diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorLookupSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorLookupSpec.scala
index 3d4f61caa1..626e413ec8 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorLookupSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorLookupSpec.scala
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import akka.testkit._
 import akka.util.duration._
 import akka.dispatch.Await
 import akka.pattern.ask
+import java.net.MalformedURLException
 
 object ActorLookupSpec {
 
@@ -46,9 +47,10 @@ class ActorLookupSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout {
   val syst = sysImpl.systemGuardian
   val root = sysImpl.lookupRoot
 
-  def empty(path: String) = new EmptyLocalActorRef(system.eventStream, sysImpl.provider, system.dispatcher, path match {
-    case RelativeActorPath(elems) ⇒ system.actorFor("/").path / elems
-  })
+  def empty(path: String) =
+    new EmptyLocalActorRef(sysImpl.provider, path match {
+      case RelativeActorPath(elems) ⇒ system.actorFor("/").path / elems
+    }, system.eventStream)
 
   "An ActorSystem" must {
 
@@ -286,4 +288,25 @@ class ActorLookupSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout {
 
   }
 
+  "An ActorPath" must {
+
+    "support parsing its String rep" in {
+      val path = system.actorFor("user").path
+      ActorPath.fromString(path.toString) must be(path)
+    }
+
+    "support parsing remote paths" in {
+      val remote = "akka://sys@host:1234/some/ref"
+      ActorPath.fromString(remote).toString must be(remote)
+    }
+
+    "throw exception upon malformed paths" in {
+      intercept[MalformedURLException] { ActorPath.fromString("") }
+      intercept[MalformedURLException] { ActorPath.fromString("://hallo") }
+      intercept[MalformedURLException] { ActorPath.fromString("s://dd@:12") }
+      intercept[MalformedURLException] { ActorPath.fromString("s://dd@h:hd") }
+    }
+
+  }
+
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefSpec.scala
index a4dbb4d1cb..a2c3c7da5a 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefSpec.scala
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ class ActorRefSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout {
 
       val sysImpl = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl]
       val addr = sysImpl.provider.rootPath.address
-      val serialized = SerializedActorRef(addr + "/non-existing")
+      val serialized = SerializedActorRef(RootActorPath(addr, "/non-existing"))
 
       out.writeObject(serialized)
 
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ class ActorRefSpec extends AkkaSpec with DefaultTimeout {
 
       Serialization.currentSystem.withValue(sysImpl) {
         val in = new ObjectInputStream(new ByteArrayInputStream(baos.toByteArray))
-        in.readObject must be === new EmptyLocalActorRef(system.eventStream, sysImpl.provider, system.dispatcher, system.actorFor("/").path / "non-existing")
+        in.readObject must be === new EmptyLocalActorRef(sysImpl.provider, system.actorFor("/").path / "non-existing", system.eventStream)
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorPath.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorPath.scala
index d0f0d8154b..5ba0ae4600 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorPath.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorPath.scala
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  */
 package akka.actor
 import scala.annotation.tailrec
+import java.net.MalformedURLException
 
 object ActorPath {
   def split(s: String): List[String] = {
@@ -16,6 +17,11 @@ object ActorPath {
     rec(s.length, Nil)
   }
 
+  def fromString(s: String): ActorPath = s match {
+    case ActorPathExtractor(addr, elems) ⇒ RootActorPath(addr) / elems
+    case _                               ⇒ throw new MalformedURLException("cannot parse as ActorPath: " + s)
+  }
+
   val ElementRegex = """[-\w:@&=+,.!~*'_;][-\w:@&=+,.!~*'$_;]*""".r
 }
 
@@ -87,6 +93,12 @@ sealed trait ActorPath extends Comparable[ActorPath] with Serializable {
    */
   def root: RootActorPath
 
+  /**
+   * Generate String representation, replacing the Address in the RootActor
+   * Path with the given one unless this path’s address includes host and port
+   * information.
+   */
+  def toStringWithAddress(address: Address): String
 }
 
 /**
@@ -105,6 +117,10 @@ final case class RootActorPath(address: Address, name: String = "/") extends Act
 
   override val toString = address + name
 
+  def toStringWithAddress(addr: Address): String =
+    if (address.host.isDefined) address + name
+    else addr + name
+
   def compareTo(other: ActorPath) = other match {
     case r: RootActorPath  ⇒ toString compareTo r.toString
     case c: ChildActorPath ⇒ 1
@@ -151,6 +167,15 @@ final class ChildActorPath(val parent: ActorPath, val name: String) extends Acto
     rec(parent, new StringBuilder(32).append(name)).toString
   }
 
+  override def toStringWithAddress(addr: Address) = {
+    @tailrec
+    def rec(p: ActorPath, s: StringBuilder): StringBuilder = p match {
+      case r: RootActorPath ⇒ s.insert(0, r.toStringWithAddress(addr))
+      case _                ⇒ rec(p.parent, s.insert(0, '/').insert(0, p.name))
+    }
+    rec(parent, new StringBuilder(32).append(name)).toString
+  }
+
   override def equals(other: Any): Boolean = {
     @tailrec
     def rec(left: ActorPath, right: ActorPath): Boolean =
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
index fa6c9962e7..753adaa9fa 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRef.scala
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ private[akka] abstract class InternalActorRef extends ActorRef with ScalaActorRe
  * This is an internal look-up failure token, not useful for anything else.
  */
 private[akka] case object Nobody extends MinimalActorRef {
-  val path = new RootActorPath(new LocalAddress("all-systems"), "/Nobody")
+  val path = new RootActorPath(Address("akka", "all-systems"), "/Nobody")
   def provider = throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Nobody does not provide")
 }
 
@@ -329,13 +329,13 @@ private[akka] class LocalActorRef private[akka] (
   def restart(cause: Throwable): Unit = actorCell.restart(cause)
 
   @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
-  protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path.toString)
+  protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path)
 }
 
 /**
  * Memento pattern for serializing ActorRefs transparently
  */
-case class SerializedActorRef(path: String) {
+case class SerializedActorRef private (path: String) {
   import akka.serialization.Serialization.currentSystem
 
   @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
@@ -349,6 +349,15 @@ case class SerializedActorRef(path: String) {
   }
 }
 
+object SerializedActorRef {
+  def apply(path: ActorPath): SerializedActorRef = {
+    Serialization.currentTransportAddress.value match {
+      case null ⇒ new SerializedActorRef(path.toString)
+      case addr ⇒ new SerializedActorRef(path.toStringWithAddress(addr))
+    }
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Trait for ActorRef implementations where all methods contain default stubs.
  */
@@ -375,7 +384,7 @@ private[akka] trait MinimalActorRef extends InternalActorRef with LocalRef {
   def restart(cause: Throwable): Unit = ()
 
   @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
-  protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path.toString)
+  protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path)
 }
 
 private[akka] object MinimalActorRef {
@@ -398,57 +407,39 @@ private[akka] object DeadLetterActorRef {
   val serialized = new SerializedDeadLetterActorRef
 }
 
-private[akka] trait DeadLetterActorRefLike extends MinimalActorRef {
-
-  def eventStream: EventStream
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _path: ActorPath = _
-  def path: ActorPath = {
-    assert(_path != null)
-    _path
-  }
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _provider: ActorRefProvider = _
-  def provider = _provider
-
-  private[akka] def init(provider: ActorRefProvider, path: ActorPath) {
-    _path = path
-    _provider = provider
-  }
-
-  override def isTerminated(): Boolean = true
-
-  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = this): Unit = message match {
-    case d: DeadLetter ⇒ eventStream.publish(d)
-    case _             ⇒ eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(message, sender, this))
-  }
-}
-
-private[akka] class DeadLetterActorRef(val eventStream: EventStream) extends DeadLetterActorRefLike {
-  @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
-  override protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = DeadLetterActorRef.serialized
-}
-
 /**
  * This special dead letter reference has a name: it is that which is returned
  * by a local look-up which is unsuccessful.
  */
 private[akka] class EmptyLocalActorRef(
-  val eventStream: EventStream,
-  _provider: ActorRefProvider,
-  _dispatcher: MessageDispatcher,
-  _path: ActorPath) extends DeadLetterActorRefLike {
+  val provider: ActorRefProvider,
+  val path: ActorPath,
+  val eventStream: EventStream) extends MinimalActorRef {
 
-  init(_provider, _path)
+  override def isTerminated(): Boolean = true
 
   override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = message match {
-    case d: DeadLetter ⇒ // do NOT form endless loops
+    case d: DeadLetter ⇒ // do NOT form endless loops, since deadLetters will resend!
     case _             ⇒ eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(message, sender, this))
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Internal implementation of the dead letter destination: will publish any
+ * received message to the eventStream, wrapped as [[akka.actor.DeadLetter]].
+ */
+private[akka] class DeadLetterActorRef(_provider: ActorRefProvider, _path: ActorPath, _eventStream: EventStream)
+  extends EmptyLocalActorRef(_provider, _path, _eventStream) {
+
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = this): Unit = message match {
+    case d: DeadLetter ⇒ eventStream.publish(d)
+    case _             ⇒ eventStream.publish(DeadLetter(message, sender, this))
+  }
+
+  @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
+  override protected def writeReplace(): AnyRef = DeadLetterActorRef.serialized
+}
+
 /**
  * Internal implementation detail used for paths like “/temp”
  */
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
index a7e9a2163e..56c3389072 100755
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -33,11 +33,22 @@ trait ActorRefProvider {
    */
   def systemGuardian: InternalActorRef
 
+  /**
+   * Dead letter destination for this provider.
+   */
+  def deadLetters: ActorRef
+
   /**
    * Reference to the death watch service.
    */
   def deathWatch: DeathWatch
 
+  /**
+   * Care-taker of actor refs which await final termination but cannot be kept
+   * in their parent’s children list because the name shall be freed.
+   */
+  def locker: Locker
+
   /**
    * The root path for all actors within this actor system, including remote
    * address if enabled.
@@ -281,25 +292,30 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
   val settings: ActorSystem.Settings,
   val eventStream: EventStream,
   val scheduler: Scheduler,
-  val deadLetters: InternalActorRef,
-  val rootPath: ActorPath,
   val deployer: Deployer) extends ActorRefProvider {
 
+  // this is the constructor needed for reflectively instantiating the provider
   def this(_systemName: String,
            settings: ActorSystem.Settings,
            eventStream: EventStream,
            scheduler: Scheduler,
-           deadLetters: InternalActorRef) =
+           classloader: ClassLoader) =
     this(_systemName,
       settings,
       eventStream,
       scheduler,
-      deadLetters,
-      new RootActorPath(LocalAddress(_systemName)),
-      new Deployer(settings))
+      new Deployer(settings, classloader))
+
+  val rootPath: ActorPath = RootActorPath(Address("akka", _systemName))
 
   val log = Logging(eventStream, "LocalActorRefProvider(" + rootPath.address + ")")
 
+  val deadLetters = new DeadLetterActorRef(this, rootPath / "deadLetters", eventStream)
+
+  val deathWatch = new LocalDeathWatch(1024) //TODO make configrable
+
+  val locker: Locker = new Locker(scheduler, settings.ReaperInterval, this, rootPath / "locker", deathWatch)
+
   /*
    * generate name for temporary actor refs
    */
@@ -455,8 +471,6 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
     tempContainer.removeChild(path.name)
   }
 
-  val deathWatch = new LocalDeathWatch(1024) //TODO make configrable
-
   def init(_system: ActorSystemImpl) {
     system = _system
     // chain death watchers so that killing guardian stops the application
@@ -472,7 +486,7 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
         deadLetters
       } else if (elems.head.isEmpty) actorFor(rootGuardian, elems.tail)
       else actorFor(ref, elems)
-    case LocalActorPath(address, elems) if address == rootPath.address ⇒ actorFor(rootGuardian, elems)
+    case ActorPathExtractor(address, elems) if address == rootPath.address ⇒ actorFor(rootGuardian, elems)
     case _ ⇒
       log.debug("look-up of unknown path '{}' failed", path)
       deadLetters
@@ -492,7 +506,7 @@ class LocalActorRefProvider(
     } else ref.getChild(path.iterator) match {
       case Nobody ⇒
         log.debug("look-up of path sequence '{}' failed", path)
-        new EmptyLocalActorRef(eventStream, system.provider, dispatcher, ref.path / path)
+        new EmptyLocalActorRef(system.provider, ref.path / path, eventStream)
       case x ⇒ x
     }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
index fc4a6f1f19..e3235a5cec 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/ActorSystem.scala
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ abstract class ActorSystem extends ActorRefFactory {
    * (below which the logging actors reside) and the execute all registered
    * termination handlers (see [[ActorSystem.registerOnTermination]]).
    */
-  def shutdown()
+  def shutdown(): Unit
 
   /**
    * Registers the provided extension and creates its payload, if this extension isn't already registered
@@ -322,6 +322,14 @@ abstract class ExtendedActorSystem extends ActorSystem {
    */
   def deathWatch: DeathWatch
 
+  /**
+   * ClassLoader which is used for reflective accesses internally. This is set
+   * to the context class loader, if one is set, or the class loader which
+   * loaded the ActorSystem implementation. The context class loader is also
+   * set on all threads created by the ActorSystem, if one was set during
+   * creation.
+   */
+  def internalClassLoader: ClassLoader
 }
 
 class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends ExtendedActorSystem {
@@ -331,8 +339,10 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
 
   import ActorSystem._
 
-  final val settings = new Settings(applicationConfig, name)
-  final val threadFactory = new MonitorableThreadFactory(name, settings.Daemonicity)
+  final val settings: Settings = new Settings(applicationConfig, name)
+
+  final val threadFactory: MonitorableThreadFactory =
+    MonitorableThreadFactory(name, settings.Daemonicity, Option(Thread.currentThread.getContextClassLoader))
 
   def logConfiguration(): Unit = log.info(settings.toString)
 
@@ -377,18 +387,32 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
   import settings._
 
   // this provides basic logging (to stdout) until .start() is called below
-  val eventStream = new EventStream(DebugEventStream)
+  val eventStream: EventStream = new EventStream(DebugEventStream)
   eventStream.startStdoutLogger(settings)
 
-  // unfortunately we need logging before we know the rootpath address, which wants to be inserted here
-  @volatile
-  private var _log = new BusLogging(eventStream, "ActorSystem(" + name + ")", this.getClass)
-  def log = _log
+  val log: LoggingAdapter = new BusLogging(eventStream, "ActorSystem(" + name + ")", this.getClass)
 
-  val scheduler = createScheduler()
+  val scheduler: Scheduler = createScheduler()
 
-  val deadLetters = new DeadLetterActorRef(eventStream)
-  val deadLetterMailbox = new Mailbox(null) {
+  val internalClassLoader = Option(Thread.currentThread.getContextClassLoader) getOrElse getClass.getClassLoader
+
+  val provider: ActorRefProvider = {
+    val arguments = Seq(
+      classOf[String] -> name,
+      classOf[Settings] -> settings,
+      classOf[EventStream] -> eventStream,
+      classOf[Scheduler] -> scheduler,
+      classOf[ClassLoader] -> internalClassLoader)
+
+    ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[ActorRefProvider](ProviderClass, arguments, internalClassLoader) match {
+      case Left(e)  ⇒ throw e
+      case Right(p) ⇒ p
+    }
+  }
+
+  def deadLetters: ActorRef = provider.deadLetters
+
+  val deadLetterMailbox: Mailbox = new Mailbox(null) {
     becomeClosed()
     override def enqueue(receiver: ActorRef, envelope: Envelope) { deadLetters ! DeadLetter(envelope.message, envelope.sender, receiver) }
     override def dequeue() = null
@@ -399,28 +423,12 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
     override def numberOfMessages = 0
   }
 
-  val provider: ActorRefProvider = {
-    val providerClass = ReflectiveAccess.getClassFor(ProviderClass) match {
-      case Left(e)  ⇒ throw e
-      case Right(b) ⇒ b
-    }
-    val arguments = Seq(
-      classOf[String] -> name,
-      classOf[Settings] -> settings,
-      classOf[EventStream] -> eventStream,
-      classOf[Scheduler] -> scheduler,
-      classOf[InternalActorRef] -> deadLetters)
-    val types: Array[Class[_]] = arguments map (_._1) toArray
-    val values: Array[AnyRef] = arguments map (_._2) toArray
+  def locker: Locker = provider.locker
 
-    ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[ActorRefProvider](providerClass, types, values) match {
-      case Left(e)  ⇒ throw e
-      case Right(p) ⇒ p
-    }
-  }
+  val dispatchers: Dispatchers = new Dispatchers(settings, DefaultDispatcherPrerequisites(
+    threadFactory, eventStream, deadLetterMailbox, scheduler, internalClassLoader))
 
-  val dispatchers = new Dispatchers(settings, DefaultDispatcherPrerequisites(threadFactory, eventStream, deadLetterMailbox, scheduler))
-  val dispatcher = dispatchers.defaultGlobalDispatcher
+  val dispatcher: MessageDispatcher = dispatchers.defaultGlobalDispatcher
 
   def terminationFuture: Future[Unit] = provider.terminationFuture
   def lookupRoot: InternalActorRef = provider.rootGuardian
@@ -434,21 +442,13 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
   private lazy val _start: this.type = {
     // the provider is expected to start default loggers, LocalActorRefProvider does this
     provider.init(this)
-    _log = new BusLogging(eventStream, "ActorSystem(" + lookupRoot.path.address + ")", this.getClass)
-    deadLetters.init(provider, lookupRoot.path / "deadLetters")
     registerOnTermination(stopScheduler())
-    // this starts the reaper actor and the user-configured logging subscribers, which are also actors
-    _locker = new Locker(scheduler, ReaperInterval, provider, lookupRoot.path / "locker", deathWatch)
     loadExtensions()
     if (LogConfigOnStart) logConfiguration()
     this
   }
 
-  @volatile
-  private var _locker: Locker = _ // initialized in start()
-  def locker = _locker
-
-  def start() = _start
+  def start(): this.type = _start
 
   private lazy val terminationCallbacks = {
     val callbacks = new TerminationCallbacks
@@ -460,9 +460,7 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
   def awaitTermination(timeout: Duration) { Await.ready(terminationCallbacks, timeout) }
   def awaitTermination() = awaitTermination(Duration.Inf)
 
-  def shutdown() {
-    stop(guardian)
-  }
+  def shutdown(): Unit = stop(guardian)
 
   /**
    * Create the scheduler service. This one needs one special behavior: if
@@ -547,8 +545,8 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
   private def loadExtensions() {
     import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
     settings.config.getStringList("akka.extensions") foreach { fqcn ⇒
-      import ReflectiveAccess._
-      getObjectFor[AnyRef](fqcn).fold(_ ⇒ createInstance[AnyRef](fqcn, noParams, noArgs), Right(_)) match {
+      import ReflectiveAccess.{ getObjectFor, createInstance, noParams, noArgs }
+      getObjectFor[AnyRef](fqcn, internalClassLoader).fold(_ ⇒ createInstance[AnyRef](fqcn, noParams, noArgs), Right(_)) match {
         case Right(p: ExtensionIdProvider) ⇒ registerExtension(p.lookup());
         case Right(p: ExtensionId[_])      ⇒ registerExtension(p);
         case Right(other)                  ⇒ log.error("[{}] is not an 'ExtensionIdProvider' or 'ExtensionId', skipping...", fqcn)
@@ -558,7 +556,7 @@ class ActorSystemImpl(val name: String, applicationConfig: Config) extends Exten
     }
   }
 
-  override def toString = lookupRoot.path.root.address.toString
+  override def toString: String = lookupRoot.path.root.address.toString
 
   final class TerminationCallbacks extends Runnable with Awaitable[Unit] {
     private val lock = new ReentrantGuard
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Address.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Address.scala
index 6cd6c369dd..956657dc7c 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Address.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Address.scala
@@ -9,17 +9,41 @@ import java.net.URISyntaxException
  * The address specifies the physical location under which an Actor can be
  * reached. Examples are local addresses, identified by the ActorSystem’s
  * name, and remote addresses, identified by protocol, host and port.
+ *
+ * This class is final to allow use as a case class (copy method etc.); if
+ * for example a remote transport would want to associate additional
+ * information with an address, then this must be done externally.
  */
-abstract class Address {
-  def protocol: String
-  def hostPort: String
+final case class Address(protocol: String, system: String, host: Option[String], port: Option[Int]) {
+
+  def this(protocol: String, system: String) = this(protocol, system, None, None)
+  def this(protocol: String, system: String, host: String, port: Int) = this(protocol, system, Option(host), Some(port))
+
   @transient
-  override lazy val toString = protocol + "://" + hostPort
+  override lazy val toString = {
+    val sb = new StringBuilder(protocol)
+    sb.append("://")
+    sb.append(hostPort)
+    sb.toString
+  }
+
+  @transient
+  lazy val hostPort = {
+    val sb = new StringBuilder(system)
+    if (host.isDefined) {
+      sb.append('@')
+      sb.append(host.get)
+    }
+    if (port.isDefined) {
+      sb.append(':')
+      sb.append(port.get)
+    }
+    sb.toString
+  }
 }
 
-case class LocalAddress(systemName: String) extends Address {
-  def protocol = "akka"
-  def hostPort = systemName
+object Address {
+  def apply(protocol: String, system: String) = new Address(protocol, system)
 }
 
 object RelativeActorPath {
@@ -32,12 +56,34 @@ object RelativeActorPath {
   }
 }
 
-object LocalActorPath {
-  def unapply(addr: String): Option[(LocalAddress, Iterable[String])] = {
+object AddressExtractor {
+  def unapply(addr: String): Option[Address] = {
     try {
       val uri = new URI(addr)
-      if (uri.getScheme != "akka" || uri.getUserInfo != null || uri.getHost == null || uri.getPath == null) None
-      else Some(LocalAddress(uri.getHost), ActorPath.split(uri.getPath).drop(1))
+      if (uri.getScheme == null || (uri.getUserInfo == null && uri.getHost == null)) None
+      else {
+        val addr = Address(uri.getScheme, if (uri.getUserInfo != null) uri.getUserInfo else uri.getHost,
+          if (uri.getUserInfo == null || uri.getHost == null) None else Some(uri.getHost),
+          if (uri.getPort < 0) None else Some(uri.getPort))
+        Some(addr)
+      }
+    } catch {
+      case _: URISyntaxException ⇒ None
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+object ActorPathExtractor {
+  def unapply(addr: String): Option[(Address, Iterable[String])] = {
+    try {
+      val uri = new URI(addr)
+      if (uri.getScheme == null || (uri.getUserInfo == null && uri.getHost == null) || uri.getPath == null) None
+      else {
+        val addr = Address(uri.getScheme, if (uri.getUserInfo != null) uri.getUserInfo else uri.getHost,
+          if (uri.getUserInfo == null || uri.getHost == null) None else Some(uri.getHost),
+          if (uri.getPort < 0) None else Some(uri.getPort))
+        Some((addr, ActorPath.split(uri.getPath).drop(1)))
+      }
     } catch {
       case _: URISyntaxException ⇒ None
     }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
index c8e780d5c2..36d82b2cec 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Deployer.scala
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ case object LocalScope extends Scope
  *
  * @author <a href="http://jonasboner.com">Jonas Bon&#233;r</a>
  */
-class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings) {
+class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val classloader: ClassLoader) {
 
   import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
 
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings) {
   def deploy(d: Deploy): Unit = deployments.put(d.path, d)
 
   protected def parseConfig(key: String, config: Config): Option[Deploy] = {
-    import akka.util.ReflectiveAccess.getClassFor
 
     val deployment = config.withFallback(default)
 
@@ -65,8 +64,8 @@ class Deployer(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings) {
       case "scatter-gather"   ⇒ ScatterGatherFirstCompletedRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, within, resizer)
       case "broadcast"        ⇒ BroadcastRouter(nrOfInstances, routees, resizer)
       case fqn ⇒
-        val constructorSignature = Array[Class[_]](classOf[Config])
-        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[RouterConfig](fqn, constructorSignature, Array[AnyRef](deployment)) match {
+        val args = Seq(classOf[Config] -> deployment)
+        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[RouterConfig](fqn, args, classloader) match {
           case Right(router) ⇒ router
           case Left(exception) ⇒
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
index 5bc5b7dc94..66dd0385c9 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
@@ -324,8 +324,8 @@ abstract class MessageDispatcherConfigurator(val config: Config, val prerequisit
           BoundedMailbox(capacity, duration)
         }
       case fqcn ⇒
-        val constructorSignature = Array[Class[_]](classOf[Config])
-        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[MailboxType](fqcn, constructorSignature, Array[AnyRef](config)) match {
+        val args = Seq(classOf[Config] -> config)
+        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[MailboxType](fqcn, args, prerequisites.classloader) match {
           case Right(instance) ⇒ instance
           case Left(exception) ⇒
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatchers.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatchers.scala
index fd58346955..d71604fd1a 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatchers.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Dispatchers.scala
@@ -19,13 +19,15 @@ trait DispatcherPrerequisites {
   def eventStream: EventStream
   def deadLetterMailbox: Mailbox
   def scheduler: Scheduler
+  def classloader: ClassLoader
 }
 
 case class DefaultDispatcherPrerequisites(
   val threadFactory: ThreadFactory,
   val eventStream: EventStream,
   val deadLetterMailbox: Mailbox,
-  val scheduler: Scheduler) extends DispatcherPrerequisites
+  val scheduler: Scheduler,
+  val classloader: ClassLoader) extends DispatcherPrerequisites
 
 object Dispatchers {
   /**
@@ -134,8 +136,8 @@ class Dispatchers(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val prerequisites: Dispatc
       case "BalancingDispatcher" ⇒ new BalancingDispatcherConfigurator(cfg, prerequisites)
       case "PinnedDispatcher"    ⇒ new PinnedDispatcherConfigurator(cfg, prerequisites)
       case fqn ⇒
-        val constructorSignature = Array[Class[_]](classOf[Config], classOf[DispatcherPrerequisites])
-        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[MessageDispatcherConfigurator](fqn, constructorSignature, Array[AnyRef](cfg, prerequisites)) match {
+        val args = Seq(classOf[Config] -> cfg, classOf[DispatcherPrerequisites] -> prerequisites)
+        ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[MessageDispatcherConfigurator](fqn, args, prerequisites.classloader) match {
           case Right(configurator) ⇒ configurator
           case Left(exception) ⇒
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/ThreadPoolBuilder.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/ThreadPoolBuilder.scala
index e9430340fa..369f3cdaf2 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/ThreadPoolBuilder.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/ThreadPoolBuilder.scala
@@ -155,6 +155,7 @@ object MonitorableThreadFactory {
 
 case class MonitorableThreadFactory(name: String,
                                     daemonic: Boolean,
+                                    contextClassLoader: Option[ClassLoader],
                                     exceptionHandler: Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler = MonitorableThreadFactory.doNothing)
   extends ThreadFactory with ForkJoinPool.ForkJoinWorkerThreadFactory {
   protected val counter = new AtomicLong
@@ -169,6 +170,7 @@ case class MonitorableThreadFactory(name: String,
     val t = new Thread(runnable, name + counter.incrementAndGet())
     t.setUncaughtExceptionHandler(exceptionHandler)
     t.setDaemon(daemonic)
+    contextClassLoader foreach (t.setContextClassLoader(_))
     t
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
index f75e47f9a4..c8bbe5f9eb 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/event/Logging.scala
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ trait LoggingBus extends ActorEventBus {
         if loggerName != StandardOutLoggerName
       } yield {
         try {
-          ReflectiveAccess.getClassFor[Actor](loggerName) match {
+          ReflectiveAccess.getClassFor[Actor](loggerName, system.internalClassLoader) match {
             case Right(actorClass) ⇒ addLogger(system, actorClass, level, logName)
             case Left(exception)   ⇒ throw exception
           }
@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ object Logging {
    * <code>akka.stdout-loglevel</code> in <code>akka.conf</code>.
    */
   class StandardOutLogger extends MinimalActorRef with StdOutLogger {
-    val path: ActorPath = new RootActorPath(LocalAddress("all-systems"), "/StandardOutLogger")
+    val path: ActorPath = new RootActorPath(Address("akka", "all-systems"), "/StandardOutLogger")
     def provider: ActorRefProvider = throw new UnsupportedOperationException("StandardOutLogger does not provide")
     override val toString = "StandardOutLogger"
     override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = print(message)
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serialization.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serialization.scala
index 78cb370b68..750b2e5c35 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serialization.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/serialization/Serialization.scala
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import akka.util.ReflectiveAccess
 import scala.util.DynamicVariable
 import com.typesafe.config.Config
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
-import akka.actor.{ Extension, ActorSystem, ExtendedActorSystem }
+import akka.actor.{ Extension, ActorSystem, ExtendedActorSystem, Address }
 
 case class NoSerializerFoundException(m: String) extends AkkaException(m)
 
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ object Serialization {
    */
   val currentSystem = new DynamicVariable[ActorSystem](null)
 
+  /**
+   * This holds a reference to the current transport address to be inserted
+   * into local actor refs during serialization.
+   */
+  val currentTransportAddress = new DynamicVariable[Address](null)
+
   class Settings(val config: Config) {
 
     import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
@@ -75,10 +81,10 @@ class Serialization(val system: ExtendedActorSystem) extends Extension {
   def deserialize(bytes: Array[Byte],
                   serializerId: Int,
                   clazz: Option[Class[_]],
-                  classLoader: Option[ClassLoader]): Either[Exception, AnyRef] =
+                  classLoader: ClassLoader): Either[Exception, AnyRef] =
     try {
       currentSystem.withValue(system) {
-        Right(serializerByIdentity(serializerId).fromBinary(bytes, clazz, classLoader))
+        Right(serializerByIdentity(serializerId).fromBinary(bytes, clazz, Some(classLoader)))
       }
     } catch { case e: Exception ⇒ Left(e) }
 
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
index 7c00d69225..19ad3bc995 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/util/ReflectiveAccess.scala
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@ object ReflectiveAccess {
     }
   }
 
+  def createInstance[T](clazz: Class[_], args: Seq[(Class[_], AnyRef)]): Either[Exception, T] =
+    createInstance(clazz, args.map(_._1).toArray, args.map(_._2).toArray)
+
+  def createInstance[T](fqcn: String, args: Seq[(Class[_], AnyRef)], classloader: ClassLoader): Either[Exception, T] =
+    createInstance(fqcn, args.map(_._1).toArray, args.map(_._2).toArray, classloader)
+
+  def createInstance[T](fqcn: String, args: Seq[(Class[_], AnyRef)]): Either[Exception, T] =
+    createInstance(fqcn, args.map(_._1).toArray, args.map(_._2).toArray, loader)
+
   //Obtains a reference to fqn.MODULE$
   def getObjectFor[T](fqn: String, classloader: ClassLoader = loader): Either[Exception, T] = try {
     getClassFor(fqn, classloader) match {
diff --git a/akka-docs/general/configuration.rst b/akka-docs/general/configuration.rst
index 8109e7a358..1a01ba24c9 100644
--- a/akka-docs/general/configuration.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/general/configuration.rst
@@ -217,6 +217,20 @@ and parsed by the actor system can be displayed like this:
   println(system.settings());
   // this is a shortcut for system.settings().config().root().render()
 
+A Word About ClassLoaders
+-------------------------
+
+In several places of the configuration file it is possible to specify the
+fully-qualified class name of something to be instantiated by Akka. This is
+done using Java reflection, which in turn uses a :class:`ClassLoader`. Getting
+the right one in challenging environments like application containers or OSGi
+bundles is not always trivial, the current approach of Akka is that each
+:class:`ActorSystem` implementation stores the current thread’s context class
+loader (if available, otherwise just its own loader as in
+``this.getClass.getClassLoader``) and uses that for all reflective accesses.
+This implies that putting Akka on the boot class path will yield
+:class:`NullPointerException` from strange places: this is simply not
+supported.
 
 Application specific settings
 -----------------------------
diff --git a/akka-docs/intro/what-is-akka.rst b/akka-docs/intro/what-is-akka.rst
index 6cc7c591c0..80a8b0e62c 100644
--- a/akka-docs/intro/what-is-akka.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/intro/what-is-akka.rst
@@ -82,6 +82,20 @@ Akka can be used in two different ways
 
 See the :ref:`deployment-scenarios` for details.
 
+What happened to Cloudy Akka?
+=============================
+
+The commercial offering was earlier referred to as Cloudy Akka. This offering 
+consisted of two things:
+
+- Cluster support for Akka
+- Monitoring & Management (formerly called Atmos)
+
+Cloudy Akka have been discontinued and the Cluster support is now being moved into the 
+Open Source version of Akka (the upcoming Akka 2.1), while the Monitoring & Management 
+(Atmos) is now rebranded into Typesafe Console and is part of the commercial subscription 
+for the Typesafe Stack (see below for details).
+
 Typesafe Stack
 ==============
 
@@ -100,6 +114,7 @@ Typesafe Console
 On top of the Typesafe Stack we have also have commercial product called Typesafe
 Console which provides the following features:
 
+#. Slick Web UI with real-time view into the system
 #. Management through Dashboard, JMX and REST
 #. Dapper-style tracing of messages across components and remote nodes
 #. Real-time statistics
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/FSMDocTestBase.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/FSMDocTestBase.java
index 981cac15b1..aeaca63f92 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/FSMDocTestBase.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/FSMDocTestBase.java
@@ -18,45 +18,53 @@ import akka.actor.UntypedActor;
 import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
 import akka.actor.Props;
 import akka.testkit.TestProbe;
+import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec;
 
 public class FSMDocTestBase {
 
   //#data
   public static final class SetTarget {
     final ActorRef ref;
+
     public SetTarget(ActorRef ref) {
       this.ref = ref;
     }
   }
-  
+
   public static final class Queue {
     final Object o;
+
     public Queue(Object o) {
       this.o = o;
     }
   }
-  
+
   public static final Object flush = new Object();
-  
+
   public static final class Batch {
     final List<Object> objects;
+
     public Batch(List<Object> objects) {
       this.objects = objects;
     }
   }
+
   //#data
 
   //#base
   static abstract class MyFSMBase extends UntypedActor {
-    
+
     /*
      * This is the mutable state of this state machine.
      */
-    protected enum State { IDLE, ACTIVE; }
+    protected enum State {
+      IDLE, ACTIVE;
+    }
+
     private State state = State.IDLE;
     private ActorRef target;
     private List<Object> queue;
-    
+
     /*
      * Then come all the mutator methods:
      */
@@ -64,21 +72,23 @@ public class FSMDocTestBase {
       this.target = target;
       queue = new ArrayList<Object>();
     }
-    
+
     protected void setState(State s) {
       if (state != s) {
         transition(state, s);
         state = s;
       }
     }
-    
+
     protected void enqueue(Object o) {
-      if (queue != null) queue.add(o);
+      if (queue != null)
+        queue.add(o);
     }
-    
+
     protected List<Object> drainQueue() {
       final List<Object> q = queue;
-      if (q == null) throw new IllegalStateException("drainQueue(): not yet initialized");
+      if (q == null)
+        throw new IllegalStateException("drainQueue(): not yet initialized");
       queue = new ArrayList<Object>();
       return q;
     }
@@ -89,13 +99,14 @@ public class FSMDocTestBase {
     protected boolean isInitialized() {
       return target != null;
     }
-    
+
     protected State getState() {
       return state;
     }
-    
+
     protected ActorRef getTarget() {
-      if (target == null) throw new IllegalStateException("getTarget(): not yet initialized");
+      if (target == null)
+        throw new IllegalStateException("getTarget(): not yet initialized");
       return target;
     }
 
@@ -104,53 +115,62 @@ public class FSMDocTestBase {
      */
     abstract protected void transition(State old, State next);
   }
+
   //#base
 
   //#actor
   static public class MyFSM extends MyFSMBase {
-    
+
     private final LoggingAdapter log = Logging.getLogger(getContext().system(), this);
-    
+
     @Override
     public void onReceive(Object o) {
-      
+
       if (getState() == State.IDLE) {
-        
-        if (o instanceof SetTarget) 
+
+        if (o instanceof SetTarget)
           init(((SetTarget) o).ref);
-        
-        else whenUnhandled(o);
+
+        else
+          whenUnhandled(o);
 
       } else if (getState() == State.ACTIVE) {
 
-        if (o == flush) 
+        if (o == flush)
           setState(State.IDLE);
 
-        else whenUnhandled(o);
+        else
+          whenUnhandled(o);
       }
     }
-    
+
     @Override
     public void transition(State old, State next) {
       if (old == State.ACTIVE) {
         getTarget().tell(new Batch(drainQueue()));
       }
     }
-    
+
     private void whenUnhandled(Object o) {
       if (o instanceof Queue && isInitialized()) {
         enqueue(((Queue) o).o);
         setState(State.ACTIVE);
-        
+
       } else {
         log.warning("received unknown message {} in state {}", o, getState());
       }
     }
   }
+
   //#actor
-  
-  ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create();
-  
+
+  ActorSystem system;
+
+  @org.junit.Before
+  public void setUp() {
+    system = ActorSystem.create("FSMSystem", AkkaSpec.testConf());
+  }
+
   @org.junit.Test
   public void mustBunch() {
     final ActorRef buncher = system.actorOf(new Props(MyFSM.class));
@@ -165,10 +185,10 @@ public class FSMDocTestBase {
     assert b.objects.contains(1);
     assert b.objects.contains(2);
   }
-  
+
   @org.junit.After
   public void cleanup() {
     system.shutdown();
   }
-  
+
 }
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTestBase.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTestBase.java
index a72c828862..ff14c4e09b 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTestBase.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/UntypedActorDocTestBase.java
@@ -211,16 +211,17 @@ public class UntypedActorDocTestBase {
     //#gracefulStop
     system.shutdown();
   }
-  
+
   class Result {
     final int x;
     final String s;
+
     public Result(int x, String s) {
       this.x = x;
       this.s = s;
     }
   }
-  
+
   @Test
   public void usePatternsAskPipeTo() {
     ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create("MySystem");
@@ -229,13 +230,13 @@ public class UntypedActorDocTestBase {
     ActorRef actorC = system.actorOf(new Props(MyUntypedActor.class));
     //#ask-pipeTo
     final Timeout t = new Timeout(Duration.create(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
-    
+
     final ArrayList<Future<Object>> futures = new ArrayList<Future<Object>>();
     futures.add(ask(actorA, "request", 1000)); // using 1000ms timeout
     futures.add(ask(actorB, "reqeest", t)); // using timeout from above
-    
+
     final Future<Iterable<Object>> aggregate = Futures.sequence(futures, system.dispatcher());
-    
+
     final Future<Result> transformed = aggregate.map(new akka.japi.Function<Iterable<Object>, Result>() {
       public Result apply(Iterable<Object> coll) {
         final Iterator<Object> it = coll.iterator();
@@ -244,9 +245,10 @@ public class UntypedActorDocTestBase {
         return new Result(x, s);
       }
     });
-    
+
     pipeTo(transformed, actorC);
     //#ask-pipeTo
+    system.shutdown();
   }
 
   public static class MyActor extends UntypedActor {
diff --git a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/japi/FaultHandlingDocSample.java b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/japi/FaultHandlingDocSample.java
index 8665f3777b..265f005059 100644
--- a/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/japi/FaultHandlingDocSample.java
+++ b/akka-docs/java/code/akka/docs/actor/japi/FaultHandlingDocSample.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ public class FaultHandlingDocSample {
   /**
    * Runs the sample
    */
-  public static void main(String... args) {
+  public static void main(String[] args) {
     Config config = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.loglevel = DEBUG \n" + "akka.actor.debug.lifecycle = on");
 
     ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create("FaultToleranceSample", config);
@@ -62,11 +62,11 @@ public class FaultHandlingDocSample {
 
     public void onReceive(Object msg) {
       log.debug("received message {}", msg);
-      if (msg instanceof CurrentCount) {
-        CurrentCount current = (CurrentCount) msg;
-        log.info("Current count for [{}] is [{}]", current.key, current.count);
-        if (current.count > 50) {
-          log.info("That's enough, shutting down");
+      if (msg instanceof Progress) {
+        Progress progress = (Progress) msg;
+        log.info("Current progress: {} %", progress.percent);
+        if (progress.percent >= 100.0) {
+          log.info("That's all, shutting down");
           getContext().system().shutdown();
         }
       } else if (msg == Actors.receiveTimeout()) {
@@ -83,13 +83,25 @@ public class FaultHandlingDocSample {
   public interface WorkerApi {
     public static final Object Start = "Start";
     public static final Object Do = "Do";
+
+    public static class Progress {
+      public final double percent;
+
+      public Progress(double percent) {
+        this.percent = percent;
+      }
+
+      public String toString() {
+        return String.format("%s(%s)", getClass().getSimpleName(), percent);
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   //#messages
 
   /**
    * Worker performs some work when it receives the Start message. It will
-   * continuously notify the sender of the Start message of current progress.
+   * continuously notify the sender of the Start message of current Progress.
    * The Worker supervise the CounterService.
    */
   public static class Worker extends UntypedActor {
@@ -99,6 +111,7 @@ public class FaultHandlingDocSample {
     // The sender of the initial Start message will continuously be notified about progress
     ActorRef progressListener;
     final ActorRef counterService = getContext().actorOf(new Props(CounterService.class), "counter");
+    final int totalCount = 51;
 
     // Stop the CounterService child if it throws ServiceUnavailable
     private static SupervisorStrategy strategy = new OneForOneStrategy(-1, Duration.Inf(),
@@ -128,8 +141,12 @@ public class FaultHandlingDocSample {
         counterService.tell(new Increment(1), getSelf());
         counterService.tell(new Increment(1), getSelf());
 
-        // Send current count to the initial sender
-        pipeTo(ask(counterService, GetCurrentCount, askTimeout), progressListener);
+        // Send current progress to the initial sender
+        pipeTo(ask(counterService, GetCurrentCount, askTimeout).map(new Function<CurrentCount, Progress>() {
+          public Progress apply(CurrentCount c) {
+            return new Progress(100.0 * c.count / totalCount);
+          }
+        }), progressListener);
       } else {
         unhandled(msg);
       }
diff --git a/akka-docs/modules/microkernel.rst b/akka-docs/modules/microkernel.rst
index 7325cefa70..ec6eabe3ef 100644
--- a/akka-docs/modules/microkernel.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/modules/microkernel.rst
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ command (on a unix-based system):
 
 .. code-block:: none
 
-   bin/akka sample.kernel.hello.HelloKernel
+   bin/start sample.kernel.hello.HelloKernel
 
 Use ``Ctrl-C`` to interrupt and exit the microkernel.
 
@@ -34,3 +34,34 @@ The code for the Hello Kernel example (see the ``HelloKernel`` class for an exam
 of creating a Bootable):
 
 .. includecode:: ../../akka-samples/akka-sample-hello-kernel/src/main/scala/sample/kernel/hello/HelloKernel.scala
+
+
+Distribution of microkernel application
+---------------------------------------
+
+To make a distribution package of the microkernel and your application the ``akka-sbt-plugin`` provides
+``AkkaKernelPlugin``. It creates the directory structure, with jar files, configuration files and
+start scripts.
+
+To use the sbt plugin you define it in your ``project/plugins.sbt``:
+
+.. includecode:: ../../akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/plugins.sbt
+
+Then you add it to the settings of your ``project/Build.scala``. It is also important that you add the ``akka-kernel`` dependency.
+This is an example of a complete sbt build file:
+
+.. includecode:: ../../akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/Build.scala
+
+Run the plugin with sbt::
+
+  > dist
+  > dist:clean
+
+There are several settings that can be defined:
+
+* ``outputDirectory`` - destination directory of the package, default ``target/dist``
+* ``distJvmOptions`` - JVM parameters to be used in the start script
+* ``configSourceDirs`` - Configuration files are copied from these directories, default ``src/config``, ``src/main/config``, ``src/main/resources``
+* ``distMainClass`` - Kernel main class to use in start script
+* ``libFilter`` - Filter of dependency jar files
+* ``additionalLibs`` - Additional dependency jar files
diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/code/akka/docs/actor/FaultHandlingDocSample.scala b/akka-docs/scala/code/akka/docs/actor/FaultHandlingDocSample.scala
index 99beab0cc3..fbdf3e25b9 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/code/akka/docs/actor/FaultHandlingDocSample.scala
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/code/akka/docs/actor/FaultHandlingDocSample.scala
@@ -43,15 +43,15 @@ object FaultHandlingDocSample extends App {
  * work has been done.
  */
 class Listener extends Actor with ActorLogging {
-  import CounterService._
+  import Worker._
   // If we don't get any progress within 15 seconds then the service is unavailable
   context.setReceiveTimeout(15 seconds)
 
   def receive = {
-    case CurrentCount(key, count) ⇒
-      log.info("Current count for [{}] is [{}]", key, count)
-      if (count > 50) {
-        log.info("That's enough, shutting down")
+    case Progress(percent) ⇒
+      log.info("Current progress: {} %", percent)
+      if (percent >= 100.0) {
+        log.info("That's all, shutting down")
         context.system.shutdown()
       }
 
@@ -66,13 +66,14 @@ class Listener extends Actor with ActorLogging {
 object Worker {
   case object Start
   case object Do
+  case class Progress(percent: Double)
 }
 //#messages
 
 /**
  * Worker performs some work when it receives the `Start` message.
  * It will continuously notify the sender of the `Start` message
- * of current progress. The `Worker` supervise the `CounterService`.
+ * of current ``Progress``. The `Worker` supervise the `CounterService`.
  */
 class Worker extends Actor with ActorLogging {
   import Worker._
@@ -87,6 +88,7 @@ class Worker extends Actor with ActorLogging {
   // The sender of the initial Start message will continuously be notified about progress
   var progressListener: Option[ActorRef] = None
   val counterService = context.actorOf(Props[CounterService], name = "counter")
+  val totalCount = 51
 
   def receive = LoggingReceive {
     case Start if progressListener.isEmpty ⇒
@@ -98,8 +100,10 @@ class Worker extends Actor with ActorLogging {
       counterService ! Increment(1)
       counterService ! Increment(1)
 
-      // Send current count to the initial sender
-      counterService ? GetCurrentCount pipeTo progressListener.get
+      // Send current progress to the initial sender
+      counterService ? GetCurrentCount map {
+        case CurrentCount(_, count) ⇒ Progress(100.0 * count / totalCount)
+      } pipeTo progressListener.get
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
index e00520d92c..5e319dafac 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  */
 package akka.actor.mailbox
 
-import akka.actor.{ ActorContext, ActorRef }
+import akka.actor.{ ActorContext, ActorRef, ExtendedActorSystem }
 import akka.dispatch.{ Envelope, DefaultSystemMessageQueue, CustomMailbox }
 import akka.remote.MessageSerializer
 import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.{ ActorRefProtocol, RemoteMessageProtocol }
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ private[akka] object DurableExecutableMailboxConfig {
 abstract class DurableMailbox(owner: ActorContext) extends CustomMailbox(owner) with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
   import DurableExecutableMailboxConfig._
 
-  def system = owner.system
+  def system: ExtendedActorSystem = owner.system.asInstanceOf[ExtendedActorSystem]
   def ownerPath = owner.self.path
   val ownerPathString = ownerPath.elements.mkString("/")
   val name = "mailbox_" + Name.replaceAllIn(ownerPathString, "_")
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ trait DurableMessageSerialization {
     def deserializeActorRef(refProtocol: ActorRefProtocol): ActorRef = owner.system.actorFor(refProtocol.getPath)
 
     val durableMessage = RemoteMessageProtocol.parseFrom(bytes)
-    val message = MessageSerializer.deserialize(owner.system, durableMessage.getMessage)
+    val message = MessageSerializer.deserialize(owner.system, durableMessage.getMessage, getClass.getClassLoader)
     val sender = deserializeActorRef(durableMessage.getSender)
 
     new Envelope(message, sender)(owner.system)
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BSONSerialization.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BSONSerialization.scala
index 470993fdf3..cc36286e36 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BSONSerialization.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mongo-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BSONSerialization.scala
@@ -16,11 +16,9 @@ import org.bson.DefaultBSONSerializer
 
 import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.MessageProtocol
 import akka.remote.MessageSerializer
-import akka.actor.{ ActorSystem, ActorSystemImpl }
+import akka.actor.ExtendedActorSystem
 
-class BSONSerializableMailbox(system: ActorSystem) extends SerializableBSONObject[MongoDurableMessage] with Logging {
-
-  val systemImpl = system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl]
+class BSONSerializableMailbox(system: ExtendedActorSystem) extends SerializableBSONObject[MongoDurableMessage] with Logging {
 
   protected[akka] def serializeDurableMsg(msg: MongoDurableMessage)(implicit serializer: BSONSerializer) = {
 
@@ -67,10 +65,10 @@ class BSONSerializableMailbox(system: ActorSystem) extends SerializableBSONObjec
     val doc = deserializer.decodeAndFetch(in).asInstanceOf[BSONDocument]
     system.log.debug("Deserializing a durable message from MongoDB: {}", doc)
     val msgData = MessageProtocol.parseFrom(doc.as[org.bson.types.Binary]("message").getData)
-    val msg = MessageSerializer.deserialize(system, msgData)
+    val msg = MessageSerializer.deserialize(system, msgData, system.internalClassLoader)
     val ownerPath = doc.as[String]("ownerPath")
     val senderPath = doc.as[String]("senderPath")
-    val sender = systemImpl.actorFor(senderPath)
+    val sender = system.actorFor(senderPath)
 
     MongoDurableMessage(ownerPath, msg, sender)
   }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 4db13bb264..86de93527c 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -38,33 +38,86 @@ akka {
 
   remote {
 
-    # Which implementation of akka.remote.RemoteSupport to use
+    # Which implementation of akka.remote.RemoteTransport to use
     # default is a TCP-based remote transport based on Netty
-    transport = "akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteSupport"
+    transport = "akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteTransport"
 
-    # In case of increased latency / overflow how long
-    # should we wait (blocking the sender) until we deem the send to be cancelled?
-    # 0 means "never backoff", any positive number will indicate time to block at most.
-    backoff-timeout = 0ms
-
-    use-compression = off
-
-    # Generate your own with '$AKKA_HOME/scripts/generate_config_with_secure_cookie.sh'
-    #     or using 'akka.util.Crypt.generateSecureCookie'
-    secure-cookie = ""
+    # Enable untrusted mode for full security of server managed actors, allows
+    # untrusted clients to connect.
+    untrusted-mode = off
 
     # Timeout for ACK of cluster operations, lik checking actor out etc.
     remote-daemon-ack-timeout = 30s
 
-    # Reuse inbound connections for outbound messages
-    use-passive-connections = on
-
     # If this is "on", Akka will log all inbound messages at DEBUG level, if off then they are not logged
     log-received-messages = off
 
     # If this is "on", Akka will log all outbound messages at DEBUG level, if off then they are not logged
     log-sent-messages = off
 
+    # Each property is annotated with (I) or (O) or (I&O), where I stands for “inbound” and O for “outbound” connections.
+    # The NettyRemoteTransport always starts the server role to allow inbound connections, and it starts
+    # active client connections whenever sending to a destination which is not yet connected; if configured
+    # it reuses inbound connections for replies, which is called a passive client connection (i.e. from server
+    # to client).
+    netty {
+      
+      # (O) In case of increased latency / overflow how long
+      # should we wait (blocking the sender) until we deem the send to be cancelled?
+      # 0 means "never backoff", any positive number will indicate time to block at most.
+      backoff-timeout = 0ms
+  
+      # (I&O) Generate your own with '$AKKA_HOME/scripts/generate_config_with_secure_cookie.sh'
+      #     or using 'akka.util.Crypt.generateSecureCookie'
+      secure-cookie = ""
+  
+      # (I) Should the remote server require that it peers share the same secure-cookie
+      # (defined in the 'remote' section)?
+      require-cookie = off
+
+      # (I) Reuse inbound connections for outbound messages
+      use-passive-connections = on
+  
+      # (I) The hostname or ip to bind the remoting to,
+      # InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostAddress is used if empty
+      hostname = ""
+
+      # (I) The default remote server port clients should connect to.
+      # Default is 2552 (AKKA), use 0 if you want a random available port
+      port = 2552
+
+      # (I&O) Increase this if you want to be able to send messages with large payloads
+      message-frame-size = 1 MiB
+
+      # (O) Timeout duration
+      connection-timeout = 120s
+
+      # (I) Sets the size of the connection backlog
+      backlog = 4096
+
+      # (I) Length in akka.time-unit how long core threads will be kept alive if idling
+      execution-pool-keepalive = 60s
+
+      # (I) Size of the core pool of the remote execution unit
+      execution-pool-size = 4
+
+      # (I) Maximum channel size, 0 for off
+      max-channel-memory-size = 0b
+
+      # (I) Maximum total size of all channels, 0 for off
+      max-total-memory-size = 0b
+
+      # (O) Time between reconnect attempts for active clients
+      reconnect-delay = 5s
+
+      # (O) Inactivity period after which active client connection is shutdown; will be
+      # re-established in case of new communication requests
+      read-timeout = 3600s
+
+      # (O) Maximum time window that a client should try to reconnect for
+      reconnection-time-window = 600s
+    }
+
     # accrual failure detection config
     failure-detector {
 
@@ -94,58 +147,6 @@ akka {
       type = PinnedDispatcher
     }
 
-    server {
-      # The hostname or ip to bind the remoting to,
-      # InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostAddress is used if empty
-      hostname = ""
-
-      # The default remote server port clients should connect to.
-      # Default is 2552 (AKKA), use 0 if you want a random available port
-      port = 2552
-
-      # Increase this if you want to be able to send messages with large payloads
-      message-frame-size = 1 MiB
-
-      # Should the remote server require that it peers share the same secure-cookie
-      # (defined in the 'remote' section)?
-      require-cookie = off
-
-      # Enable untrusted mode for full security of server managed actors, allows
-      # untrusted clients to connect.
-      untrusted-mode = off
-
-      # Sets the size of the connection backlog
-      backlog = 4096
-
-      # Length in akka.time-unit how long core threads will be kept alive if idling
-      execution-pool-keepalive = 60s
-
-      # Size of the core pool of the remote execution unit
-      execution-pool-size = 4
-
-      # Maximum channel size, 0 for off
-      max-channel-memory-size = 0b
-
-      # Maximum total size of all channels, 0 for off
-      max-total-memory-size = 0b
-    }
-
-    client {
-      # Time before an attempted connection is considered failed
-      connection-timeout = 10s
-
-      #Time between each reconnection attempt
-      reconnect-delay = 5s
-
-      # Maximum time window that a client should try to reconnect for
-      reconnection-time-window = 600s
-
-      #Period of time of connection inactivity to be tolerated before hanging up
-      read-timeout = 3600s
-
-      #Max size per message
-      message-frame-size = 1 MiB
-    }
   }
 
   cluster {
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetector.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetector.scala
index af74c82040..2d7a831b9d 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetector.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetector.scala
@@ -5,11 +5,10 @@
 package akka.remote
 
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
-
 import scala.collection.immutable.Map
 import scala.annotation.tailrec
-
 import System.{ currentTimeMillis ⇒ newTimestamp }
+import akka.actor.{ ActorSystem, Address }
 
 /**
  * Implementation of 'The Phi Accrual Failure Detector' by Hayashibara et al. as defined in their paper:
@@ -33,9 +32,9 @@ class AccrualFailureDetector(val threshold: Int = 8, val maxSampleSize: Int = 10
    */
   private case class State(
     version: Long = 0L,
-    failureStats: Map[ParsedTransportAddress, FailureStats] = Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, FailureStats],
-    intervalHistory: Map[ParsedTransportAddress, Vector[Long]] = Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, Vector[Long]],
-    timestamps: Map[ParsedTransportAddress, Long] = Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, Long])
+    failureStats: Map[Address, FailureStats] = Map.empty[Address, FailureStats],
+    intervalHistory: Map[Address, Vector[Long]] = Map.empty[Address, Vector[Long]],
+    timestamps: Map[Address, Long] = Map.empty[Address, Long])
 
   private val state = new AtomicReference[State](State())
 
@@ -43,13 +42,13 @@ class AccrualFailureDetector(val threshold: Int = 8, val maxSampleSize: Int = 10
    * Returns true if the connection is considered to be up and healthy
    * and returns false otherwise.
    */
-  def isAvailable(connection: ParsedTransportAddress): Boolean = phi(connection) < threshold
+  def isAvailable(connection: Address): Boolean = phi(connection) < threshold
 
   /**
    * Records a heartbeat for a connection.
    */
   @tailrec
-  final def heartbeat(connection: ParsedTransportAddress) {
+  final def heartbeat(connection: Address) {
     val oldState = state.get
 
     val latestTimestamp = oldState.timestamps.get(connection)
@@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ class AccrualFailureDetector(val threshold: Int = 8, val maxSampleSize: Int = 10
    * Implementations of 'Cumulative Distribution Function' for Exponential Distribution.
    * For a discussion on the math read [https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/CASSANDRA-2597].
    */
-  def phi(connection: ParsedTransportAddress): Double = {
+  def phi(connection: Address): Double = {
     val oldState = state.get
     val oldTimestamp = oldState.timestamps.get(connection)
     if (oldTimestamp.isEmpty) 0.0D // treat unmanaged connections, e.g. with zero heartbeats, as healthy connections
@@ -145,7 +144,7 @@ class AccrualFailureDetector(val threshold: Int = 8, val maxSampleSize: Int = 10
    * Removes the heartbeat management for a connection.
    */
   @tailrec
-  final def remove(connection: ParsedTransportAddress) {
+  final def remove(connection: Address) {
     val oldState = state.get
 
     if (oldState.failureStats.contains(connection)) {
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Gossiper.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Gossiper.scala
index 6cdea287d4..d99414f9c9 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Gossiper.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Gossiper.scala
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ import akka.pattern.ask
  * Interface for node membership change listener.
  */
 trait NodeMembershipChangeListener {
-  def nodeConnected(node: ParsedTransportAddress)
-  def nodeDisconnected(node: ParsedTransportAddress)
+  def nodeConnected(node: Address)
+  def nodeDisconnected(node: Address)
 }
 
 /**
@@ -35,9 +35,9 @@ trait NodeMembershipChangeListener {
  */
 case class Gossip(
   version: VectorClock,
-  node: ParsedTransportAddress,
-  availableNodes: Set[ParsedTransportAddress] = Set.empty[ParsedTransportAddress],
-  unavailableNodes: Set[ParsedTransportAddress] = Set.empty[ParsedTransportAddress])
+  node: Address,
+  availableNodes: Set[Address] = Set.empty[Address],
+  unavailableNodes: Set[Address] = Set.empty[Address])
 
 // ====== START - NEW GOSSIP IMPLEMENTATION ======
 /*
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ case class Gossip(
  *       gossip to random seed with certain probability depending on number of unreachable, seed and live nodes.
  * </pre>
  */
-class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
+class Gossiper(remote: RemoteActorRefProvider, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
 
   /**
    * Represents the state for this Gossiper. Implemented using optimistic lockless concurrency,
@@ -107,27 +107,19 @@ class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
   private val serialization = remote.serialization
   private val log = Logging(system, "Gossiper")
   private val failureDetector = remote.failureDetector
-  private val connectionManager = new RemoteConnectionManager(system, remote, Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, ActorRef])
+  private val connectionManager = new RemoteConnectionManager(system, remote, Map.empty[Address, ActorRef])
 
   private val seeds = {
-    val seeds = remoteSettings.SeedNodes flatMap {
-      case x: UnparsedTransportAddress ⇒
-        x.parse(remote.transports) match {
-          case y: ParsedTransportAddress ⇒ Some(y)
-          case _                         ⇒ None
-        }
-      case _ ⇒ None
-    }
-    if (seeds.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException(
+    if (remoteSettings.SeedNodes.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException(
       "At least one seed node must be defined in the configuration [akka.cluster.seed-nodes]")
-    else seeds
+    else remoteSettings.SeedNodes
   }
 
-  private val address = remote.remoteAddress
+  private val address = remote.transport.address
   private val nodeFingerprint = address.##
 
   private val random = SecureRandom.getInstance("SHA1PRNG")
-  private val initalDelayForGossip = remoteSettings.InitalDelayForGossip
+  private val initalDelayForGossip = remoteSettings.InitialDelayForGossip
   private val gossipFrequency = remoteSettings.GossipFrequency
 
   private val state = new AtomicReference[State](State(currentGossip = newGossip()))
@@ -165,7 +157,7 @@ class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
           node ← oldAvailableNodes
           if connectionManager.connectionFor(node).isEmpty
         } {
-          val connectionFactory = () ⇒ system.actorFor(RootActorPath(RemoteSystemAddress(system.name, gossipingNode)) / "remote")
+          val connectionFactory = () ⇒ system.actorFor(RootActorPath(gossipingNode) / "remote")
           connectionManager.putIfAbsent(node, connectionFactory) // create a new remote connection to the new node
           oldState.nodeMembershipChangeListeners foreach (_ nodeConnected node) // notify listeners about the new nodes
         }
@@ -239,7 +231,7 @@ class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
   /**
    * Gossips set of nodes passed in as argument. Returns 'true' if it gossiped to a "seed" node.
    */
-  private def gossipTo(nodes: Set[ParsedTransportAddress]): Boolean = {
+  private def gossipTo(nodes: Set[Address]): Boolean = {
     val peers = nodes filter (_ != address) // filter out myself
     val peer = selectRandomNode(peers)
     val oldState = state.get
@@ -297,8 +289,8 @@ class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
 
   private def newGossip(): Gossip = Gossip(
     version = VectorClock(),
-    node = address.transport,
-    availableNodes = Set(address.transport))
+    node = address,
+    availableNodes = Set(address))
 
   private def incrementVersionForGossip(from: Gossip): Gossip = {
     val newVersion = from.version.increment(nodeFingerprint, newTimestamp)
@@ -313,7 +305,7 @@ class Gossiper(remote: Remote, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
     }
   }
 
-  private def selectRandomNode(nodes: Set[ParsedTransportAddress]): ParsedTransportAddress = {
+  private def selectRandomNode(nodes: Set[Address]): Address = {
     nodes.toList(random.nextInt(nodes.size))
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/MessageSerializer.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/MessageSerializer.scala
index 878023c064..5301f2bdd0 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/MessageSerializer.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/MessageSerializer.scala
@@ -12,11 +12,11 @@ import akka.util.ReflectiveAccess
 
 object MessageSerializer {
 
-  def deserialize(system: ActorSystem, messageProtocol: MessageProtocol, classLoader: Option[ClassLoader] = None): AnyRef = {
+  def deserialize(system: ActorSystem, messageProtocol: MessageProtocol, classLoader: ClassLoader): AnyRef = {
     val clazz = if (messageProtocol.hasMessageManifest) {
       Option(ReflectiveAccess.getClassFor[AnyRef](
         messageProtocol.getMessageManifest.toStringUtf8,
-        classLoader.getOrElse(ReflectiveAccess.loader)) match {
+        classLoader) match {
           case Left(e)  ⇒ throw e
           case Right(r) ⇒ r
         })
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/NetworkEventStream.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/NetworkEventStream.scala
index 4fb970262a..7254a914f7 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/NetworkEventStream.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/NetworkEventStream.scala
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 package akka.remote
 
 import scala.collection.mutable
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props, ActorSystemImpl }
+
+import akka.actor.{ Props, Address, ActorSystemImpl, Actor }
 
 /**
  * Stream of all kinds of network events, remote failure and connection events, cluster failure and connection events etc.
@@ -15,10 +16,10 @@ object NetworkEventStream {
 
   private sealed trait NetworkEventStreamEvent
 
-  private case class Register(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: ParsedTransportAddress)
+  private case class Register(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: Address)
     extends NetworkEventStreamEvent
 
-  private case class Unregister(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: ParsedTransportAddress)
+  private case class Unregister(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: Address)
     extends NetworkEventStreamEvent
 
   /**
@@ -33,8 +34,8 @@ object NetworkEventStream {
    */
   private class Channel extends Actor {
 
-    val listeners = new mutable.HashMap[ParsedTransportAddress, mutable.Set[Listener]]() {
-      override def default(k: ParsedTransportAddress) = mutable.Set.empty[Listener]
+    val listeners = new mutable.HashMap[Address, mutable.Set[Listener]]() {
+      override def default(k: Address) = mutable.Set.empty[Listener]
     }
 
     def receive = {
@@ -65,12 +66,12 @@ class NetworkEventStream(system: ActorSystemImpl) {
   /**
    * Registers a network event stream listener (asyncronously).
    */
-  def register(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: ParsedTransportAddress) =
+  def register(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: Address) =
     sender ! Register(listener, connectionAddress)
 
   /**
    * Unregisters a network event stream listener (asyncronously) .
    */
-  def unregister(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: ParsedTransportAddress) =
+  def unregister(listener: Listener, connectionAddress: Address) =
     sender ! Unregister(listener, connectionAddress)
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index 03479e6ee4..0000000000
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/Remote.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,274 +0,0 @@
-/**
- *  Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
- */
-
-package akka.remote
-
-import akka.actor._
-import akka.event._
-import akka.util._
-import akka.serialization.{ Serialization, SerializationExtension }
-import akka.dispatch.MessageDispatcher
-import akka.dispatch.SystemMessage
-import scala.annotation.tailrec
-import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.{ ActorRefProtocol, AkkaRemoteProtocol, RemoteControlProtocol, RemoteMessageProtocol }
-
-/**
- * Remote module - contains remote client and server config, remote server instance, remote daemon, remote dispatchers etc.
- */
-class Remote(val settings: ActorSystem.Settings, val remoteSettings: RemoteSettings) {
-
-  import settings._
-
-  // TODO make this really pluggable
-  val transports: TransportsMap = Map("akka" -> ((h, p) ⇒ Right(RemoteNettyAddress(h, p))))
-  val remoteAddress: RemoteSystemAddress[ParsedTransportAddress] = {
-    val unparsedAddress = remoteSettings.serverSettings.URI match {
-      case RemoteAddressExtractor(a) ⇒ a
-      case x                         ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot parse URI " + x)
-    }
-    val parsed = unparsedAddress.parse(transports) match {
-      case Left(x)  ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException(x.transport.error)
-      case Right(x) ⇒ x
-    }
-    parsed.copy(system = settings.name)
-  }
-
-  val failureDetector = new AccrualFailureDetector(remoteSettings.FailureDetectorThreshold, remoteSettings.FailureDetectorMaxSampleSize)
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _serialization: Serialization = _
-  def serialization = _serialization
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _computeGridDispatcher: MessageDispatcher = _
-  def computeGridDispatcher = _computeGridDispatcher
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _remoteDaemon: InternalActorRef = _
-  def remoteDaemon = _remoteDaemon
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _eventStream: NetworkEventStream = _
-  def eventStream = _eventStream
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _transport: RemoteSupport[ParsedTransportAddress] = _
-  def transport = _transport
-
-  @volatile
-  private var _provider: RemoteActorRefProvider = _
-  def provider = _provider
-
-  def init(system: ActorSystemImpl, provider: RemoteActorRefProvider) = {
-
-    val log = Logging(system, "Remote")
-
-    _provider = provider
-    _serialization = SerializationExtension(system)
-    _computeGridDispatcher = system.dispatchers.lookup("akka.remote.compute-grid-dispatcher")
-    _remoteDaemon = new RemoteSystemDaemon(system, this, system.provider.rootPath / "remote", system.provider.rootGuardian, log)
-    _eventStream = new NetworkEventStream(system)
-    _transport = {
-      val arguments = Seq(
-        classOf[ActorSystemImpl] -> system,
-        classOf[Remote] -> this,
-        classOf[RemoteSystemAddress[_ <: ParsedTransportAddress]] -> remoteAddress)
-      val types: Array[Class[_]] = arguments map (_._1) toArray
-      val values: Array[AnyRef] = arguments map (_._2) toArray
-
-      ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[RemoteSupport[ParsedTransportAddress]](remoteSettings.RemoteTransport, types, values) match {
-        case Left(problem) ⇒
-
-          log.error(problem, "Could not load remote transport layer")
-          throw problem
-
-        case Right(remote) ⇒
-
-          remote.start(Option(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader)) //TODO Any application loader here?
-
-          val remoteClientLifeCycleHandler = system.systemActorOf(Props(new Actor {
-            def receive = {
-              case RemoteClientError(cause, remote, address) ⇒ remote.shutdownClientConnection(address)
-              case RemoteClientDisconnected(remote, address) ⇒ remote.shutdownClientConnection(address)
-              case _                                         ⇒ //ignore other
-            }
-          }), "RemoteClientLifeCycleListener")
-
-          system.eventStream.subscribe(eventStream.sender, classOf[RemoteLifeCycleEvent])
-          system.eventStream.subscribe(remoteClientLifeCycleHandler, classOf[RemoteLifeCycleEvent])
-
-          remote
-      }
-    }
-
-    log.info("Starting remote server on [{}@{}]", system.name, remoteAddress)
-  }
-}
-
-sealed trait DaemonMsg
-case class DaemonMsgCreate(factory: () ⇒ Actor, path: String, supervisor: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
-case class DaemonMsgWatch(watcher: ActorRef, watched: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
-
-/**
- * Internal system "daemon" actor for remote internal communication.
- *
- * It acts as the brain of the remote that responds to system remote events (messages) and undertakes action.
- */
-class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, remote: Remote, _path: ActorPath, _parent: InternalActorRef, _log: LoggingAdapter)
-  extends VirtualPathContainer(system.provider, _path, _parent, _log) {
-
-  /**
-   * Find the longest matching path which we know about and return that ref
-   * (or ask that ref to continue searching if elements are left).
-   */
-  override def getChild(names: Iterator[String]): InternalActorRef = {
-
-    @tailrec
-    def rec(s: String, n: Int): (InternalActorRef, Int) = {
-      getChild(s) match {
-        case null ⇒
-          val last = s.lastIndexOf('/')
-          if (last == -1) (Nobody, n)
-          else rec(s.substring(0, last), n + 1)
-        case ref ⇒ (ref, n)
-      }
-    }
-
-    val full = Vector() ++ names
-    rec(full.mkString("/"), 0) match {
-      case (Nobody, _) ⇒ Nobody
-      case (ref, 0)    ⇒ ref
-      case (ref, n)    ⇒ ref.getChild(full.takeRight(n).iterator)
-    }
-  }
-
-  override def !(msg: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = msg match {
-    case message: DaemonMsg ⇒
-      log.debug("Received command [{}] to RemoteSystemDaemon on [{}]", message, path.address.hostPort)
-      message match {
-        case DaemonMsgCreate(factory, path, supervisor) ⇒
-          import remote.remoteAddress
-          implicit val t = remote.transports
-
-          path match {
-            case ParsedActorPath(`remoteAddress`, elems) if elems.nonEmpty && elems.head == "remote" ⇒
-              // TODO RK canonicalize path so as not to duplicate it always #1446
-              val subpath = elems.drop(1)
-              val path = remote.remoteDaemon.path / subpath
-              val actor = system.provider.actorOf(system,
-                Props(creator = factory),
-                supervisor.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef],
-                path, true, None)
-              addChild(subpath.mkString("/"), actor)
-              system.deathWatch.subscribe(this, actor)
-            case _ ⇒
-              log.error("remote path does not match path from message [{}]", message)
-          }
-        case DaemonMsgWatch(watcher, watched) ⇒
-          val other = system.actorFor(watcher.path.root / "remote")
-          system.deathWatch.subscribe(other, watched)
-      }
-
-    case Terminated(child: LocalActorRef) ⇒ removeChild(child.path.elements.drop(1).mkString("/"))
-
-    case t: Terminated                    ⇒ system.deathWatch.publish(t)
-
-    case unknown                          ⇒ log.warning("Unknown message {} received by {}", unknown, this)
-  }
-
-}
-
-class RemoteMessage(input: RemoteMessageProtocol, system: ActorSystemImpl, classLoader: Option[ClassLoader] = None) {
-
-  def originalReceiver = input.getRecipient.getPath
-
-  lazy val sender: ActorRef =
-    if (input.hasSender) system.provider.actorFor(system.provider.rootGuardian, input.getSender.getPath)
-    else system.deadLetters
-
-  lazy val recipient: InternalActorRef = system.provider.actorFor(system.provider.rootGuardian, originalReceiver)
-
-  lazy val payload: AnyRef = MessageSerializer.deserialize(system, input.getMessage, classLoader)
-
-  override def toString = "RemoteMessage: " + payload + " to " + recipient + "<+{" + originalReceiver + "} from " + sender
-}
-
-trait RemoteMarshallingOps {
-
-  def log: LoggingAdapter
-
-  def system: ActorSystem
-
-  def remote: Remote
-
-  protected def useUntrustedMode: Boolean
-
-  def createMessageSendEnvelope(rmp: RemoteMessageProtocol): AkkaRemoteProtocol = {
-    val arp = AkkaRemoteProtocol.newBuilder
-    arp.setMessage(rmp)
-    arp.build
-  }
-
-  def createControlEnvelope(rcp: RemoteControlProtocol): AkkaRemoteProtocol = {
-    val arp = AkkaRemoteProtocol.newBuilder
-    arp.setInstruction(rcp)
-    arp.build
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Serializes the ActorRef instance into a Protocol Buffers (protobuf) Message.
-   */
-  def toRemoteActorRefProtocol(actor: ActorRef): ActorRefProtocol = {
-    ActorRefProtocol.newBuilder.setPath(actor.path.toString).build
-  }
-
-  def createRemoteMessageProtocolBuilder(
-    recipient: ActorRef,
-    message: Any,
-    senderOption: Option[ActorRef]): RemoteMessageProtocol.Builder = {
-
-    val messageBuilder = RemoteMessageProtocol.newBuilder.setRecipient(toRemoteActorRefProtocol(recipient))
-    messageBuilder.setMessage(MessageSerializer.serialize(system, message.asInstanceOf[AnyRef]))
-
-    if (senderOption.isDefined) messageBuilder.setSender(toRemoteActorRefProtocol(senderOption.get))
-
-    messageBuilder
-  }
-
-  def receiveMessage(remoteMessage: RemoteMessage) {
-    if (remote.remoteSettings.LogReceivedMessages)
-      log.debug("received message [{}]", remoteMessage)
-
-    val remoteDaemon = remote.remoteDaemon
-
-    remoteMessage.recipient match {
-      case `remoteDaemon` ⇒
-        remoteMessage.payload match {
-          case m @ (_: DaemonMsg | _: Terminated) ⇒
-            try remoteDaemon ! m catch {
-              case e: Exception ⇒ log.error(e, "exception while processing remote command {} from {}", m, remoteMessage.sender)
-            }
-          case x ⇒ log.warning("remoteDaemon received illegal message {} from {}", x, remoteMessage.sender)
-        }
-      case l: LocalRef ⇒
-        remoteMessage.payload match {
-          case msg: SystemMessage ⇒
-            if (useUntrustedMode)
-              throw new SecurityException("RemoteModule server is operating is untrusted mode, can not send system message")
-            else l.sendSystemMessage(msg)
-          case _: AutoReceivedMessage if (useUntrustedMode) ⇒
-            throw new SecurityException("RemoteModule server is operating is untrusted mode, can not pass on a AutoReceivedMessage to the remote actor")
-          case m ⇒ l.!(m)(remoteMessage.sender)
-        }
-      case r: RemoteActorRef ⇒
-        implicit val t = remote.transports
-        remoteMessage.originalReceiver match {
-          case ParsedActorPath(address, _) if address == remote.remoteDaemon.path.address ⇒
-            r.!(remoteMessage.payload)(remoteMessage.sender)
-          case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {}", remoteMessage.payload, r)
-        }
-      case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {}", remoteMessage.payload, r)
-    }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
index d8cebe9c31..6081372e6b 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteActorRefProvider.scala
@@ -6,9 +6,14 @@ package akka.remote
 
 import akka.actor._
 import akka.dispatch._
-import akka.event.{ DeathWatch, Logging }
+import akka.event.{ DeathWatch, Logging, LoggingAdapter }
 import akka.event.EventStream
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
+import java.util.concurrent.{ TimeoutException }
+import com.typesafe.config.Config
+import akka.util.ReflectiveAccess
+import akka.serialization.Serialization
+import akka.serialization.SerializationExtension
 
 /**
  * Remote ActorRefProvider. Starts up actor on remote node and creates a RemoteActorRef representing it.
@@ -18,39 +23,93 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
   val settings: ActorSystem.Settings,
   val eventStream: EventStream,
   val scheduler: Scheduler,
-  _deadLetters: InternalActorRef) extends ActorRefProvider {
+  val classloader: ClassLoader) extends ActorRefProvider {
 
   val remoteSettings = new RemoteSettings(settings.config, systemName)
 
+  val deployer = new RemoteDeployer(settings, classloader)
+
+  private val local = new LocalActorRefProvider(systemName, settings, eventStream, scheduler, deployer)
+
+  @volatile
+  private var _log = local.log
+  def log: LoggingAdapter = _log
+
+  def rootPath = local.rootPath
+  def locker = local.locker
+  def deadLetters = local.deadLetters
+
+  val deathWatch = new RemoteDeathWatch(local.deathWatch, this)
+
+  val failureDetector = new AccrualFailureDetector(remoteSettings.FailureDetectorThreshold, remoteSettings.FailureDetectorMaxSampleSize)
+
+  // these are only available after init()
   def rootGuardian = local.rootGuardian
   def guardian = local.guardian
   def systemGuardian = local.systemGuardian
   def terminationFuture = local.terminationFuture
   def dispatcher = local.dispatcher
-
   def registerTempActor(actorRef: InternalActorRef, path: ActorPath) = local.registerTempActor(actorRef, path)
   def unregisterTempActor(path: ActorPath) = local.unregisterTempActor(path)
   def tempPath() = local.tempPath()
   def tempContainer = local.tempContainer
 
-  val deployer = new RemoteDeployer(settings)
+  @volatile
+  private var _transport: RemoteTransport = _
+  def transport: RemoteTransport = _transport
 
-  val remote = new Remote(settings, remoteSettings)
-  implicit val transports = remote.transports
+  @volatile
+  private var _serialization: Serialization = _
+  def serialization = _serialization
 
-  val log = Logging(eventStream, "RemoteActorRefProvider(" + remote.remoteAddress + ")")
+  @volatile
+  private var _remoteDaemon: InternalActorRef = _
+  def remoteDaemon = _remoteDaemon
 
-  val rootPath: ActorPath = RootActorPath(remote.remoteAddress)
-
-  private val local = new LocalActorRefProvider(systemName, settings, eventStream, scheduler, _deadLetters, rootPath, deployer)
-
-  val deathWatch = new RemoteDeathWatch(local.deathWatch, this)
+  @volatile
+  private var _networkEventStream: NetworkEventStream = _
+  def networkEventStream = _networkEventStream
 
   def init(system: ActorSystemImpl) {
     local.init(system)
-    remote.init(system, this)
-    local.registerExtraNames(Map(("remote", remote.remoteDaemon)))
-    terminationFuture.onComplete(_ ⇒ remote.transport.shutdown())
+
+    _remoteDaemon = new RemoteSystemDaemon(system, rootPath / "remote", rootGuardian, log)
+    local.registerExtraNames(Map(("remote", remoteDaemon)))
+
+    _serialization = SerializationExtension(system)
+
+    _networkEventStream = new NetworkEventStream(system)
+    system.eventStream.subscribe(networkEventStream.sender, classOf[RemoteLifeCycleEvent])
+
+    _transport = {
+      val fqn = remoteSettings.RemoteTransport
+      val args = Seq(
+        classOf[RemoteSettings] -> remoteSettings,
+        classOf[ActorSystemImpl] -> system,
+        classOf[RemoteActorRefProvider] -> this)
+
+      ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[RemoteTransport](fqn, args, system.internalClassLoader) match {
+        case Left(problem) ⇒ throw new RemoteTransportException("Could not load remote transport layer " + fqn, problem)
+        case Right(remote) ⇒ remote
+      }
+    }
+
+    _log = Logging(eventStream, "RemoteActorRefProvider(" + transport.address + ")")
+
+    // this enables reception of remote requests
+    _transport.start()
+
+    val remoteClientLifeCycleHandler = system.systemActorOf(Props(new Actor {
+      def receive = {
+        case RemoteClientError(cause, remote, address) ⇒ remote.shutdownClientConnection(address)
+        case RemoteClientDisconnected(remote, address) ⇒ remote.shutdownClientConnection(address)
+        case _                                         ⇒ //ignore other
+      }
+    }), "RemoteClientLifeCycleListener")
+
+    system.eventStream.subscribe(remoteClientLifeCycleHandler, classOf[RemoteLifeCycleEvent])
+
+    terminationFuture.onComplete(_ ⇒ transport.shutdown())
   }
 
   def actorOf(system: ActorSystemImpl, props: Props, supervisor: InternalActorRef, path: ActorPath, systemService: Boolean, deploy: Option[Deploy]): InternalActorRef = {
@@ -100,18 +159,12 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
       })
 
       deployment match {
-        case Some(Deploy(_, _, _, RemoteScope(address))) ⇒
-          // FIXME RK this should be done within the deployer, i.e. the whole parsing business
-          address.parse(remote.transports) match {
-            case Left(x) ⇒
-              throw new ConfigurationException("cannot parse remote address: " + x)
-            case Right(addr) ⇒
-              if (addr == rootPath.address) local.actorOf(system, props, supervisor, path, false, deployment)
-              else {
-                val rpath = RootActorPath(addr) / "remote" / rootPath.address.hostPort / path.elements
-                useActorOnNode(rpath, props.creator, supervisor)
-                new RemoteActorRef(this, remote.transport, rpath, supervisor, None)
-              }
+        case Some(Deploy(_, _, _, RemoteScope(addr))) ⇒
+          if (addr == rootPath.address) local.actorOf(system, props, supervisor, path, false, deployment)
+          else {
+            val rpath = RootActorPath(addr) / "remote" / transport.address.hostPort / path.elements
+            useActorOnNode(rpath, props.creator, supervisor)
+            new RemoteActorRef(this, transport, rpath, supervisor)
           }
 
         case _ ⇒ local.actorOf(system, props, supervisor, path, systemService, deployment)
@@ -119,16 +172,14 @@ class RemoteActorRefProvider(
     }
   }
 
-  def actorFor(path: ActorPath): InternalActorRef = path.root match {
-    case `rootPath` ⇒ actorFor(rootGuardian, path.elements)
-    case RootActorPath(_: RemoteSystemAddress[_], _) ⇒ new RemoteActorRef(this, remote.transport, path, Nobody, None)
-    case _ ⇒ local.actorFor(path)
-  }
+  def actorFor(path: ActorPath): InternalActorRef =
+    if (path.address == rootPath.address || path.address == transport.address) actorFor(rootGuardian, path.elements)
+    else new RemoteActorRef(this, transport, path, Nobody)
 
   def actorFor(ref: InternalActorRef, path: String): InternalActorRef = path match {
-    case ParsedActorPath(address, elems) ⇒
-      if (address == rootPath.address) actorFor(rootGuardian, elems)
-      else new RemoteActorRef(this, remote.transport, new RootActorPath(address) / elems, Nobody, None)
+    case ActorPathExtractor(address, elems) ⇒
+      if (address == rootPath.address || address == transport.address) actorFor(rootGuardian, elems)
+      else new RemoteActorRef(this, transport, new RootActorPath(address) / elems, Nobody)
     case _ ⇒ local.actorFor(ref, path)
   }
 
@@ -155,10 +206,9 @@ trait RemoteRef extends ActorRefScope {
  */
 private[akka] class RemoteActorRef private[akka] (
   val provider: RemoteActorRefProvider,
-  remote: RemoteSupport[ParsedTransportAddress],
+  remote: RemoteTransport,
   val path: ActorPath,
-  val getParent: InternalActorRef,
-  loader: Option[ClassLoader])
+  val getParent: InternalActorRef)
   extends InternalActorRef with RemoteRef {
 
   def getChild(name: Iterator[String]): InternalActorRef = {
@@ -166,7 +216,7 @@ private[akka] class RemoteActorRef private[akka] (
     s.headOption match {
       case None       ⇒ this
       case Some("..") ⇒ getParent getChild name
-      case _          ⇒ new RemoteActorRef(provider, remote, path / s, Nobody, loader)
+      case _          ⇒ new RemoteActorRef(provider, remote, path / s, Nobody)
     }
   }
 
@@ -175,9 +225,9 @@ private[akka] class RemoteActorRef private[akka] (
 
   def isTerminated: Boolean = !running
 
-  def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = remote.send(message, None, this, loader)
+  def sendSystemMessage(message: SystemMessage): Unit = remote.send(message, None, this)
 
-  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = remote.send(message, Option(sender), this, loader)
+  override def !(message: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = remote.send(message, Option(sender), this)
 
   def suspend(): Unit = sendSystemMessage(Suspend())
 
@@ -188,7 +238,7 @@ private[akka] class RemoteActorRef private[akka] (
   def restart(cause: Throwable): Unit = sendSystemMessage(Recreate(cause))
 
   @throws(classOf[java.io.ObjectStreamException])
-  private def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path.toString)
+  private def writeReplace(): AnyRef = SerializedActorRef(path)
 }
 
 class RemoteDeathWatch(val local: LocalDeathWatch, val provider: RemoteActorRefProvider) extends DeathWatch {
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteAddress.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteAddress.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f7274c2356
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteAddress.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.remote
+
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConnectionManager.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConnectionManager.scala
index 43c07e6968..fd2a9135d7 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConnectionManager.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConnectionManager.scala
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
  */
 class RemoteConnectionManager(
   system: ActorSystemImpl,
-  remote: Remote,
-  initialConnections: Map[ParsedTransportAddress, ActorRef] = Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, ActorRef])
+  remote: RemoteActorRefProvider,
+  initialConnections: Map[Address, ActorRef] = Map.empty[Address, ActorRef])
   extends ConnectionManager {
 
   val log = Logging(system, "RemoteConnectionManager")
 
   // FIXME is this VersionedIterable really needed? It is not used I think. Complicates API. See 'def connections' etc.
-  case class State(version: Long, connections: Map[ParsedTransportAddress, ActorRef])
+  case class State(version: Long, connections: Map[Address, ActorRef])
     extends VersionedIterable[ActorRef] {
     def iterable: Iterable[ActorRef] = connections.values
   }
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class RemoteConnectionManager(
 
   def size: Int = connections.connections.size
 
-  def connectionFor(address: ParsedTransportAddress): Option[ActorRef] = connections.connections.get(address)
+  def connectionFor(address: Address): Option[ActorRef] = connections.connections.get(address)
 
   def isEmpty: Boolean = connections.connections.isEmpty
 
@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ class RemoteConnectionManager(
   }
 
   @tailrec
-  final def failOver(from: ParsedTransportAddress, to: ParsedTransportAddress) {
+  final def failOver(from: Address, to: Address) {
     log.debug("Failing over connection from [{}] to [{}]", from, to)
 
     val oldState = state.get
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ class RemoteConnectionManager(
     val oldState = state.get()
     var changed = false
 
-    var faultyAddress: ParsedTransportAddress = null
-    var newConnections = Map.empty[ParsedTransportAddress, ActorRef]
+    var faultyAddress: Address = null
+    var newConnections = Map.empty[Address, ActorRef]
 
     oldState.connections.keys foreach { address ⇒
       val actorRef: ActorRef = oldState.connections.get(address).get
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ class RemoteConnectionManager(
   }
 
   @tailrec
-  final def putIfAbsent(address: ParsedTransportAddress, newConnectionFactory: () ⇒ ActorRef): ActorRef = {
+  final def putIfAbsent(address: Address, newConnectionFactory: () ⇒ ActorRef): ActorRef = {
 
     val oldState = state.get()
     val oldConnections = oldState.connections
@@ -145,6 +145,6 @@ class RemoteConnectionManager(
     }
   }
 
-  private[remote] def newConnection(remoteAddress: ParsedTransportAddress, actorPath: ActorPath) =
-    new RemoteActorRef(remote.provider, remote.transport, actorPath, Nobody, None)
+  private[remote] def newConnection(remoteAddress: Address, actorPath: ActorPath) =
+    new RemoteActorRef(remote, remote.transport, actorPath, Nobody)
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bda71bcc00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDaemon.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.remote
+
+import scala.annotation.tailrec
+
+import akka.actor.{ VirtualPathContainer, Terminated, Props, Nobody, LocalActorRef, InternalActorRef, Address, ActorSystemImpl, ActorRef, ActorPathExtractor, ActorPath, Actor }
+import akka.event.LoggingAdapter
+
+sealed trait DaemonMsg
+case class DaemonMsgCreate(factory: () ⇒ Actor, path: String, supervisor: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
+case class DaemonMsgWatch(watcher: ActorRef, watched: ActorRef) extends DaemonMsg
+
+/**
+ * Internal system "daemon" actor for remote internal communication.
+ *
+ * It acts as the brain of the remote that responds to system remote events (messages) and undertakes action.
+ *
+ * INTERNAL USE ONLY!
+ */
+private[akka] class RemoteSystemDaemon(system: ActorSystemImpl, _path: ActorPath, _parent: InternalActorRef, _log: LoggingAdapter)
+  extends VirtualPathContainer(system.provider, _path, _parent, _log) {
+
+  /**
+   * Find the longest matching path which we know about and return that ref
+   * (or ask that ref to continue searching if elements are left).
+   */
+  override def getChild(names: Iterator[String]): InternalActorRef = {
+
+    @tailrec
+    def rec(s: String, n: Int): (InternalActorRef, Int) = {
+      getChild(s) match {
+        case null ⇒
+          val last = s.lastIndexOf('/')
+          if (last == -1) (Nobody, n)
+          else rec(s.substring(0, last), n + 1)
+        case ref ⇒ (ref, n)
+      }
+    }
+
+    val full = Vector() ++ names
+    rec(full.mkString("/"), 0) match {
+      case (Nobody, _) ⇒ Nobody
+      case (ref, 0)    ⇒ ref
+      case (ref, n)    ⇒ ref.getChild(full.takeRight(n).iterator)
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def !(msg: Any)(implicit sender: ActorRef = null): Unit = msg match {
+    case message: DaemonMsg ⇒
+      log.debug("Received command [{}] to RemoteSystemDaemon on [{}]", message, path.address)
+      message match {
+        case DaemonMsgCreate(factory, path, supervisor) ⇒
+          path match {
+            case ActorPathExtractor(address, elems) if elems.nonEmpty && elems.head == "remote" ⇒
+              // TODO RK currently the extracted “address” is just ignored, is that okay?
+              // TODO RK canonicalize path so as not to duplicate it always #1446
+              val subpath = elems.drop(1)
+              val path = this.path / subpath
+              val actor = system.provider.actorOf(system,
+                Props(creator = factory),
+                supervisor.asInstanceOf[InternalActorRef],
+                path, true, None)
+              addChild(subpath.mkString("/"), actor)
+              system.deathWatch.subscribe(this, actor)
+            case _ ⇒
+              log.error("remote path does not match path from message [{}]", message)
+          }
+        case DaemonMsgWatch(watcher, watched) ⇒
+          val other = system.actorFor(watcher.path.root / "remote")
+          system.deathWatch.subscribe(other, watched)
+      }
+
+    case Terminated(child: LocalActorRef) ⇒ removeChild(child.path.elements.drop(1).mkString("/"))
+
+    case t: Terminated                    ⇒ system.deathWatch.publish(t)
+
+    case unknown                          ⇒ log.warning("Unknown message {} received by {}", unknown, this)
+  }
+
+}
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployer.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployer.scala
index 948e1c25d3..799bba13e3 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployer.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployer.scala
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ import akka.routing._
 import com.typesafe.config._
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
 
-case class RemoteScope(node: UnparsedSystemAddress[UnparsedTransportAddress]) extends Scope
+case class RemoteScope(node: Address) extends Scope
 
-class RemoteDeployer(_settings: ActorSystem.Settings) extends Deployer(_settings) {
+class RemoteDeployer(_settings: ActorSystem.Settings, _classloader: ClassLoader) extends Deployer(_settings, _classloader) {
 
   override protected def parseConfig(path: String, config: Config): Option[Deploy] = {
     import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class RemoteDeployer(_settings: ActorSystem.Settings) extends Deployer(_settings
     super.parseConfig(path, config) match {
       case d @ Some(deploy) ⇒
         deploy.config.getString("remote") match {
-          case RemoteAddressExtractor(r) ⇒ Some(deploy.copy(scope = RemoteScope(r)))
+          case AddressExtractor(r) ⇒ Some(deploy.copy(scope = RemoteScope(r)))
           case str ⇒
             if (!str.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException("unparseable remote node name " + str)
             val nodes = deploy.config.getStringList("target.nodes").asScala
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteInterface.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteInterface.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index 3f212f51f5..0000000000
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteInterface.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,340 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
- */
-
-package akka.remote
-
-import akka.actor._
-import akka.AkkaException
-import scala.reflect.BeanProperty
-import java.net.URI
-import java.net.URISyntaxException
-import java.net.InetAddress
-import java.net.UnknownHostException
-import akka.event.Logging
-
-/**
- * Interface for remote transports to encode their addresses. The three parts
- * are named according to the URI spec (precisely java.net.URI) which is used
- * for parsing. That means that the address’ parts must conform to what an
- * URI expects, but otherwise each transport may assign a different meaning
- * to these parts.
- */
-trait RemoteTransportAddress {
-  def protocol: String
-  def host: String
-  def port: Int
-}
-
-trait ParsedTransportAddress extends RemoteTransportAddress
-
-case class RemoteNettyAddress(host: String, ip: Option[InetAddress], port: Int) extends ParsedTransportAddress {
-  def protocol = "akka"
-
-  override def toString(): String = "akka://" + host + ":" + port
-}
-
-object RemoteNettyAddress {
-  def apply(host: String, port: Int): RemoteNettyAddress = {
-    // TODO ticket #1639
-    val ip = try Some(InetAddress.getByName(host)) catch { case _: UnknownHostException ⇒ None }
-    new RemoteNettyAddress(host, ip, port)
-  }
-  def apply(s: String): RemoteNettyAddress = {
-    val RE = """([^:]+):(\d+)""".r
-    s match {
-      case RE(h, p) ⇒ apply(h, Integer.parseInt(p))
-      case _        ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot parse " + s + " as <host:port>")
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-case class UnparsedTransportAddress(protocol: String, host: String, port: Int) extends RemoteTransportAddress {
-  def parse(transports: TransportsMap): RemoteTransportAddress =
-    transports.get(protocol)
-      .map(_(host, port))
-      .toRight("protocol " + protocol + " not known")
-      .joinRight.fold(UnparseableTransportAddress(protocol, host, port, _), identity)
-}
-
-case class UnparseableTransportAddress(protocol: String, host: String, port: Int, error: String) extends RemoteTransportAddress
-
-case class RemoteSystemAddress[+T <: ParsedTransportAddress](system: String, transport: T) extends Address {
-  def protocol = transport.protocol
-  @transient
-  lazy val hostPort = system + "@" + transport.host + ":" + transport.port
-}
-
-case class UnparsedSystemAddress[+T <: RemoteTransportAddress](system: Option[String], transport: T) {
-  def parse(transports: TransportsMap): Either[UnparsedSystemAddress[UnparseableTransportAddress], RemoteSystemAddress[ParsedTransportAddress]] =
-    system match {
-      case Some(sys) ⇒
-        transport match {
-          case x: ParsedTransportAddress ⇒ Right(RemoteSystemAddress(sys, x))
-          case y: UnparsedTransportAddress ⇒
-            y.parse(transports) match {
-              case x: ParsedTransportAddress      ⇒ Right(RemoteSystemAddress(sys, x))
-              case y: UnparseableTransportAddress ⇒ Left(UnparsedSystemAddress(system, y))
-              case z                              ⇒ Left(UnparsedSystemAddress(system, UnparseableTransportAddress(z.protocol, z.host, z.port, "cannot parse " + z)))
-            }
-          case z ⇒ Left(UnparsedSystemAddress(system, UnparseableTransportAddress(z.protocol, z.host, z.port, "cannot parse " + z)))
-        }
-      case None ⇒ Left(UnparsedSystemAddress(None, UnparseableTransportAddress(transport.protocol, transport.host, transport.port, "no system name specified")))
-    }
-}
-
-object RemoteAddressExtractor {
-  def unapply(s: String): Option[UnparsedSystemAddress[UnparsedTransportAddress]] = {
-    try {
-      val uri = new URI(s)
-      if (uri.getScheme == null || uri.getHost == null || uri.getPort == -1) None
-      else Some(UnparsedSystemAddress(Option(uri.getUserInfo), UnparsedTransportAddress(uri.getScheme, uri.getHost, uri.getPort)))
-    } catch {
-      case _: URISyntaxException ⇒ None
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-object RemoteActorPath {
-  def unapply(addr: String): Option[(UnparsedSystemAddress[UnparsedTransportAddress], Iterable[String])] = {
-    try {
-      val uri = new URI(addr)
-      if (uri.getScheme == null || uri.getUserInfo == null || uri.getHost == null || uri.getPort == -1 || uri.getPath == null) None
-      else Some(UnparsedSystemAddress(Some(uri.getUserInfo), UnparsedTransportAddress(uri.getScheme, uri.getHost, uri.getPort)),
-        ActorPath.split(uri.getPath).drop(1))
-    } catch {
-      case _: URISyntaxException ⇒ None
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-object ParsedActorPath {
-  def unapply(addr: String)(implicit transports: TransportsMap): Option[(RemoteSystemAddress[ParsedTransportAddress], Iterable[String])] = {
-    try {
-      val uri = new URI(addr)
-      if (uri.getScheme == null || uri.getUserInfo == null || uri.getHost == null || uri.getPort == -1 || uri.getPath == null) None
-      else
-        UnparsedSystemAddress(Some(uri.getUserInfo), UnparsedTransportAddress(uri.getScheme, uri.getHost, uri.getPort)).parse(transports) match {
-          case Left(_)  ⇒ None
-          case Right(x) ⇒ Some(x, ActorPath.split(uri.getPath).drop(1))
-        }
-    } catch {
-      case _: URISyntaxException ⇒ None
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-class RemoteException(message: String) extends AkkaException(message)
-
-trait RemoteModule {
-  protected[akka] def notifyListeners(message: RemoteLifeCycleEvent): Unit
-}
-
-/**
- * Remote life-cycle events.
- */
-sealed trait RemoteLifeCycleEvent {
-  def logLevel: Logging.LogLevel
-}
-
-/**
- * Life-cycle events for RemoteClient.
- */
-trait RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent extends RemoteLifeCycleEvent {
-  def remoteAddress: ParsedTransportAddress
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientError[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.ErrorLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientError@" +
-      remoteAddress +
-      ": Error[" +
-      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientDisconnected[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientDisconnected@" + remoteAddress
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientConnected[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientConnected@" + remoteAddress
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientStarted[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientStarted@" + remoteAddress
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientShutdown[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientShutdown@" + remoteAddress
-}
-
-case class RemoteClientWriteFailed[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty request: AnyRef,
-  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: T) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.WarningLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteClientWriteFailed@" +
-      remoteAddress +
-      ": MessageClass[" +
-      (if (request ne null) request.getClass.getName else "no message") +
-      "] Error[" +
-      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-/**
- *  Life-cycle events for RemoteServer.
- */
-trait RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent extends RemoteLifeCycleEvent
-
-case class RemoteServerStarted[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerStarted@" + remote.name
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerShutdown[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerShutdown@" + remote.name
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerError[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty val cause: Throwable,
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.ErrorLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerError@" +
-      remote.name +
-      ": Error[" +
-      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerClientConnected[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerClientConnected@" +
-      remote.name +
-      ": Client[" +
-      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerClientDisconnected[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerClientDisconnected@" +
-      remote.name +
-      ": Client[" +
-      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerClientClosed[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerClientClosed@" +
-      remote.name +
-      ": Client[" +
-      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-case class RemoteServerWriteFailed[T <: ParsedTransportAddress](
-  @BeanProperty request: AnyRef,
-  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
-  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteSupport[T],
-  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Option[T]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
-  override def logLevel = Logging.WarningLevel
-  override def toString =
-    "RemoteServerWriteFailed@" +
-      remote +
-      ": ClientAddress[" +
-      remoteAddress +
-      "] MessageClass[" +
-      (if (request ne null) request.getClass.getName else "no message") +
-      "] Error[" +
-      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
-      "]"
-}
-
-/**
- * Thrown for example when trying to send a message using a RemoteClient that is either not started or shut down.
- */
-class RemoteClientException[T <: ParsedTransportAddress] private[akka] (
-  message: String,
-  @BeanProperty val client: RemoteSupport[T],
-  val remoteAddress: T, cause: Throwable = null) extends AkkaException(message, cause)
-
-abstract class RemoteSupport[-T <: ParsedTransportAddress](val system: ActorSystemImpl) {
-  /**
-   * Shuts down the remoting
-   */
-  def shutdown(): Unit
-
-  /**
-   *  Gets the name of the server instance
-   */
-  def name: String
-
-  /**
-   *  Starts up the remoting
-   */
-  def start(loader: Option[ClassLoader]): Unit
-
-  /**
-   * Shuts down a specific client connected to the supplied remote address returns true if successful
-   */
-  def shutdownClientConnection(address: T): Boolean
-
-  /**
-   * Restarts a specific client connected to the supplied remote address, but only if the client is not shut down
-   */
-  def restartClientConnection(address: T): Boolean
-
-  /** Methods that needs to be implemented by a transport **/
-
-  protected[akka] def send(message: Any,
-                           senderOption: Option[ActorRef],
-                           recipient: RemoteActorRef,
-                           loader: Option[ClassLoader]): Unit
-
-  protected[akka] def notifyListeners(message: RemoteLifeCycleEvent): Unit = {
-    system.eventStream.publish(message)
-    system.log.log(message.logLevel, "REMOTE: {}", message)
-  }
-
-  override def toString = name
-}
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteSettings.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteSettings.scala
index a1227ff69c..6509d19383 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteSettings.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteSettings.scala
@@ -9,92 +9,29 @@ import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS
 import java.net.InetAddress
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
 import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
+import akka.actor.Address
+import akka.actor.AddressExtractor
 
 class RemoteSettings(val config: Config, val systemName: String) {
 
   import config._
 
-  final val RemoteTransport = getString("akka.remote.transport")
-  final val FailureDetectorThreshold = getInt("akka.remote.failure-detector.threshold")
-  final val FailureDetectorMaxSampleSize = getInt("akka.remote.failure-detector.max-sample-size")
-  final val ShouldCompressData = getBoolean("akka.remote.use-compression")
-  final val RemoteSystemDaemonAckTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.remote-daemon-ack-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
-  final val InitalDelayForGossip = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.gossip.initialDelay"), MILLISECONDS)
-  final val GossipFrequency = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.gossip.frequency"), MILLISECONDS)
-  final val BackoffTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.backoff-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
-  final val LogReceivedMessages = getBoolean("akka.remote.log-received-messages")
-  final val LogSentMessages = getBoolean("akka.remote.log-sent-messages")
+  val RemoteTransport = getString("akka.remote.transport")
+  val LogReceive = getBoolean("akka.remote.log-received-messages")
+  val LogSend = getBoolean("akka.remote.log-sent-messages")
 
+  // AccrualFailureDetector
+  val FailureDetectorThreshold = getInt("akka.remote.failure-detector.threshold")
+  val FailureDetectorMaxSampleSize = getInt("akka.remote.failure-detector.max-sample-size")
+
+  // Gossiper
+  val RemoteSystemDaemonAckTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.remote-daemon-ack-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
+  val InitialDelayForGossip = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.gossip.initialDelay"), MILLISECONDS)
+  val GossipFrequency = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.gossip.frequency"), MILLISECONDS)
   // TODO cluster config will go into akka-cluster/reference.conf when we enable that module
-  final val SeedNodes = Set.empty[RemoteNettyAddress] ++ getStringList("akka.cluster.seed-nodes").asScala.collect {
-    case RemoteAddressExtractor(addr) ⇒ addr.transport
+  val SeedNodes = Set.empty[Address] ++ getStringList("akka.cluster.seed-nodes").asScala.collect {
+    case AddressExtractor(addr) ⇒ addr
   }
 
-  final val serverSettings = new RemoteServerSettings
-  final val clientSettings = new RemoteClientSettings
-
-  class RemoteClientSettings {
-    val SecureCookie: Option[String] = getString("akka.remote.secure-cookie") match {
-      case ""     ⇒ None
-      case cookie ⇒ Some(cookie)
-    }
-
-    final val ConnectionTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.client.connection-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
-    final val ReconnectionTimeWindow = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.client.reconnection-time-window"), MILLISECONDS)
-    final val ReadTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.client.read-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
-    final val ReconnectDelay = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.client.reconnect-delay"), MILLISECONDS)
-    final val MessageFrameSize = getBytes("akka.remote.client.message-frame-size").toInt
-  }
-
-  class RemoteServerSettings {
-    import scala.collection.JavaConverters._
-    final val MessageFrameSize = getBytes("akka.remote.server.message-frame-size").toInt
-    final val SecureCookie: Option[String] = getString("akka.remote.secure-cookie") match {
-      case ""     ⇒ None
-      case cookie ⇒ Some(cookie)
-    }
-    final val RequireCookie = {
-      val requireCookie = getBoolean("akka.remote.server.require-cookie")
-      if (requireCookie && SecureCookie.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException(
-        "Configuration option 'akka.remote.server.require-cookie' is turned on but no secure cookie is defined in 'akka.remote.secure-cookie'.")
-      requireCookie
-    }
-
-    final val UsePassiveConnections = getBoolean("akka.remote.use-passive-connections")
-
-    final val UntrustedMode = getBoolean("akka.remote.server.untrusted-mode")
-    final val Hostname = getString("akka.remote.server.hostname") match {
-      case ""    ⇒ InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostAddress
-      case value ⇒ value
-    }
-    final val Port = getInt("akka.remote.server.port") match {
-      case 0 ⇒ try {
-        val s = new java.net.ServerSocket(0)
-        try s.getLocalPort finally s.close()
-      } catch { case e ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException("Unable to obtain random port", e) }
-      case other ⇒ other
-    }
-
-    final val Backlog = getInt("akka.remote.server.backlog")
-
-    final val ExecutionPoolKeepAlive = Duration(getMilliseconds("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-keepalive"), MILLISECONDS)
-
-    final val ExecutionPoolSize = getInt("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-size") match {
-      case sz if sz < 1 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-size is less than 1")
-      case sz           ⇒ sz
-    }
-
-    final val MaxChannelMemorySize = getBytes("akka.remote.server.max-channel-memory-size") match {
-      case sz if sz < 0 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.max-channel-memory-size is less than 0 bytes")
-      case sz           ⇒ sz
-    }
-
-    final val MaxTotalMemorySize = getBytes("akka.remote.server.max-total-memory-size") match {
-      case sz if sz < 0 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.max-total-memory-size is less than 0 bytes")
-      case sz           ⇒ sz
-    }
-
-    // TODO handle the system name right and move this to config file syntax
-    final val URI = "akka://sys@" + Hostname + ":" + Port
-  }
+  val UntrustedMode = getBoolean("akka.remote.untrusted-mode")
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3fbe5913b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteTransport.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,334 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+
+package akka.remote
+
+import scala.reflect.BeanProperty
+import akka.actor.{ Terminated, LocalRef, InternalActorRef, AutoReceivedMessage, AddressExtractor, Address, ActorSystemImpl, ActorSystem, ActorRef }
+import akka.dispatch.SystemMessage
+import akka.event.{ LoggingAdapter, Logging }
+import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.{ RemoteMessageProtocol, RemoteControlProtocol, AkkaRemoteProtocol, ActorRefProtocol }
+import akka.AkkaException
+import akka.serialization.Serialization
+
+/**
+ * Remote life-cycle events.
+ */
+sealed trait RemoteLifeCycleEvent {
+  def logLevel: Logging.LogLevel
+}
+
+/**
+ * Life-cycle events for RemoteClient.
+ */
+trait RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent extends RemoteLifeCycleEvent {
+  def remoteAddress: Address
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientError(
+  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.ErrorLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientError@" +
+      remoteAddress +
+      ": Error[" +
+      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientDisconnected(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientDisconnected@" + remoteAddress
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientConnected(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientConnected@" + remoteAddress
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientStarted(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientStarted@" + remoteAddress
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientShutdown(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientShutdown@" + remoteAddress
+}
+
+case class RemoteClientWriteFailed(
+  @BeanProperty request: AnyRef,
+  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Address) extends RemoteClientLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.WarningLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteClientWriteFailed@" +
+      remoteAddress +
+      ": MessageClass[" +
+      (if (request ne null) request.getClass.getName else "no message") +
+      "] Error[" +
+      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+/**
+ *  Life-cycle events for RemoteServer.
+ */
+trait RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent extends RemoteLifeCycleEvent
+
+case class RemoteServerStarted(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerStarted@" + remote
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerShutdown(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.InfoLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerShutdown@" + remote
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerError(
+  @BeanProperty val cause: Throwable,
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.ErrorLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerError@" +
+      remote +
+      ": Error[" +
+      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerClientConnected(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[Address]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerClientConnected@" +
+      remote +
+      ": Client[" +
+      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerClientDisconnected(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[Address]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerClientDisconnected@" +
+      remote +
+      ": Client[" +
+      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerClientClosed(
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty val clientAddress: Option[Address]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.DebugLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerClientClosed@" +
+      remote +
+      ": Client[" +
+      (if (clientAddress.isDefined) clientAddress.get else "no address") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+case class RemoteServerWriteFailed(
+  @BeanProperty request: AnyRef,
+  @BeanProperty cause: Throwable,
+  @BeanProperty remote: RemoteTransport,
+  @BeanProperty remoteAddress: Option[Address]) extends RemoteServerLifeCycleEvent {
+  override def logLevel = Logging.WarningLevel
+  override def toString =
+    "RemoteServerWriteFailed@" +
+      remote +
+      ": ClientAddress[" +
+      remoteAddress +
+      "] MessageClass[" +
+      (if (request ne null) request.getClass.getName else "no message") +
+      "] Error[" +
+      (if (cause ne null) cause.getClass.getName + ": " + cause.getMessage else "unknown") +
+      "]"
+}
+
+/**
+ * Thrown for example when trying to send a message using a RemoteClient that is either not started or shut down.
+ */
+class RemoteClientException private[akka] (
+  message: String,
+  @BeanProperty val client: RemoteTransport,
+  val remoteAddress: Address, cause: Throwable = null) extends AkkaException(message, cause)
+
+class RemoteTransportException(message: String, cause: Throwable) extends AkkaException(message, cause)
+
+/**
+ * The remote transport is responsible for sending and receiving messages.
+ * Each transport has an address, which it should provide in
+ * Serialization.currentTransportAddress (thread-local) while serializing
+ * actor references (which might also be part of messages). This address must
+ * be available (i.e. fully initialized) by the time the first message is
+ * received or when the start() method returns, whatever happens first.
+ */
+abstract class RemoteTransport {
+  /**
+   * Shuts down the remoting
+   */
+  def shutdown(): Unit
+
+  /**
+   * Address to be used in RootActorPath of refs generated for this transport.
+   */
+  def address: Address
+
+  /**
+   * The actor system, for which this transport is instantiated. Will publish to its eventStream.
+   */
+  def system: ActorSystem
+
+  /**
+   * Start up the transport, i.e. enable incoming connections.
+   */
+  def start(): Unit
+
+  /**
+   * Shuts down a specific client connected to the supplied remote address returns true if successful
+   */
+  def shutdownClientConnection(address: Address): Boolean
+
+  /**
+   * Restarts a specific client connected to the supplied remote address, but only if the client is not shut down
+   */
+  def restartClientConnection(address: Address): Boolean
+
+  /** Methods that needs to be implemented by a transport **/
+
+  protected[akka] def send(message: Any,
+                           senderOption: Option[ActorRef],
+                           recipient: RemoteActorRef): Unit
+
+  protected[akka] def notifyListeners(message: RemoteLifeCycleEvent): Unit = {
+    system.eventStream.publish(message)
+    system.log.log(message.logLevel, "REMOTE: {}", message)
+  }
+
+  override def toString = address.toString
+}
+
+class RemoteMessage(input: RemoteMessageProtocol, system: ActorSystemImpl) {
+
+  def originalReceiver = input.getRecipient.getPath
+
+  lazy val sender: ActorRef =
+    if (input.hasSender) system.provider.actorFor(system.provider.rootGuardian, input.getSender.getPath)
+    else system.deadLetters
+
+  lazy val recipient: InternalActorRef = system.provider.actorFor(system.provider.rootGuardian, originalReceiver)
+
+  lazy val payload: AnyRef = MessageSerializer.deserialize(system, input.getMessage, getClass.getClassLoader)
+
+  override def toString = "RemoteMessage: " + payload + " to " + recipient + "<+{" + originalReceiver + "} from " + sender
+}
+
+trait RemoteMarshallingOps {
+
+  def log: LoggingAdapter
+
+  def system: ActorSystemImpl
+
+  def provider: RemoteActorRefProvider
+
+  def address: Address
+
+  protected def useUntrustedMode: Boolean
+
+  def createMessageSendEnvelope(rmp: RemoteMessageProtocol): AkkaRemoteProtocol = {
+    val arp = AkkaRemoteProtocol.newBuilder
+    arp.setMessage(rmp)
+    arp.build
+  }
+
+  def createControlEnvelope(rcp: RemoteControlProtocol): AkkaRemoteProtocol = {
+    val arp = AkkaRemoteProtocol.newBuilder
+    arp.setInstruction(rcp)
+    arp.build
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Serializes the ActorRef instance into a Protocol Buffers (protobuf) Message.
+   */
+  def toRemoteActorRefProtocol(actor: ActorRef): ActorRefProtocol = {
+    ActorRefProtocol.newBuilder.setPath(actor.path.toStringWithAddress(address)).build
+  }
+
+  def createRemoteMessageProtocolBuilder(
+    recipient: ActorRef,
+    message: Any,
+    senderOption: Option[ActorRef]): RemoteMessageProtocol.Builder = {
+
+    val messageBuilder = RemoteMessageProtocol.newBuilder.setRecipient(toRemoteActorRefProtocol(recipient))
+    if (senderOption.isDefined) messageBuilder.setSender(toRemoteActorRefProtocol(senderOption.get))
+
+    Serialization.currentTransportAddress.withValue(address) {
+      messageBuilder.setMessage(MessageSerializer.serialize(system, message.asInstanceOf[AnyRef]))
+    }
+
+    messageBuilder
+  }
+
+  def receiveMessage(remoteMessage: RemoteMessage) {
+    val remoteDaemon = provider.remoteDaemon
+
+    remoteMessage.recipient match {
+      case `remoteDaemon` ⇒
+        if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received daemon message {}", remoteMessage)
+        remoteMessage.payload match {
+          case m @ (_: DaemonMsg | _: Terminated) ⇒
+            try remoteDaemon ! m catch {
+              case e: Exception ⇒ log.error(e, "exception while processing remote command {} from {}", m, remoteMessage.sender)
+            }
+          case x ⇒ log.warning("remoteDaemon received illegal message {} from {}", x, remoteMessage.sender)
+        }
+      case l: LocalRef ⇒
+        if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received local message {}", remoteMessage)
+        remoteMessage.payload match {
+          case msg: SystemMessage ⇒
+            if (useUntrustedMode)
+              throw new SecurityException("RemoteModule server is operating is untrusted mode, can not send system message")
+            else l.sendSystemMessage(msg)
+          case _: AutoReceivedMessage if (useUntrustedMode) ⇒
+            throw new SecurityException("RemoteModule server is operating is untrusted mode, can not pass on a AutoReceivedMessage to the remote actor")
+          case m ⇒ l.!(m)(remoteMessage.sender)
+        }
+      case r: RemoteRef ⇒
+        if (provider.remoteSettings.LogReceive) log.debug("received remote-destined message {}", remoteMessage)
+        remoteMessage.originalReceiver match {
+          case AddressExtractor(address) if address == provider.transport.address ⇒
+            // if it was originally addressed to us but is in fact remote from our point of view (i.e. remote-deployed)
+            r.!(remoteMessage.payload)(remoteMessage.sender)
+          case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {}", remoteMessage.payload, r)
+        }
+      case r ⇒ log.error("dropping message {} for non-local recipient {}", remoteMessage.payload, r)
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Client.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Client.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2947d9db26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Client.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,347 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.remote.netty
+
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress
+import org.jboss.netty.util.HashedWheelTimer
+import org.jboss.netty.bootstrap.ClientBootstrap
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.DefaultChannelGroup
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.{ ChannelHandler, StaticChannelPipeline, SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler, MessageEvent, ExceptionEvent, ChannelStateEvent, ChannelPipelineFactory, ChannelPipeline, ChannelHandlerContext, ChannelFuture, Channel }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.{ LengthFieldPrepender, LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.ExecutionHandler
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.{ ReadTimeoutHandler, ReadTimeoutException }
+import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.{ RemoteControlProtocol, CommandType, AkkaRemoteProtocol }
+import akka.remote.{ RemoteProtocol, RemoteMessage, RemoteLifeCycleEvent, RemoteClientStarted, RemoteClientShutdown, RemoteClientException, RemoteClientError, RemoteClientDisconnected, RemoteClientConnected }
+import akka.actor.{ simpleName, Address }
+import akka.AkkaException
+import akka.event.Logging
+import akka.util.Switch
+import akka.actor.ActorRef
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener
+import akka.remote.RemoteClientWriteFailed
+import java.net.InetAddress
+import org.jboss.netty.util.TimerTask
+import org.jboss.netty.util.Timeout
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit
+
+class RemoteClientMessageBufferException(message: String, cause: Throwable) extends AkkaException(message, cause) {
+  def this(msg: String) = this(msg, null)
+}
+
+/**
+ * This is the abstract baseclass for netty remote clients, currently there's only an
+ * ActiveRemoteClient, but others could be feasible, like a PassiveRemoteClient that
+ * reuses an already established connection.
+ */
+abstract class RemoteClient private[akka] (
+  val netty: NettyRemoteTransport,
+  val remoteAddress: Address) {
+
+  val log = Logging(netty.system, "RemoteClient")
+
+  val name = simpleName(this) + "@" + remoteAddress
+
+  private[remote] val runSwitch = new Switch()
+
+  private[remote] def isRunning = runSwitch.isOn
+
+  protected def currentChannel: Channel
+
+  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean
+
+  def shutdown(): Boolean
+
+  def isBoundTo(address: Address): Boolean = remoteAddress == address
+
+  /**
+   * Converts the message to the wireprotocol and sends the message across the wire
+   */
+  def send(message: Any, senderOption: Option[ActorRef], recipient: ActorRef): Unit = if (isRunning) {
+    if (netty.remoteSettings.LogSend) log.debug("Sending message {} from {} to {}", message, senderOption, recipient)
+    send((message, senderOption, recipient))
+  } else {
+    val exception = new RemoteClientException("RemoteModule client is not running, make sure you have invoked 'RemoteClient.connect()' before using it.", netty, remoteAddress)
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(exception, netty, remoteAddress))
+    throw exception
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Sends the message across the wire
+   */
+  private def send(request: (Any, Option[ActorRef], ActorRef)): Unit = {
+    try {
+      val channel = currentChannel
+      val f = channel.write(request)
+      f.addListener(
+        new ChannelFutureListener {
+          def operationComplete(future: ChannelFuture) {
+            if (future.isCancelled || !future.isSuccess) {
+              netty.notifyListeners(RemoteClientWriteFailed(request, future.getCause, netty, remoteAddress))
+            }
+          }
+        })
+      // Check if we should back off
+      if (!channel.isWritable) {
+        val backoff = netty.settings.BackoffTimeout
+        if (backoff.length > 0 && !f.await(backoff.length, backoff.unit)) f.cancel() //Waited as long as we could, now back off
+      }
+    } catch {
+      case e: Exception ⇒ netty.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, netty, remoteAddress))
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def toString = name
+}
+
+/**
+ * RemoteClient represents a connection to an Akka node. Is used to send messages to remote actors on the node.
+ */
+class ActiveRemoteClient private[akka] (
+  netty: NettyRemoteTransport,
+  remoteAddress: Address,
+  localAddress: Address)
+  extends RemoteClient(netty, remoteAddress) {
+
+  import netty.settings
+
+  //TODO rewrite to a wrapper object (minimize volatile access and maximize encapsulation)
+  @volatile
+  private var bootstrap: ClientBootstrap = _
+  @volatile
+  private var connection: ChannelFuture = _
+  @volatile
+  private[remote] var openChannels: DefaultChannelGroup = _
+  @volatile
+  private var executionHandler: ExecutionHandler = _
+
+  @volatile
+  private var reconnectionTimeWindowStart = 0L
+
+  def notifyListeners(msg: RemoteLifeCycleEvent): Unit = netty.notifyListeners(msg)
+
+  def currentChannel = connection.getChannel
+
+  /**
+   * Connect to remote server.
+   */
+  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean = {
+
+    def sendSecureCookie(connection: ChannelFuture) {
+      val handshake = RemoteControlProtocol.newBuilder.setCommandType(CommandType.CONNECT)
+      if (settings.SecureCookie.nonEmpty) handshake.setCookie(settings.SecureCookie.get)
+      handshake.setOrigin(RemoteProtocol.AddressProtocol.newBuilder
+        .setSystem(localAddress.system)
+        .setHostname(localAddress.host.get)
+        .setPort(localAddress.port.get)
+        .build)
+      connection.getChannel.write(netty.createControlEnvelope(handshake.build))
+    }
+
+    def attemptReconnect(): Boolean = {
+      val remoteIP = InetAddress.getByName(remoteAddress.host.get)
+      log.debug("Remote client reconnecting to [{}|{}]", remoteAddress, remoteIP)
+      connection = bootstrap.connect(new InetSocketAddress(remoteIP, remoteAddress.port.get))
+      openChannels.add(connection.awaitUninterruptibly.getChannel) // Wait until the connection attempt succeeds or fails.
+
+      if (!connection.isSuccess) {
+        notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(connection.getCause, netty, remoteAddress))
+        false
+      } else {
+        sendSecureCookie(connection)
+        true
+      }
+    }
+
+    runSwitch switchOn {
+      openChannels = new DefaultDisposableChannelGroup(classOf[RemoteClient].getName)
+
+      executionHandler = new ExecutionHandler(netty.executor)
+
+      val b = new ClientBootstrap(netty.clientChannelFactory)
+      b.setPipelineFactory(new ActiveRemoteClientPipelineFactory(name, b, executionHandler, remoteAddress, this))
+      b.setOption("tcpNoDelay", true)
+      b.setOption("keepAlive", true)
+      b.setOption("connectTimeoutMillis", settings.ConnectionTimeout.toMillis)
+      bootstrap = b
+
+      val remoteIP = InetAddress.getByName(remoteAddress.host.get)
+      log.debug("Starting remote client connection to [{}|{}]", remoteAddress, remoteIP)
+
+      connection = bootstrap.connect(new InetSocketAddress(remoteIP, remoteAddress.port.get))
+
+      openChannels.add(connection.awaitUninterruptibly.getChannel) // Wait until the connection attempt succeeds or fails.
+
+      if (!connection.isSuccess) {
+        notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(connection.getCause, netty, remoteAddress))
+        false
+      } else {
+        sendSecureCookie(connection)
+        notifyListeners(RemoteClientStarted(netty, remoteAddress))
+        true
+      }
+    } match {
+      case true ⇒ true
+      case false if reconnectIfAlreadyConnected ⇒
+        connection.getChannel.close()
+        openChannels.remove(connection.getChannel)
+
+        log.debug("Remote client reconnecting to [{}]", remoteAddress)
+        attemptReconnect()
+
+      case false ⇒ false
+    }
+  }
+
+  // Please note that this method does _not_ remove the ARC from the NettyRemoteClientModule's map of clients
+  def shutdown() = runSwitch switchOff {
+    log.debug("Shutting down remote client [{}]", name)
+
+    notifyListeners(RemoteClientShutdown(netty, remoteAddress))
+    try {
+      if ((connection ne null) && (connection.getChannel ne null))
+        connection.getChannel.close()
+    } finally {
+      try {
+        if (openChannels ne null) openChannels.close.awaitUninterruptibly()
+      } finally {
+        connection = null
+        executionHandler = null
+      }
+    }
+
+    log.debug("[{}] has been shut down", name)
+  }
+
+  private[akka] def isWithinReconnectionTimeWindow: Boolean = {
+    if (reconnectionTimeWindowStart == 0L) {
+      reconnectionTimeWindowStart = System.currentTimeMillis
+      true
+    } else {
+      val timeLeft = (settings.ReconnectionTimeWindow.toMillis - (System.currentTimeMillis - reconnectionTimeWindowStart)) > 0
+      if (timeLeft)
+        log.info("Will try to reconnect to remote server for another [{}] milliseconds", timeLeft)
+
+      timeLeft
+    }
+  }
+
+  private[akka] def resetReconnectionTimeWindow = reconnectionTimeWindowStart = 0L
+}
+
+@ChannelHandler.Sharable
+class ActiveRemoteClientHandler(
+  val name: String,
+  val bootstrap: ClientBootstrap,
+  val remoteAddress: Address,
+  val timer: HashedWheelTimer,
+  val client: ActiveRemoteClient)
+  extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
+
+  def runOnceNow(thunk: ⇒ Unit): Unit = timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
+    def run(timeout: Timeout) = try { thunk } finally { timeout.cancel() }
+  }, 0, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+
+  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) {
+    try {
+      event.getMessage match {
+        case arp: AkkaRemoteProtocol if arp.hasInstruction ⇒
+          val rcp = arp.getInstruction
+          rcp.getCommandType match {
+            case CommandType.SHUTDOWN ⇒ runOnceNow { client.netty.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) }
+            case _                    ⇒ //Ignore others
+          }
+
+        case arp: AkkaRemoteProtocol if arp.hasMessage ⇒
+          client.netty.receiveMessage(new RemoteMessage(arp.getMessage, client.netty.system))
+
+        case other ⇒
+          throw new RemoteClientException("Unknown message received in remote client handler: " + other, client.netty, client.remoteAddress)
+      }
+    } catch {
+      case e: Exception ⇒ client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = client.runSwitch ifOn {
+    if (client.isWithinReconnectionTimeWindow) {
+      timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
+        def run(timeout: Timeout) =
+          if (client.isRunning) {
+            client.openChannels.remove(event.getChannel)
+            client.connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected = true)
+          }
+      }, client.netty.settings.ReconnectDelay.toMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
+    } else runOnceNow {
+      client.netty.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) // spawn in another thread
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
+    try {
+      client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientConnected(client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+      client.resetReconnectionTimeWindow
+    } catch {
+      case e: Exception ⇒ client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+    }
+  }
+
+  override def channelDisconnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
+    client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientDisconnected(client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+  }
+
+  override def exceptionCaught(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ExceptionEvent) = {
+    val cause = event.getCause
+    if (cause ne null) {
+      client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(cause, client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+      cause match {
+        case e: ReadTimeoutException ⇒
+          runOnceNow {
+            client.netty.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) // spawn in another thread
+          }
+        case e: Exception ⇒ event.getChannel.close()
+      }
+
+    } else client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(new Exception("Unknown cause"), client.netty, client.remoteAddress))
+  }
+}
+
+class ActiveRemoteClientPipelineFactory(
+  name: String,
+  bootstrap: ClientBootstrap,
+  executionHandler: ExecutionHandler,
+  remoteAddress: Address,
+  client: ActiveRemoteClient) extends ChannelPipelineFactory {
+
+  import client.netty.settings
+
+  def getPipeline: ChannelPipeline = {
+    val timeout = new ReadTimeoutHandler(client.netty.timer, settings.ReadTimeout.length, settings.ReadTimeout.unit)
+    val lenDec = new LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder(settings.MessageFrameSize, 0, 4, 0, 4)
+    val lenPrep = new LengthFieldPrepender(4)
+    val messageDec = new RemoteMessageDecoder
+    val messageEnc = new RemoteMessageEncoder(client.netty)
+    val remoteClient = new ActiveRemoteClientHandler(name, bootstrap, remoteAddress, client.netty.timer, client)
+
+    new StaticChannelPipeline(timeout, lenDec, messageDec, lenPrep, messageEnc, executionHandler, remoteClient)
+  }
+}
+
+class PassiveRemoteClient(val currentChannel: Channel,
+                          netty: NettyRemoteTransport,
+                          remoteAddress: Address)
+  extends RemoteClient(netty, remoteAddress) {
+
+  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean = runSwitch switchOn {
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteClientStarted(netty, remoteAddress))
+    log.debug("Starting remote client connection to [{}]", remoteAddress)
+  }
+
+  def shutdown() = runSwitch switchOff {
+    log.debug("Shutting down remote client [{}]", name)
+
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteClientShutdown(netty, remoteAddress))
+    log.debug("[{}] has been shut down", name)
+  }
+}
+
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
index b962426577..e9fe83dd7e 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
@@ -1,412 +1,113 @@
 /**
- * Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
  */
 
 package akka.remote.netty
 
-import akka.actor.{ ActorRef, simpleName }
-import akka.remote._
-import RemoteProtocol._
-import akka.util._
-import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.{ DefaultChannelGroup, ChannelGroup, ChannelGroupFuture }
-import org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.nio.{ NioServerSocketChannelFactory, NioClientSocketChannelFactory }
-import org.jboss.netty.bootstrap.{ ServerBootstrap, ClientBootstrap }
-import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.{ LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder, LengthFieldPrepender }
-import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.protobuf.{ ProtobufDecoder, ProtobufEncoder }
-import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.{ ReadTimeoutHandler, ReadTimeoutException }
-import org.jboss.netty.util.{ TimerTask, Timeout, HashedWheelTimer }
-import scala.collection.mutable.HashMap
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress
-import java.util.concurrent.atomic._
-import akka.AkkaException
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
+import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors
+
+import scala.collection.mutable.HashMap
+
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.{ DefaultChannelGroup, ChannelGroupFuture }
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioClientSocketChannelFactory
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.{ ChannelHandlerContext, Channel }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.protobuf.{ ProtobufEncoder, ProtobufDecoder }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor
+import org.jboss.netty.util.HashedWheelTimer
+
+import akka.actor.{ Address, ActorSystemImpl, ActorRef }
+import akka.dispatch.MonitorableThreadFactory
 import akka.event.Logging
-import org.jboss.netty.channel._
-import akka.actor.ActorSystemImpl
-import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.{ ExecutionHandler, OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor }
-import java.util.concurrent._
-import locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock
-
-class RemoteClientMessageBufferException(message: String, cause: Throwable = null) extends AkkaException(message, cause) {
-  def this(msg: String) = this(msg, null)
-}
-
-/**
- * This is the abstract baseclass for netty remote clients, currently there's only an
- * ActiveRemoteClient, but others could be feasible, like a PassiveRemoteClient that
- * reuses an already established connection.
- */
-abstract class RemoteClient private[akka] (
-  val remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport,
-  val remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress) {
-
-  val log = Logging(remoteSupport.system, "RemoteClient")
-
-  val name = simpleName(this) + "@" + remoteAddress
-
-  private[remote] val runSwitch = new Switch()
-
-  private[remote] def isRunning = runSwitch.isOn
-
-  protected def currentChannel: Channel
-
-  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean
-
-  def shutdown(): Boolean
-
-  def isBoundTo(address: RemoteNettyAddress): Boolean = remoteAddress == address
-
-  /**
-   * Converts the message to the wireprotocol and sends the message across the wire
-   */
-  def send(message: Any, senderOption: Option[ActorRef], recipient: ActorRef): Unit = if (isRunning) {
-    if (remoteSupport.remote.remoteSettings.LogSentMessages)
-      log.debug("Sending message [{}] from [{}] to [{}]", message, senderOption, recipient)
-
-    send((message, senderOption, recipient))
-  } else {
-    val exception = new RemoteClientException("RemoteModule client is not running, make sure you have invoked 'RemoteClient.connect()' before using it.", remoteSupport, remoteAddress)
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(exception, remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-    throw exception
-  }
-
-  /**
-   * Sends the message across the wire
-   */
-  private def send(request: (Any, Option[ActorRef], ActorRef)): Unit = {
-    try {
-      val channel = currentChannel
-      val f = channel.write(request)
-      f.addListener(
-        new ChannelFutureListener {
-          def operationComplete(future: ChannelFuture) {
-            if (future.isCancelled || !future.isSuccess) {
-              remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteClientWriteFailed(request, future.getCause, remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-            }
-          }
-        })
-      // Check if we should back off
-      if (!channel.isWritable) {
-        val backoff = remoteSupport.remote.remoteSettings.BackoffTimeout
-        if (backoff.length > 0 && !f.await(backoff.length, backoff.unit)) f.cancel() //Waited as long as we could, now back off
-      }
-    } catch {
-      case e: Exception ⇒ remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-    }
-  }
-
-  override def toString = name
-}
-
-class PassiveRemoteClient(val currentChannel: Channel,
-                          remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport,
-                          remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress)
-  extends RemoteClient(remoteSupport, remoteAddress) {
-
-  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean = runSwitch switchOn {
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteClientStarted(remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-    log.debug("Starting remote client connection to [{}]", remoteAddress)
-  }
-
-  def shutdown() = runSwitch switchOff {
-    log.debug("Shutting down remote client [{}]", name)
-
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteClientShutdown(remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-    log.debug("[{}] has been shut down", name)
-  }
-}
-
-/**
- * RemoteClient represents a connection to an Akka node. Is used to send messages to remote actors on the node.
- */
-class ActiveRemoteClient private[akka] (
-  remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport,
-  remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress,
-  localAddress: RemoteSystemAddress[ParsedTransportAddress],
-  val loader: Option[ClassLoader] = None)
-  extends RemoteClient(remoteSupport, remoteAddress) {
-
-  if (remoteAddress.ip.isEmpty) throw new java.net.UnknownHostException(remoteAddress.host)
-
-  import remoteSupport.clientSettings._
-
-  //TODO rewrite to a wrapper object (minimize volatile access and maximize encapsulation)
-  @volatile
-  private var bootstrap: ClientBootstrap = _
-  @volatile
-  private var connection: ChannelFuture = _
-  @volatile
-  private[remote] var openChannels: DefaultChannelGroup = _
-  @volatile
-  private var executionHandler: ExecutionHandler = _
-
-  @volatile
-  private var reconnectionTimeWindowStart = 0L
-
-  def notifyListeners(msg: RemoteLifeCycleEvent): Unit = remoteSupport.notifyListeners(msg)
-
-  def currentChannel = connection.getChannel
-
-  /**
-   * Connect to remote server.
-   */
-  def connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected: Boolean = false): Boolean = {
-
-    def sendSecureCookie(connection: ChannelFuture) {
-      val handshake = RemoteControlProtocol.newBuilder.setCommandType(CommandType.CONNECT)
-      if (SecureCookie.nonEmpty) handshake.setCookie(SecureCookie.get)
-      handshake.setOrigin(RemoteProtocol.AddressProtocol.newBuilder
-        .setSystem(localAddress.system)
-        .setHostname(localAddress.transport.host)
-        .setPort(localAddress.transport.port)
-        .build)
-      connection.getChannel.write(remoteSupport.createControlEnvelope(handshake.build))
-    }
-
-    def attemptReconnect(): Boolean = {
-      log.debug("Remote client reconnecting to [{}]", remoteAddress)
-      connection = bootstrap.connect(new InetSocketAddress(remoteAddress.ip.get, remoteAddress.port))
-      openChannels.add(connection.awaitUninterruptibly.getChannel) // Wait until the connection attempt succeeds or fails.
-
-      if (!connection.isSuccess) {
-        notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(connection.getCause, remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-        false
-      } else {
-        sendSecureCookie(connection)
-        true
-      }
-    }
-
-    runSwitch switchOn {
-      openChannels = new DefaultDisposableChannelGroup(classOf[RemoteClient].getName)
-
-      executionHandler = new ExecutionHandler(remoteSupport.executor)
-
-      bootstrap = new ClientBootstrap(remoteSupport.clientChannelFactory)
-      bootstrap.setPipelineFactory(new ActiveRemoteClientPipelineFactory(name, bootstrap, executionHandler, remoteAddress, this))
-      bootstrap.setOption("tcpNoDelay", true)
-      bootstrap.setOption("keepAlive", true)
-      bootstrap.setOption("connectTimeoutMillis", ConnectionTimeout.toMillis)
-
-      log.debug("Starting remote client connection to [{}]", remoteAddress)
-
-      connection = bootstrap.connect(new InetSocketAddress(remoteAddress.ip.get, remoteAddress.port))
-
-      openChannels.add(connection.awaitUninterruptibly.getChannel) // Wait until the connection attempt succeeds or fails.
-
-      if (!connection.isSuccess) {
-        notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(connection.getCause, remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-        false
-      } else {
-        sendSecureCookie(connection)
-        notifyListeners(RemoteClientStarted(remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-        true
-      }
-    } match {
-      case true ⇒ true
-      case false if reconnectIfAlreadyConnected ⇒
-        connection.getChannel.close()
-        openChannels.remove(connection.getChannel)
-
-        log.debug("Remote client reconnecting to [{}]", remoteAddress)
-        attemptReconnect()
-
-      case false ⇒ false
-    }
-  }
-
-  // Please note that this method does _not_ remove the ARC from the NettyRemoteClientModule's map of clients
-  def shutdown() = runSwitch switchOff {
-    log.debug("Shutting down remote client [{}]", name)
-
-    notifyListeners(RemoteClientShutdown(remoteSupport, remoteAddress))
-    try {
-      if ((connection ne null) && (connection.getChannel ne null))
-        connection.getChannel.close()
-    } finally {
-      try {
-        if (openChannels ne null) openChannels.close.awaitUninterruptibly()
-      } finally {
-        connection = null
-        executionHandler = null
-      }
-    }
-
-    log.debug("[{}] has been shut down", name)
-  }
-
-  private[akka] def isWithinReconnectionTimeWindow: Boolean = {
-    if (reconnectionTimeWindowStart == 0L) {
-      reconnectionTimeWindowStart = System.currentTimeMillis
-      true
-    } else {
-      val timeLeft = (ReconnectionTimeWindow.toMillis - (System.currentTimeMillis - reconnectionTimeWindowStart)) > 0
-      if (timeLeft)
-        log.info("Will try to reconnect to remote server for another [{}] milliseconds", timeLeft)
-
-      timeLeft
-    }
-  }
-
-  private[akka] def resetReconnectionTimeWindow = reconnectionTimeWindowStart = 0L
-}
-
-class ActiveRemoteClientPipelineFactory(
-  name: String,
-  bootstrap: ClientBootstrap,
-  executionHandler: ExecutionHandler,
-  remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress,
-  client: ActiveRemoteClient) extends ChannelPipelineFactory {
-
-  import client.remoteSupport.clientSettings._
-
-  def getPipeline: ChannelPipeline = {
-    val timeout = new ReadTimeoutHandler(client.remoteSupport.timer, ReadTimeout.length, ReadTimeout.unit)
-    val lenDec = new LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder(MessageFrameSize, 0, 4, 0, 4)
-    val lenPrep = new LengthFieldPrepender(4)
-    val messageDec = new RemoteMessageDecoder
-    val messageEnc = new RemoteMessageEncoder(client.remoteSupport)
-    val remoteClient = new ActiveRemoteClientHandler(name, bootstrap, remoteAddress, client.remoteSupport.timer, client)
-
-    new StaticChannelPipeline(timeout, lenDec, messageDec, lenPrep, messageEnc, executionHandler, remoteClient)
-  }
-}
-
-class RemoteMessageEncoder(remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport) extends ProtobufEncoder {
-  override def encode(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, channel: Channel, msg: AnyRef): AnyRef = {
-    msg match {
-      case (message: Any, sender: Option[_], recipient: ActorRef) ⇒
-        super.encode(ctx, channel,
-          remoteSupport.createMessageSendEnvelope(
-            remoteSupport.createRemoteMessageProtocolBuilder(
-              recipient,
-              message,
-              sender.asInstanceOf[Option[ActorRef]]).build))
-      case _ ⇒ super.encode(ctx, channel, msg)
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-class RemoteMessageDecoder extends ProtobufDecoder(AkkaRemoteProtocol.getDefaultInstance)
-
-@ChannelHandler.Sharable
-class ActiveRemoteClientHandler(
-  val name: String,
-  val bootstrap: ClientBootstrap,
-  val remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress,
-  val timer: HashedWheelTimer,
-  val client: ActiveRemoteClient)
-  extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
-
-  def runOnceNow(thunk: ⇒ Unit): Unit = timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
-    def run(timeout: Timeout) = try { thunk } finally { timeout.cancel() }
-  }, 0, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
-
-  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) {
-    try {
-      event.getMessage match {
-        case arp: AkkaRemoteProtocol if arp.hasInstruction ⇒
-          val rcp = arp.getInstruction
-          rcp.getCommandType match {
-            case CommandType.SHUTDOWN ⇒ runOnceNow { client.remoteSupport.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) }
-            case _                    ⇒ //Ignore others
-          }
-
-        case arp: AkkaRemoteProtocol if arp.hasMessage ⇒
-          client.remoteSupport.receiveMessage(new RemoteMessage(arp.getMessage, client.remoteSupport.system, client.loader))
-
-        case other ⇒
-          throw new RemoteClientException("Unknown message received in remote client handler: " + other, client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress)
-      }
-    } catch {
-      case e: Exception ⇒ client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-    }
-  }
-
-  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = client.runSwitch ifOn {
-    if (client.isWithinReconnectionTimeWindow) {
-      timer.newTimeout(new TimerTask() {
-        def run(timeout: Timeout) =
-          if (client.isRunning) {
-            client.openChannels.remove(event.getChannel)
-            client.connect(reconnectIfAlreadyConnected = true)
-          }
-      }, client.remoteSupport.clientSettings.ReconnectDelay.toMillis, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS)
-    } else runOnceNow {
-      client.remoteSupport.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) // spawn in another thread
-    }
-  }
-
-  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    try {
-      client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientConnected(client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-      client.resetReconnectionTimeWindow
-    } catch {
-      case e: Exception ⇒ client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(e, client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-    }
-  }
-
-  override def channelDisconnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientDisconnected(client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-  }
-
-  override def exceptionCaught(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ExceptionEvent) = {
-    val cause = event.getCause
-    if (cause ne null) {
-      client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(cause, client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-      cause match {
-        case e: ReadTimeoutException ⇒
-          runOnceNow {
-            client.remoteSupport.shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress) // spawn in another thread
-          }
-        case e: Exception ⇒ event.getChannel.close()
-      }
-
-    } else client.notifyListeners(RemoteClientError(new Exception("Unknown cause"), client.remoteSupport, client.remoteAddress))
-  }
-}
+import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.AkkaRemoteProtocol
+import akka.remote.{ RemoteTransportException, RemoteTransport, RemoteSettings, RemoteMarshallingOps, RemoteActorRefProvider, RemoteActorRef }
 
 /**
  * Provides the implementation of the Netty remote support
  */
-class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val address: RemoteSystemAddress[RemoteNettyAddress])
-  extends RemoteSupport[RemoteNettyAddress](_system) with RemoteMarshallingOps {
-  val log = Logging(system, "NettyRemoteSupport")
+class NettyRemoteTransport(val remoteSettings: RemoteSettings, val system: ActorSystemImpl, val provider: RemoteActorRefProvider)
+  extends RemoteTransport with RemoteMarshallingOps {
 
-  val serverSettings = remote.remoteSettings.serverSettings
-  val clientSettings = remote.remoteSettings.clientSettings
-  val threadFactory = _system.threadFactory.copy(_system.threadFactory.name + "-remote")
-  val timer: HashedWheelTimer = new HashedWheelTimer(threadFactory)
+  val settings = new NettySettings(remoteSettings.config.getConfig("akka.remote.netty"), remoteSettings.systemName)
+
+  val timer: HashedWheelTimer = new HashedWheelTimer(system.threadFactory)
 
   val executor = new OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor(
-    serverSettings.ExecutionPoolSize,
-    serverSettings.MaxChannelMemorySize,
-    serverSettings.MaxTotalMemorySize,
-    serverSettings.ExecutionPoolKeepAlive.length,
-    serverSettings.ExecutionPoolKeepAlive.unit,
-    threadFactory)
+    settings.ExecutionPoolSize,
+    settings.MaxChannelMemorySize,
+    settings.MaxTotalMemorySize,
+    settings.ExecutionPoolKeepalive.length,
+    settings.ExecutionPoolKeepalive.unit,
+    system.threadFactory)
 
   val clientChannelFactory = new NioClientSocketChannelFactory(
-    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(threadFactory),
-    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(threadFactory))
+    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(system.threadFactory),
+    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(system.threadFactory))
 
-  private val remoteClients = new HashMap[RemoteNettyAddress, RemoteClient]
+  private val remoteClients = new HashMap[Address, RemoteClient]
   private val clientsLock = new ReentrantReadWriteLock
 
-  override protected def useUntrustedMode = serverSettings.UntrustedMode
+  override protected def useUntrustedMode = remoteSettings.UntrustedMode
+
+  val server = try new NettyRemoteServer(this) catch {
+    case ex ⇒ shutdown(); throw ex
+  }
+
+  // the address is set in start() or from the RemoteServerHandler, whichever comes first
+  private val _address = new AtomicReference[Address]
+  private[akka] def setAddressFromChannel(ch: Channel) = {
+    val addr = ch.getLocalAddress match {
+      case sa: InetSocketAddress ⇒ sa
+      case x                     ⇒ throw new RemoteTransportException("unknown local address type " + x.getClass, null)
+    }
+    _address.compareAndSet(null, Address("akka", remoteSettings.systemName, Some(settings.Hostname), Some(addr.getPort)))
+  }
+
+  def address = _address.get
+
+  val log = Logging(system.eventStream, "NettyRemoteTransport(" + address + ")")
+
+  def start(): Unit = {
+    server.start()
+    setAddressFromChannel(server.channel)
+  }
+
+  def shutdown(): Unit = {
+    clientsLock.writeLock().lock()
+    try {
+      remoteClients foreach {
+        case (_, client) ⇒ try client.shutdown() catch {
+          case e ⇒ log.error(e, "failure while shutting down [{}]", client)
+        }
+      }
+      remoteClients.clear()
+    } finally {
+      clientsLock.writeLock().unlock()
+      try {
+        if (server != null) server.shutdown()
+      } finally {
+        try {
+          timer.stop()
+        } finally {
+          try {
+            clientChannelFactory.releaseExternalResources()
+          } finally {
+            executor.shutdown()
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
 
   protected[akka] def send(
     message: Any,
     senderOption: Option[ActorRef],
-    recipient: RemoteActorRef,
-    loader: Option[ClassLoader]): Unit = {
+    recipient: RemoteActorRef): Unit = {
 
-    val recipientAddress = recipient.path.address match {
-      case RemoteSystemAddress(sys, transport) ⇒
-        transport match {
-          case x: RemoteNettyAddress ⇒ x
-          case _                     ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("invoking NettyRemoteSupport.send with foreign target address " + transport)
-        }
-    }
+    val recipientAddress = recipient.path.address
 
     clientsLock.readLock.lock
     try {
@@ -421,7 +122,7 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
                 //Recheck for addition, race between upgrades
                 case Some(client) ⇒ client //If already populated by other writer
                 case None ⇒ //Populate map
-                  val client = new ActiveRemoteClient(this, recipientAddress, remote.remoteAddress, loader)
+                  val client = new ActiveRemoteClient(this, recipientAddress, address)
                   client.connect()
                   remoteClients += recipientAddress -> client
                   client
@@ -439,7 +140,7 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
     }
   }
 
-  def bindClient(remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress, client: RemoteClient, putIfAbsent: Boolean = false): Boolean = {
+  def bindClient(remoteAddress: Address, client: RemoteClient, putIfAbsent: Boolean = false): Boolean = {
     clientsLock.writeLock().lock()
     try {
       if (putIfAbsent && remoteClients.contains(remoteAddress)) false
@@ -453,7 +154,7 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
     }
   }
 
-  def unbindClient(remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress): Unit = {
+  def unbindClient(remoteAddress: Address): Unit = {
     clientsLock.writeLock().lock()
     try {
       remoteClients.foreach { case (k, v) ⇒ if (v.isBoundTo(remoteAddress)) { v.shutdown(); remoteClients.remove(k) } }
@@ -462,7 +163,7 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
     }
   }
 
-  def shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress): Boolean = {
+  def shutdownClientConnection(remoteAddress: Address): Boolean = {
     clientsLock.writeLock().lock()
     try {
       remoteClients.remove(remoteAddress) match {
@@ -474,7 +175,7 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
     }
   }
 
-  def restartClientConnection(remoteAddress: RemoteNettyAddress): Boolean = {
+  def restartClientConnection(remoteAddress: Address): Boolean = {
     clientsLock.readLock().lock()
     try {
       remoteClients.get(remoteAddress) match {
@@ -486,229 +187,24 @@ class NettyRemoteSupport(_system: ActorSystemImpl, val remote: Remote, val addre
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Server section
-   */
-  @volatile
-  private var currentServer: NettyRemoteServer = _
+}
 
-  def name = currentServer match {
-    case null   ⇒ remote.remoteAddress.toString
-    case server ⇒ server.name
-  }
-
-  private val _isRunning = new Switch(false)
-
-  def isRunning = _isRunning.isOn
-
-  def start(loader: Option[ClassLoader] = None): Unit =
-    _isRunning switchOn { currentServer = new NettyRemoteServer(this, loader, address) }
-
-  /**
-   * Common section
-   */
-
-  def shutdown(): Unit = _isRunning switchOff {
-    clientsLock.writeLock().lock()
-    try {
-      remoteClients foreach { case (_, client) ⇒ client.shutdown() }
-      remoteClients.clear()
-    } finally {
-      clientsLock.writeLock().unlock()
-      try {
-        val s = currentServer
-        currentServer = null
-        s.shutdown()
-      } finally {
-        try {
-          timer.stop()
-        } finally {
-          try {
-            clientChannelFactory.releaseExternalResources()
-          } finally {
-            executor.shutdown()
-          }
-        }
-      }
+class RemoteMessageEncoder(remoteSupport: NettyRemoteTransport) extends ProtobufEncoder {
+  override def encode(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, channel: Channel, msg: AnyRef): AnyRef = {
+    msg match {
+      case (message: Any, sender: Option[_], recipient: ActorRef) ⇒
+        super.encode(ctx, channel,
+          remoteSupport.createMessageSendEnvelope(
+            remoteSupport.createRemoteMessageProtocolBuilder(
+              recipient,
+              message,
+              sender.asInstanceOf[Option[ActorRef]]).build))
+      case _ ⇒ super.encode(ctx, channel, msg)
     }
   }
 }
 
-class NettyRemoteServer(
-  val remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport,
-  val loader: Option[ClassLoader],
-  val address: RemoteSystemAddress[RemoteNettyAddress]) {
-  val log = Logging(remoteSupport.system, "NettyRemoteServer")
-  import remoteSupport.serverSettings._
-
-  if (address.transport.ip.isEmpty) throw new java.net.UnknownHostException(address.transport.host)
-
-  val name = "NettyRemoteServer@" + address
-
-  private val factory = new NioServerSocketChannelFactory(
-    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(remoteSupport.threadFactory),
-    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(remoteSupport.threadFactory))
-
-  private val executionHandler = new ExecutionHandler(remoteSupport.executor)
-
-  // group of open channels, used for clean-up
-  private val openChannels: ChannelGroup = new DefaultDisposableChannelGroup("akka-remote-server")
-
-  val pipelineFactory = new RemoteServerPipelineFactory(name, openChannels, executionHandler, loader, remoteSupport)
-  private val bootstrap: ServerBootstrap = {
-    val b = new ServerBootstrap(factory)
-    b.setPipelineFactory(pipelineFactory)
-    b.setOption("backlog", Backlog)
-    b.setOption("child.tcpNoDelay", true)
-    b.setOption("child.keepAlive", true)
-    b.setOption("child.reuseAddress", true)
-    b
-  }
-
-  openChannels.add(bootstrap.bind(new InetSocketAddress(address.transport.ip.get, address.transport.port)))
-
-  def shutdown() {
-    try {
-      val shutdownSignal = {
-        val b = RemoteControlProtocol.newBuilder.setCommandType(CommandType.SHUTDOWN)
-        b.setOrigin(RemoteProtocol.AddressProtocol.newBuilder
-          .setSystem(address.system)
-          .setHostname(address.transport.host)
-          .setPort(address.transport.port)
-          .build)
-        if (SecureCookie.nonEmpty)
-          b.setCookie(SecureCookie.get)
-        b.build
-      }
-      openChannels.write(remoteSupport.createControlEnvelope(shutdownSignal)).awaitUninterruptibly
-      openChannels.disconnect
-      openChannels.close.awaitUninterruptibly
-      bootstrap.releaseExternalResources()
-      remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerShutdown(remoteSupport))
-    } catch {
-      case e: Exception ⇒ remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(e, remoteSupport))
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-class RemoteServerPipelineFactory(
-  val name: String,
-  val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
-  val executionHandler: ExecutionHandler,
-  val loader: Option[ClassLoader],
-  val remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport) extends ChannelPipelineFactory {
-
-  import remoteSupport.serverSettings._
-
-  def getPipeline: ChannelPipeline = {
-    val lenDec = new LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder(MessageFrameSize, 0, 4, 0, 4)
-    val lenPrep = new LengthFieldPrepender(4)
-    val messageDec = new RemoteMessageDecoder
-    val messageEnc = new RemoteMessageEncoder(remoteSupport)
-
-    val authenticator = if (RequireCookie) new RemoteServerAuthenticationHandler(SecureCookie) :: Nil else Nil
-    val remoteServer = new RemoteServerHandler(name, openChannels, loader, remoteSupport)
-    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = lenDec :: messageDec :: lenPrep :: messageEnc :: executionHandler :: authenticator ::: remoteServer :: Nil
-    new StaticChannelPipeline(stages: _*)
-  }
-}
-
-@ChannelHandler.Sharable
-class RemoteServerAuthenticationHandler(secureCookie: Option[String]) extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
-  val authenticated = new AnyRef
-
-  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) = secureCookie match {
-    case None ⇒ ctx.sendUpstream(event)
-    case Some(cookie) ⇒
-      ctx.getAttachment match {
-        case `authenticated` ⇒ ctx.sendUpstream(event)
-        case null ⇒ event.getMessage match {
-          case remoteProtocol: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remoteProtocol.hasInstruction ⇒
-            val instruction = remoteProtocol.getInstruction
-            instruction.getCookie match {
-              case `cookie` ⇒
-                ctx.setAttachment(authenticated)
-                ctx.sendUpstream(event)
-              case _ ⇒
-                throw new SecurityException(
-                  "The remote client [" + ctx.getChannel.getRemoteAddress + "] secure cookie is not the same as remote server secure cookie")
-            }
-          case _ ⇒
-            throw new SecurityException("The remote client [" + ctx.getChannel.getRemoteAddress + "] is not authorized!")
-        }
-      }
-  }
-}
-
-@ChannelHandler.Sharable
-class RemoteServerHandler(
-  val name: String,
-  val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
-  val applicationLoader: Option[ClassLoader],
-  val remoteSupport: NettyRemoteSupport) extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
-
-  val log = Logging(remoteSupport.system, "RemoteServerHandler")
-
-  import remoteSupport.serverSettings._
-
-  /**
-   * ChannelOpen overridden to store open channels for a clean postStop of a node.
-   * If a channel is closed before, it is automatically removed from the open channels group.
-   */
-  override def channelOpen(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = openChannels.add(ctx.getChannel)
-
-  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientConnected(remoteSupport, clientAddress))
-  }
-
-  override def channelDisconnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
-    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientDisconnected(remoteSupport, clientAddress))
-  }
-
-  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel) match {
-    case s @ Some(address) ⇒
-      if (UsePassiveConnections)
-        remoteSupport.unbindClient(address)
-      remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(remoteSupport, s))
-    case None ⇒
-      remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed[RemoteNettyAddress](remoteSupport, None))
-  }
-
-  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) = try {
-    event.getMessage match {
-      case remote: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remote.hasMessage ⇒
-        remoteSupport.receiveMessage(new RemoteMessage(remote.getMessage, remoteSupport.system, applicationLoader))
-
-      case remote: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remote.hasInstruction ⇒
-        val instruction = remote.getInstruction
-        instruction.getCommandType match {
-          case CommandType.CONNECT if UsePassiveConnections ⇒
-            val origin = instruction.getOrigin
-            val inbound = RemoteNettyAddress(origin.getHostname, origin.getPort)
-            val client = new PassiveRemoteClient(event.getChannel, remoteSupport, inbound)
-            remoteSupport.bindClient(inbound, client)
-          case CommandType.SHUTDOWN ⇒ //Will be unbound in channelClosed
-          case _                    ⇒ //Unknown command
-        }
-      case _ ⇒ //ignore
-    }
-  } catch {
-    case e: Exception ⇒ remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(e, remoteSupport))
-  }
-
-  override def exceptionCaught(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ExceptionEvent) = {
-    remoteSupport.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(event.getCause, remoteSupport))
-    event.getChannel.close()
-  }
-
-  private def getClientAddress(c: Channel): Option[RemoteNettyAddress] =
-    c.getRemoteAddress match {
-      case inet: InetSocketAddress ⇒ Some(RemoteNettyAddress(inet.getHostName, Some(inet.getAddress), inet.getPort))
-      case _                       ⇒ None
-    }
-}
+class RemoteMessageDecoder extends ProtobufDecoder(AkkaRemoteProtocol.getDefaultInstance)
 
 class DefaultDisposableChannelGroup(name: String) extends DefaultChannelGroup(name) {
   protected val guard = new ReentrantReadWriteLock
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a8bc6ef67b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Server.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.remote.netty
+
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors
+import scala.Option.option2Iterable
+import org.jboss.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelHandler.Sharable
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.ChannelGroup
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioServerSocketChannelFactory
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.{ StaticChannelPipeline, SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler, MessageEvent, ExceptionEvent, ChannelStateEvent, ChannelPipelineFactory, ChannelPipeline, ChannelHandlerContext, ChannelHandler, Channel }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.{ LengthFieldPrepender, LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.ExecutionHandler
+import akka.event.Logging
+import akka.remote.RemoteProtocol.{ RemoteControlProtocol, CommandType, AkkaRemoteProtocol }
+import akka.remote.{ RemoteServerStarted, RemoteServerShutdown, RemoteServerError, RemoteServerClientDisconnected, RemoteServerClientConnected, RemoteServerClientClosed, RemoteProtocol, RemoteMessage }
+import akka.actor.Address
+import java.net.InetAddress
+import akka.actor.ActorSystemImpl
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelLocal
+import org.jboss.netty.channel.ChannelEvent
+
+class NettyRemoteServer(val netty: NettyRemoteTransport) {
+
+  import netty.settings
+
+  val ip = InetAddress.getByName(settings.Hostname)
+
+  private val factory = new NioServerSocketChannelFactory(
+    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(netty.system.threadFactory),
+    Executors.newCachedThreadPool(netty.system.threadFactory))
+
+  private val executionHandler = new ExecutionHandler(netty.executor)
+
+  // group of open channels, used for clean-up
+  private val openChannels: ChannelGroup = new DefaultDisposableChannelGroup("akka-remote-server")
+
+  private val bootstrap = {
+    val b = new ServerBootstrap(factory)
+    b.setPipelineFactory(new RemoteServerPipelineFactory(openChannels, executionHandler, netty))
+    b.setOption("backlog", settings.Backlog)
+    b.setOption("tcpNoDelay", true)
+    b.setOption("child.keepAlive", true)
+    b.setOption("reuseAddress", true)
+    b
+  }
+
+  @volatile
+  private[akka] var channel: Channel = _
+
+  def start(): Unit = {
+    channel = bootstrap.bind(new InetSocketAddress(ip, settings.DesiredPortFromConfig))
+    openChannels.add(channel)
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerStarted(netty))
+  }
+
+  def shutdown() {
+    try {
+      val shutdownSignal = {
+        val b = RemoteControlProtocol.newBuilder.setCommandType(CommandType.SHUTDOWN)
+        b.setOrigin(RemoteProtocol.AddressProtocol.newBuilder
+          .setSystem(settings.systemName)
+          .setHostname(settings.Hostname)
+          .setPort(settings.DesiredPortFromConfig)
+          .build)
+        if (settings.SecureCookie.nonEmpty)
+          b.setCookie(settings.SecureCookie.get)
+        b.build
+      }
+      openChannels.write(netty.createControlEnvelope(shutdownSignal)).awaitUninterruptibly
+      openChannels.disconnect
+      openChannels.close.awaitUninterruptibly
+      bootstrap.releaseExternalResources()
+      netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerShutdown(netty))
+    } catch {
+      case e: Exception ⇒ netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(e, netty))
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+class RemoteServerPipelineFactory(
+  val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
+  val executionHandler: ExecutionHandler,
+  val netty: NettyRemoteTransport) extends ChannelPipelineFactory {
+
+  import netty.settings
+
+  def getPipeline: ChannelPipeline = {
+    val lenDec = new LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder(settings.MessageFrameSize, 0, 4, 0, 4)
+    val lenPrep = new LengthFieldPrepender(4)
+    val messageDec = new RemoteMessageDecoder
+    val messageEnc = new RemoteMessageEncoder(netty)
+
+    val authenticator = if (settings.RequireCookie) new RemoteServerAuthenticationHandler(settings.SecureCookie) :: Nil else Nil
+    val remoteServer = new RemoteServerHandler(openChannels, netty)
+    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = lenDec :: messageDec :: lenPrep :: messageEnc :: executionHandler :: authenticator ::: remoteServer :: Nil
+    new StaticChannelPipeline(stages: _*)
+  }
+}
+
+@ChannelHandler.Sharable
+class RemoteServerAuthenticationHandler(secureCookie: Option[String]) extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
+  val authenticated = new AnyRef
+
+  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) = secureCookie match {
+    case None ⇒ ctx.sendUpstream(event)
+    case Some(cookie) ⇒
+      ctx.getAttachment match {
+        case `authenticated` ⇒ ctx.sendUpstream(event)
+        case null ⇒ event.getMessage match {
+          case remoteProtocol: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remoteProtocol.hasInstruction ⇒
+            val instruction = remoteProtocol.getInstruction
+            instruction.getCookie match {
+              case `cookie` ⇒
+                ctx.setAttachment(authenticated)
+                ctx.sendUpstream(event)
+              case _ ⇒
+                throw new SecurityException(
+                  "The remote client [" + ctx.getChannel.getRemoteAddress + "] secure cookie is not the same as remote server secure cookie")
+            }
+          case _ ⇒
+            throw new SecurityException("The remote client [" + ctx.getChannel.getRemoteAddress + "] is not authorized!")
+        }
+      }
+  }
+}
+
+object ChannelLocalSystem extends ChannelLocal[ActorSystemImpl] {
+  override def initialValue(ch: Channel): ActorSystemImpl = null
+}
+
+@ChannelHandler.Sharable
+class RemoteServerHandler(
+  val openChannels: ChannelGroup,
+  val netty: NettyRemoteTransport) extends SimpleChannelUpstreamHandler {
+
+  import netty.settings
+
+  private var addressToSet = true
+
+  // TODO look into moving that into onBind or similar, but verify that that is guaranteed to be the first to be called
+  override def handleUpstream(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelEvent) = {
+    if (addressToSet) {
+      netty.setAddressFromChannel(event.getChannel)
+      addressToSet = false
+    }
+    super.handleUpstream(ctx, event)
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * ChannelOpen overridden to store open channels for a clean postStop of a node.
+   * If a channel is closed before, it is automatically removed from the open channels group.
+   */
+  override def channelOpen(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = openChannels.add(ctx.getChannel)
+
+  override def channelConnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
+    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientConnected(netty, clientAddress))
+  }
+
+  override def channelDisconnected(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = {
+    val clientAddress = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel)
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientDisconnected(netty, clientAddress))
+  }
+
+  override def channelClosed(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ChannelStateEvent) = getClientAddress(ctx.getChannel) match {
+    case s @ Some(address) ⇒
+      if (settings.UsePassiveConnections)
+        netty.unbindClient(address)
+      netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(netty, s))
+    case None ⇒
+      netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerClientClosed(netty, None))
+  }
+
+  override def messageReceived(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: MessageEvent) = try {
+    event.getMessage match {
+      case remote: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remote.hasMessage ⇒
+        netty.receiveMessage(new RemoteMessage(remote.getMessage, netty.system))
+
+      case remote: AkkaRemoteProtocol if remote.hasInstruction ⇒
+        val instruction = remote.getInstruction
+        instruction.getCommandType match {
+          case CommandType.CONNECT if settings.UsePassiveConnections ⇒
+            val origin = instruction.getOrigin
+            val inbound = Address("akka", origin.getSystem, Some(origin.getHostname), Some(origin.getPort))
+            val client = new PassiveRemoteClient(event.getChannel, netty, inbound)
+            netty.bindClient(inbound, client)
+          case CommandType.SHUTDOWN ⇒ //Will be unbound in channelClosed
+          case _                    ⇒ //Unknown command
+        }
+      case _ ⇒ //ignore
+    }
+  } catch {
+    case e: Exception ⇒ netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(e, netty))
+  }
+
+  override def exceptionCaught(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, event: ExceptionEvent) = {
+    netty.notifyListeners(RemoteServerError(event.getCause, netty))
+    event.getChannel.close()
+  }
+
+  private def getClientAddress(c: Channel): Option[Address] =
+    c.getRemoteAddress match {
+      case inet: InetSocketAddress ⇒ Some(Address("akka", "unknown(yet)", Some(inet.getAddress.toString), Some(inet.getPort)))
+      case _                       ⇒ None
+    }
+}
+
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Settings.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Settings.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3f7c8f83de
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/Settings.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.remote.netty
+
+import com.typesafe.config.Config
+import akka.util.Duration
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit._
+import java.net.InetAddress
+import akka.config.ConfigurationException
+
+class NettySettings(config: Config, val systemName: String) {
+
+  import config._
+
+  val BackoffTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("backoff-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
+
+  val SecureCookie: Option[String] = getString("secure-cookie") match {
+    case ""     ⇒ None
+    case cookie ⇒ Some(cookie)
+  }
+  val RequireCookie = {
+    val requireCookie = getBoolean("require-cookie")
+    if (requireCookie && SecureCookie.isEmpty) throw new ConfigurationException(
+      "Configuration option 'akka.remote.netty.require-cookie' is turned on but no secure cookie is defined in 'akka.remote.netty.secure-cookie'.")
+    requireCookie
+  }
+
+  val UsePassiveConnections = getBoolean("use-passive-connections")
+
+  val ReconnectionTimeWindow = Duration(getMilliseconds("reconnection-time-window"), MILLISECONDS)
+  val ReadTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("read-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
+  val ReconnectDelay = Duration(getMilliseconds("reconnect-delay"), MILLISECONDS)
+  val MessageFrameSize = getBytes("message-frame-size").toInt
+
+  val Hostname = getString("hostname") match {
+    case ""    ⇒ InetAddress.getLocalHost.getHostAddress
+    case value ⇒ value
+  }
+  val DesiredPortFromConfig = getInt("port")
+
+  val ConnectionTimeout = Duration(getMilliseconds("connection-timeout"), MILLISECONDS)
+
+  val Backlog = getInt("backlog")
+
+  val ExecutionPoolKeepalive = Duration(getMilliseconds("execution-pool-keepalive"), MILLISECONDS)
+
+  val ExecutionPoolSize = getInt("execution-pool-size") match {
+    case sz if sz < 1 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.netty.execution-pool-size is less than 1")
+    case sz           ⇒ sz
+  }
+
+  val MaxChannelMemorySize = getBytes("max-channel-memory-size") match {
+    case sz if sz < 0 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.netty.max-channel-memory-size is less than 0 bytes")
+    case sz           ⇒ sz
+  }
+
+  val MaxTotalMemorySize = getBytes("max-total-memory-size") match {
+    case sz if sz < 0 ⇒ throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.netty.max-total-memory-size is less than 0 bytes")
+    case sz           ⇒ sz
+  }
+
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/package.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/package.scala
deleted file mode 100644
index e2514d6592..0000000000
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/package.scala
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-/**
- * Copyright (C) 2009-2010 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
- */
-package akka
-
-package object remote {
-  type TransportsMap = Map[String, (String, Int) ⇒ Either[String, RemoteTransportAddress]]
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/routing/RemoteRouterConfig.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/routing/RemoteRouterConfig.scala
index 83a52cbd7c..0f35ca05cb 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/routing/RemoteRouterConfig.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/routing/RemoteRouterConfig.scala
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import akka.actor.InternalActorRef
 import akka.actor.Props
 import akka.config.ConfigurationException
 import akka.remote.RemoteScope
-import akka.remote.RemoteAddressExtractor
+import akka.actor.AddressExtractor
 
 /**
  * [[akka.routing.RouterConfig]] implementation for remote deployment on defined
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ class RemoteRouteeProvider(nodes: Iterable[String], _context: ActorContext, _res
   // need this iterator as instance variable since Resizer may call createRoutees several times
   private val nodeAddressIter = {
     val nodeAddresses = nodes map {
-      case RemoteAddressExtractor(a) ⇒ a
-      case x                         ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException("unparseable remote node " + x)
+      case AddressExtractor(a) ⇒ a
+      case x                   ⇒ throw new ConfigurationException("unparseable remote node " + x)
     }
     Stream.continually(nodeAddresses).flatten.iterator
   }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index fc6dc81175..a560bc29d6 100755
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ trait AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec {
     case (idx, host) =>
       ConfigFactory.parseString("""
         akka {
-          remote.server.hostname="%s"
-          remote.server.port = "%d"
+          remote.netty.hostname="%s"
+          remote.netty.port = "%d"
         }""".format(host, 9990+idx, idx)) withFallback commonConfig
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
index 70afe668bb..4ed4c16450 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/AkkaRemoteSpec.scala
@@ -32,14 +32,4 @@ abstract class AkkaRemoteSpec(config: Config)
   extends AkkaSpec(config.withFallback(AkkaRemoteSpec.testConf))
   with MultiJvmSync {
 
-  /**
-   * Helper function for accessing the underlying remoting.
-   */
-  def remote: Remote = {
-    system.asInstanceOf[ActorSystemImpl].provider match {
-      case r: RemoteActorRefProvider ⇒ r.remote
-      case _                         ⇒ throw new Exception("Remoting is not enabled")
-    }
-  }
-
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index ccfdea0189..1c7d4b2602 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package akka.remote
 
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props }
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.testkit._
 import akka.dispatch.Await
 import akka.pattern.ask
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ object DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec extends AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSp
 
   class SomeActor extends Actor with Serializable {
     def receive = {
-      case "identify" ⇒ sender ! self.path.address.hostPort
+      case "identify" ⇒ sender ! self
     }
   }
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class DirectRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmNode2 extends AkkaRemoteSpec(nodeConfigs(1)
       val actor = system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor], "service-hello")
       actor.isInstanceOf[RemoteActorRef] must be(true)
 
-      Await.result(actor ? "identify", timeout.duration) must equal(akkaSpec(0))
+      Await.result(actor ? "identify", timeout.duration).asInstanceOf[ActorRef].path.address.hostPort must equal(akkaSpec(0))
 
       barrier("done")
     }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/NewRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/NewRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index 59e6d4e850..a91b203707 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/NewRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/NewRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package akka.remote
 
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props }
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.testkit._
 import akka.dispatch.Await
 import akka.pattern.ask
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ object NewRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec extends AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec {
 
   class SomeActor extends Actor with Serializable {
     def receive = {
-      case "identify" ⇒ sender ! self.path.address.hostPort
+      case "identify" ⇒ sender ! self
     }
   }
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class NewRemoteActorMultiJvmNode2 extends AkkaRemoteSpec(NewRemoteActorMultiJvmS
       barrier("start")
 
       val actor = system.actorOf(Props[SomeActor], "service-hello")
-      Await.result(actor ? "identify", timeout.duration) must equal(akkaSpec(0))
+      Await.result(actor ? "identify", timeout.duration).asInstanceOf[ActorRef].path.address.hostPort must equal(akkaSpec(0))
 
       barrier("done")
     }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index 89d5da3bd2..f895708294 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package akka.remote
 
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props }
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.routing._
 import akka.testkit.DefaultTimeout
 import akka.dispatch.Await
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ object RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec extends AbstractRemoteActorMultiJvmSp
   override def NrOfNodes = 4
   class SomeActor extends Actor with Serializable {
     def receive = {
-      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self.path.address.hostPort
+      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self
       case "end" ⇒ context.stop(self)
     }
   }
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class RandomRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmNode4 extends AkkaRemoteSpec(RandomRoutedRe
 
       for (i ← 0 until iterationCount) {
         for (k ← 0 until connectionCount) {
-          val nodeName = Await.result(actor ? "hit", timeout.duration).toString
+          val nodeName = Await.result(actor ? "hit", timeout.duration).asInstanceOf[ActorRef].path.address.hostPort
           replies = replies + (nodeName -> (replies(nodeName) + 1))
         }
       }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index 0b3db1c8bd..21c7e4cf64 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package akka.remote
 
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props }
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.routing._
 import akka.testkit.DefaultTimeout
 import akka.dispatch.Await
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ object RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec extends AbstractRemoteActorMultiJ
 
   class SomeActor extends Actor with Serializable {
     def receive = {
-      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self.path.address.hostPort
+      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self
       case "end" ⇒ context.stop(self)
     }
   }
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class RoundRobinRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmNode4 extends AkkaRemoteSpec(RoundRobin
 
       for (i ← 0 until iterationCount) {
         for (k ← 0 until connectionCount) {
-          val nodeName = Await.result(actor ? "hit", timeout.duration).toString
+          val nodeName = Await.result(actor ? "hit", timeout.duration).asInstanceOf[ActorRef].path.address.hostPort
 
           replies = replies + (nodeName -> (replies(nodeName) + 1))
         }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
index d2cb625469..8a6bad79fa 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/remote/ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec.scala
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 package akka.remote
 
-import akka.actor.{ Actor, Props }
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorRef, Props }
 import akka.routing._
 import akka.testkit._
 import akka.util.duration._
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ object ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmSpec extends AbstractRemoteActorMul
   override def NrOfNodes = 4
   class SomeActor extends Actor with Serializable {
     def receive = {
-      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self.path.address.hostPort
+      case "hit" ⇒ sender ! self
       case "end" ⇒ context.stop(self)
     }
   }
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class ScatterGatherRoutedRemoteActorMultiJvmNode4 extends AkkaRemoteSpec(Scatter
       }
 
       val replies = (receiveWhile(5 seconds, messages = connectionCount * iterationCount) {
-        case name: String ⇒ (name, 1)
+        case ref: ActorRef ⇒ (ref.path.address.hostPort, 1)
       }).foldLeft(Map(akkaSpec(0) -> 0, akkaSpec(1) -> 0, akkaSpec(2) -> 0)) {
         case (m, (n, c)) ⇒ m + (n -> (m(n) + c))
       }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetectorSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetectorSpec.scala
index 5ac2f281ab..17a848b8d3 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetectorSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/AccrualFailureDetectorSpec.scala
@@ -2,11 +2,12 @@ package akka.remote
 
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
+import akka.actor.Address
 
 class AccrualFailureDetectorSpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
   "An AccrualFailureDetector" must {
-    val conn = RemoteNettyAddress("localhost", 2552)
+    val conn = Address("akka", "", Some("localhost"), Some(2552))
 
     "mark node as available after a series of successful heartbeats" in {
       val fd = new AccrualFailureDetector()
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/NetworkFailureSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/NetworkFailureSpec.scala
index 3ed237d111..966120583a 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/NetworkFailureSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/NetworkFailureSpec.scala
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ package akka.remote
 
 import org.scalatest.{ BeforeAndAfterAll, BeforeAndAfterEach }
 
-import akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteSupport
+import akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteTransport
 import akka.actor.Actor
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 import akka.testkit.DefaultTimeout
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
index 797099092b..0f6898a239 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteCommunicationSpec.scala
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ object RemoteCommunicationSpec {
 class RemoteCommunicationSpec extends AkkaSpec("""
 akka {
   actor.provider = "akka.remote.RemoteActorRefProvider"
-  remote.server {
+  remote.netty {
     hostname = localhost
     port = 12345
   }
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ akka {
 
   import RemoteCommunicationSpec._
 
-  val conf = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.server.port=12346").withFallback(system.settings.config)
+  val conf = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.netty.port=12346").withFallback(system.settings.config)
   val other = ActorSystem("remote_sys", conf)
 
   val remote = other.actorOf(Props(new Actor {
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConfigSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConfigSpec.scala
index 57dc7f210a..b60b90b900 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteConfigSpec.scala
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
 package akka.remote
 
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
 import akka.actor.ExtendedActorSystem
 import akka.util.duration._
+import akka.util.Duration
+import akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteTransport
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class RemoteConfigSpec extends AkkaSpec(
@@ -14,51 +19,49 @@ class RemoteConfigSpec extends AkkaSpec(
   }
   """) {
 
-  "RemoteExtension" must {
-    "be able to parse remote and cluster config elements" in {
+  "Remoting" must {
+
+    "be able to parse generic remote config elements" in {
       val settings = system.asInstanceOf[ExtendedActorSystem].provider.asInstanceOf[RemoteActorRefProvider].remoteSettings
+      import settings._
 
-      //SharedSettings
+      RemoteTransport must be("akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteTransport")
+      UntrustedMode must be(false)
+      RemoteSystemDaemonAckTimeout must be(30 seconds)
 
-      {
-        import settings._
+      FailureDetectorThreshold must be(8)
+      FailureDetectorMaxSampleSize must be(1000)
 
-        RemoteTransport must equal("akka.remote.netty.NettyRemoteSupport")
-        BackoffTimeout must equal(0 seconds)
-        LogReceivedMessages must equal(false)
-        LogSentMessages must equal(false)
-      }
-
-      //ServerSettings
-
-      {
-        import settings.serverSettings._
-        SecureCookie must be(None)
-        UsePassiveConnections must equal(true)
-        Port must equal(2552)
-        MessageFrameSize must equal(1048576L)
-        RequireCookie must equal(false)
-        UntrustedMode must equal(false)
-        Backlog must equal(4096)
-        ExecutionPoolKeepAlive must equal(1 minute)
-        ExecutionPoolSize must equal(4)
-        MaxChannelMemorySize must equal(0)
-        MaxTotalMemorySize must equal(0)
-      }
-
-      //ClientSettings
-
-      {
-        import settings.clientSettings._
-        SecureCookie must be(None)
-        ReconnectDelay must equal(5 seconds)
-        ReadTimeout must equal(1 hour)
-        ReconnectionTimeWindow must equal(10 minutes)
-        ConnectionTimeout must equal(10 seconds)
-      }
-
-      // TODO cluster config will go into akka-cluster/reference.conf when we enable that module
-      settings.SeedNodes must be('empty)
+      InitialDelayForGossip must be(5 seconds)
+      GossipFrequency must be(1 second)
+      SeedNodes must be(Set())
     }
+
+    "be able to parse Netty config elements" in {
+      val settings =
+        system.asInstanceOf[ExtendedActorSystem]
+          .provider.asInstanceOf[RemoteActorRefProvider]
+          .transport.asInstanceOf[NettyRemoteTransport]
+          .settings
+      import settings._
+
+      BackoffTimeout must be(Duration.Zero)
+      SecureCookie must be(None)
+      RequireCookie must be(false)
+      UsePassiveConnections must be(true)
+      Hostname must not be "" // will be set to the local IP
+      DesiredPortFromConfig must be(2552)
+      MessageFrameSize must be(1048576)
+      ConnectionTimeout must be(2 minutes)
+      Backlog must be(4096)
+      ExecutionPoolKeepalive must be(1 minute)
+      ExecutionPoolSize must be(4)
+      MaxChannelMemorySize must be(0)
+      MaxTotalMemorySize must be(0)
+      ReconnectDelay must be(5 seconds)
+      ReadTimeout must be(1 hour)
+      ReconnectionTimeWindow must be(10 minutes)
+    }
+
   }
 }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeathWatchSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeathWatchSpec.scala
index 80a4f3cffe..392cee216b 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeathWatchSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeathWatchSpec.scala
@@ -16,14 +16,14 @@ akka {
             /watchers.remote = "akka://other@127.0.0.1:2666"
         }
     }
-    remote.server {
+    remote.netty {
         hostname = "127.0.0.1"
-        port = 2665
+        port = 0
     }
 }
 """)) with ImplicitSender with DefaultTimeout with DeathWatchSpec {
 
-  val other = ActorSystem("other", ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.server.port=2666").withFallback(system.settings.config))
+  val other = ActorSystem("other", ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.netty.port=2666").withFallback(system.settings.config))
 
   override def atTermination() {
     other.shutdown()
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployerSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployerSpec.scala
index a11a635462..1b32ce7112 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployerSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteDeployerSpec.scala
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class RemoteDeployerSpec extends AkkaSpec(RemoteDeployerSpec.deployerConf) {
           service,
           deployment.get.config,
           RoundRobinRouter(3),
-          RemoteScope(UnparsedSystemAddress(Some("sys"), UnparsedTransportAddress("akka", "wallace", 2552))))))
+          RemoteScope(Address("akka", "sys", Some("wallace"), Some(2552))))))
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteRouterSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteRouterSpec.scala
index ebdea1e34b..26c28860f7 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteRouterSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/akka/remote/RemoteRouterSpec.scala
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import com.typesafe.config._
 object RemoteRouterSpec {
   class Echo extends Actor {
     def receive = {
-      case _ ⇒ sender ! self.path
+      case _ ⇒ sender ! self
     }
   }
 }
@@ -20,15 +20,15 @@ object RemoteRouterSpec {
 class RemoteRouterSpec extends AkkaSpec("""
 akka {
   actor.provider = "akka.remote.RemoteActorRefProvider"
-  remote.server {
+  remote.netty {
     hostname = localhost
-    port = 12345
+    port = 0
   }
   actor.deployment {
     /blub {
       router = round-robin
       nr-of-instances = 2
-      target.nodes = ["akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346"]
+      target.nodes = ["akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"]
     }
     /elastic-blub {
       router = round-robin
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ akka {
         lower-bound = 2
         upper-bound = 3
       }
-      target.nodes = ["akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346"]
+      target.nodes = ["akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"]
     }
   }
 }
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ akka {
 
   import RemoteRouterSpec._
 
-  val conf = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.server.port=12346").withFallback(system.settings.config)
+  val conf = ConfigFactory.parseString("akka.remote.netty.port=12347").withFallback(system.settings.config)
   val other = ActorSystem("remote_sys", conf)
 
   override def atTermination() {
@@ -56,26 +56,26 @@ akka {
     "deploy its children on remote host driven by configuration" in {
       val router = system.actorOf(Props[Echo].withRouter(RoundRobinRouter(2)), "blub")
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/blub/c1"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/blub/c2"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
     }
 
     "deploy its children on remote host driven by programatic definition" in {
       val router = system.actorOf(Props[Echo].withRouter(new RemoteRouterConfig(RoundRobinRouter(2),
-        Seq("akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346"))), "blub2")
+        Seq("akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"))), "blub2")
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/blub2/c1"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/blub2/c2"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
     }
 
     "deploy dynamic resizable number of children on remote host driven by configuration" in {
       val router = system.actorOf(Props[Echo].withRouter(FromConfig), "elastic-blub")
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/elastic-blub/c1"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
       router ! ""
-      expectMsgType[ActorPath].toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12346/remote/RemoteRouterSpec@localhost:12345/user/elastic-blub/c2"
+      expectMsgType[ActorRef].path.address.toString must be === "akka://remote_sys@localhost:12347"
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/Build.scala b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/Build.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..60c83740f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/Build.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+
+import sbt._
+import Keys._
+import akka.sbt.AkkaKernelPlugin
+import akka.sbt.AkkaKernelPlugin.{ Dist, outputDirectory, distJvmOptions}
+
+object HelloKernelBuild extends Build {
+  val Organization = "akka.sample"
+  val Version      = "2.0-SNAPSHOT"
+  val ScalaVersion = "2.9.1"
+
+  lazy val HelloKernel = Project(
+    id = "hello-kernel",
+    base = file("."),
+    settings = defaultSettings ++ AkkaKernelPlugin.distSettings ++ Seq(
+      libraryDependencies ++= Dependencies.helloKernel,
+      distJvmOptions in Dist := "-Xms256M -Xmx1024M",
+      outputDirectory in Dist := file("target/hello-dist")
+    )
+  )
+
+  lazy val buildSettings = Defaults.defaultSettings ++ Seq(
+    organization := Organization,
+    version      := Version,
+    scalaVersion := ScalaVersion,
+    crossPaths   := false,
+    organizationName := "Typesafe Inc.",
+    organizationHomepage := Some(url("http://www.typesafe.com"))
+  )
+  
+  lazy val defaultSettings = buildSettings ++ Seq(
+    resolvers += "Typesafe Repo" at "http://repo.typesafe.com/typesafe/releases/",
+
+    // compile options
+    scalacOptions ++= Seq("-encoding", "UTF-8", "-deprecation", "-unchecked"),
+    javacOptions  ++= Seq("-Xlint:unchecked", "-Xlint:deprecation")
+
+  )
+}
+
+object Dependencies {
+  import Dependency._
+
+  val helloKernel = Seq(
+    akkaKernel, akkaSlf4j, logback
+  )
+}
+
+object Dependency {
+  // Versions
+  object V {
+    val Akka      = "2.0-SNAPSHOT"
+  }
+
+  val akkaKernel        = "com.typesafe.akka" % "akka-kernel"        % V.Akka
+  val akkaSlf4j         = "com.typesafe.akka" % "akka-slf4j"         % V.Akka
+  val logback           = "ch.qos.logback"    % "logback-classic"    % "1.0.0"
+}
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/build.properties b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/build.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f4ff7a5afa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/build.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+sbt.version=0.11.2
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/plugins.sbt b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/plugins.sbt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a44d2ee72f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/project/plugins.sbt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+resolvers += "Typesafe Repo" at "http://repo.typesafe.com/typesafe/releases/"
+
+addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.akka" % "akka-sbt-plugin" % "2.0-SNAPSHOT")
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/application.conf b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/application.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e8271a1081
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/application.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+akka {
+  loglevel = INFO
+  event-handlers = ["akka.event.slf4j.Slf4jEventHandler"]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/logback.xml b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/logback.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bddac0313d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/config/logback.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+
+<configuration>
+
+<appender name="STDOUT" class="ch.qos.logback.core.ConsoleAppender">
+  <layout>
+    <pattern>%date{ISO8601} %-5level %X{akkaSource} %X{sourceThread} - %msg%n</pattern>
+  </layout>
+</appender>
+
+<root level="info">
+	<appender-ref ref="STDOUT" />
+</root>
+
+</configuration>
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/scala/HelloKernel.scala b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/scala/HelloKernel.scala
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bef50fed72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/sample/src/main/scala/HelloKernel.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/**
+ *  Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package sample.kernel.hello
+
+import akka.actor.{ Actor, ActorSystem, ActorLogging, Props }
+import akka.kernel.Bootable
+
+case object Start
+
+class HelloActor extends Actor with ActorLogging {
+  val worldActor = context.actorOf(Props[WorldActor], name = "world")
+
+  def receive = {
+    case Start ⇒ worldActor ! "Hello"
+    case message: String ⇒
+      log.info("Received message [{}]", message)
+  }
+}
+
+class WorldActor extends Actor {
+  def receive = {
+    case message: String ⇒ sender ! (message.toUpperCase + " world!")
+  }
+}
+
+class HelloKernel extends Bootable {
+  val system = ActorSystem("hellokernel")
+
+  def startup = {
+    system.actorOf(Props[HelloActor], name = "hello") ! Start
+  }
+
+  def shutdown = {
+    system.shutdown()
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/akka-sbt-plugin/src/main/scala/AkkaKernelPlugin.scala b/akka-sbt-plugin/src/main/scala/AkkaKernelPlugin.scala
index 5c1c5045af..08826fa5dd 100644
--- a/akka-sbt-plugin/src/main/scala/AkkaKernelPlugin.scala
+++ b/akka-sbt-plugin/src/main/scala/AkkaKernelPlugin.scala
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ object AkkaKernelPlugin extends Plugin {
       """|#!/bin/sh
     |
     |AKKA_HOME="$(cd "$(cd "$(dirname "$0")"; pwd -P)"/..; pwd)"
-    |AKKA_CLASSPATH="$AKKA_HOME/lib/*:$AKKA_HOME/config"
+    |AKKA_CLASSPATH="$AKKA_HOME/config:$AKKA_HOME/lib/*"
     |JAVA_OPTS="%s"
     |
     |java $JAVA_OPTS -cp "$AKKA_CLASSPATH" -Dakka.home="$AKKA_HOME" %s "$@"
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ object AkkaKernelPlugin extends Plugin {
     private def distBatScript =
       """|@echo off
     |set AKKA_HOME=%%~dp0..
-    |set AKKA_CLASSPATH=%%AKKA_HOME%%\lib\*;%%AKKA_HOME%%\config
+    |set AKKA_CLASSPATH=%%AKKA_HOME%%\config;%%AKKA_HOME%%\lib\*
     |set JAVA_OPTS=%s
     |
     |java %%JAVA_OPTS%% -cp "%%AKKA_CLASSPATH%%" -Dakka.home="%%AKKA_HOME%%" %s %%*
diff --git a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
index d1ad063063..2eaddcd40c 100644
--- a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
+++ b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/java/akka/tutorial/first/java/Pi.java
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ public class Pi {
     ActorSystem system = ActorSystem.create("PiSystem");
 
     // create the result listener, which will print the result and shutdown the system
-    final ActorRef listener = system.actorOf(new Props(Listener.class));
+    final ActorRef listener = system.actorOf(new Props(Listener.class), "listener");
 
     // create the master
     ActorRef master = system.actorOf(new Props(new UntypedActorFactory() {
diff --git a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/resources/akka.conf b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/resources/akka.conf
deleted file mode 100644
index 17517bccbe..0000000000
--- a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/resources/akka.conf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-akka.actor.deployment {
-    /user/master/pi {
-        router = round-robin
-        nr-of-instances = 10
-    }
-}
diff --git a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
index 578a64445c..19fa23544c 100644
--- a/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
+++ b/akka-tutorials/akka-tutorial-first/src/main/scala/Pi.scala
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ object Pi extends App {
     val system = ActorSystem("PiSystem")
 
     // create the result listener, which will print the result and shutdown the system
-    val listener = system.actorOf(Props[Listener])
+    val listener = system.actorOf(Props[Listener], name = "listener")
 
     // create the master
     val master = system.actorOf(Props(new Master(