+      serviceActor.tell(Request(i), queryActor)
+    }
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/akka-docs/src/main/paradox/scala/dispatchers.md b/akka-docs/src/main/paradox/scala/dispatchers.md
index 4931946d6d..2741175c3b 100644
--- a/akka-docs/src/main/paradox/scala/dispatchers.md
+++ b/akka-docs/src/main/paradox/scala/dispatchers.md
@@ -143,6 +143,13 @@ Another example that uses the thread pool based on the number of cores (e.g. for
 <!--same config text for Scala & Java-->
 @@snip [DispatcherDocSpec.scala]($code$/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala) {#my-thread-pool-dispatcher-config }
 
+A different kind of dispatcher that uses an affinity pool may increase throughput in cases where there is relatively small
+number of actors that maintain some internal state. The affinity pool tries its best to ensure that an actor is always
+scheduled to run on the same thread. This actor to thread pinning aims to decrease CPU cache misses which can result 
+in significant throughput improvement.
+
+@@snip [DispatcherDocSpec.scala]($code$/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala) { #affinity-pool-dispatcher-config }
+
 Configuring a `PinnedDispatcher`:
 
 <!--same config text for Scala & Java-->
diff --git a/akka-docs/src/test/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala b/akka-docs/src/test/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala
index 0e71951987..7af5de2967 100644
--- a/akka-docs/src/test/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/src/test/scala/docs/dispatcher/DispatcherDocSpec.scala
@@ -92,6 +92,28 @@ object DispatcherDocSpec {
     }
     //#my-thread-pool-dispatcher-config
 
+    //#affinity-pool-dispatcher-config
+    affinity-pool-dispatcher {
+      # Dispatcher is the name of the event-based dispatcher
+      type = Dispatcher
+      # What kind of ExecutionService to use
+      executor = "affinity-pool-executor"
+      # Configuration for the thread pool
+      affinity-pool-executor {
+        # Min number of threads to cap factor-based parallelism number to
+        parallelism-min = 8
+        # Parallelism (threads) ... ceil(available processors * factor)
+        parallelism-factor = 1
+        # Max number of threads to cap factor-based parallelism number to
+        parallelism-max = 16
+      }
+      # Throughput defines the maximum number of messages to be
+      # processed per actor before the thread jumps to the next actor.
+      # Set to 1 for as fair as possible.
+      throughput = 100
+    }
+    //#affinity-pool-dispatcher-config    
+
     //#fixed-pool-size-dispatcher-config
     blocking-io-dispatcher {
       type = Dispatcher
@@ -294,6 +316,14 @@ class DispatcherDocSpec extends AkkaSpec(DispatcherDocSpec.config) {
     //#defining-pinned-dispatcher
   }
 
+  "defining affinity-pool dispatcher" in {
+    val context = system
+    //#defining-affinity-pool-dispatcher
+    val myActor =
+      context.actorOf(Props[MyActor].withDispatcher("affinity-pool-dispatcher"), "myactor4")
+    //#defining-affinity-pool-dispatcher
+  }
+
   "looking up a dispatcher" in {
     //#lookup
     // for use with Futures, Scheduler, etc.
diff --git a/project/Dependencies.scala b/project/Dependencies.scala
index d985fa4457..f0b27cd551 100644
--- a/project/Dependencies.scala
+++ b/project/Dependencies.scala
@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ object Dependencies {
 
     val aeronDriver = "io.aeron"                      % "aeron-driver"                 % aeronVersion       // ApacheV2
     val aeronClient = "io.aeron"                      % "aeron-client"                 % aeronVersion       // ApacheV2
-
     object Docs {
       val sprayJson   = "io.spray"                   %%  "spray-json"                  % "1.3.3"             % "test"
       val gson        = "com.google.code.gson"        % "gson"                         % "2.8.0"             % "test"