diff --git a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteShared.scala b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteShared.scala
index ee4e5cf809..9fa9d1b5c0 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteShared.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/RemoteShared.scala
@@ -44,4 +44,24 @@ object RemoteServerSettings {
   }
 
   val BACKLOG = config.getInt("akka.remote.server.backlog", 4096)
+
+  val EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE = Duration(config.getInt("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-keepalive", 60), TIME_UNIT)
+
+  val EXECUTION_POOL_SIZE = {
+    val sz = config.getInt("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-size",16)
+    if (sz < 1) throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-size is less than 1")
+    sz
+  }
+
+  val MAX_CHANNEL_MEMORY_SIZE = {
+    val sz = config.getInt("akka.remote.server.max-channel-memory-size", 0)
+    if (sz < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.max-channel-memory-size is less than 0")
+    sz
+  }
+
+  val MAX_TOTAL_MEMORY_SIZE = {
+    val sz = config.getInt("akka.remote.server.max-total-memory-size", 0)
+    if (sz < 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("akka.remote.server.max-total-memory-size is less than 0")
+    sz
+  }
 }
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 893b22b059..3fab1b20c1 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/main/scala/akka/remote/netty/NettyRemoteSupport.scala
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.frame.{ LengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder, Lengt
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.compression.{ ZlibDecoder, ZlibEncoder }
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.protobuf.{ ProtobufDecoder, ProtobufEncoder }
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.timeout.{ ReadTimeoutHandler, ReadTimeoutException }
+import org.jboss.netty.handler.execution.{ OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor, ExecutionHandler }
 import org.jboss.netty.util.{ TimerTask, Timeout, HashedWheelTimer }
 import org.jboss.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler
 
@@ -753,9 +754,17 @@ class RemoteServerPipelineFactory(
       case "zlib"  => (new ZlibEncoder(ZLIB_COMPRESSION_LEVEL) :: Nil, new ZlibDecoder :: Nil)
       case       _ => (Nil, Nil)
     }
-
+    val execution = new ExecutionHandler(
+      new OrderedMemoryAwareThreadPoolExecutor(
+        EXECUTION_POOL_SIZE,
+        MAX_CHANNEL_MEMORY_SIZE,
+        MAX_TOTAL_MEMORY_SIZE,
+        EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.length,
+        EXECUTION_POOL_KEEPALIVE.unit
+      )
+    )
     val remoteServer = new RemoteServerHandler(name, openChannels, loader, server)
-    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = dec ::: lenDec :: protobufDec :: enc ::: lenPrep :: protobufEnc :: remoteServer :: Nil
+    val stages: List[ChannelHandler] = dec ::: lenDec :: protobufDec :: enc ::: lenPrep :: protobufEnc :: execution :: remoteServer :: Nil
     new StaticChannelPipeline(stages: _*)
   }
 }
@@ -856,8 +865,6 @@ class RemoteServerHandler(
     }
 
   private def handleRemoteMessageProtocol(request: RemoteMessageProtocol, channel: Channel) = {
-    //FIXME we should definitely spawn off this in a thread pool or something,
-    //      potentially using Actor.spawn or something similar
     request.getActorInfo.getActorType match {
       case SCALA_ACTOR => dispatchToActor(request, channel)
       case TYPED_ACTOR => dispatchToTypedActor(request, channel)
diff --git a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/config/ConfigSpec.scala b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/config/ConfigSpec.scala
index 7ba5193f6f..e37edcfc34 100644
--- a/akka-remote/src/test/scala/config/ConfigSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-remote/src/test/scala/config/ConfigSpec.scala
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ class ConfigSpec extends WordSpec with MustMatchers {
       getBool("akka.remote.ssl.debug") must equal(None)
       getBool("akka.remote.ssl.service") must equal(None)
       getInt("akka.remote.zlib-compression-level") must equal(Some(6))
+      getInt("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-size") must equal(Some(16))
+      getInt("akka.remote.server.execution-pool-keepalive") must equal(Some(60))
+      getInt("akka.remote.server.max-channel-memory-size") must equal(Some(0))
+      getInt("akka.remote.server.max-total-memory-size") must equal(Some(0))
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/config/akka-reference.conf b/config/akka-reference.conf
index 458f937e5e..b27c383de6 100644
--- a/config/akka-reference.conf
+++ b/config/akka-reference.conf
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ akka {
       require-cookie = off         # Should the remote server require that it peers share the same secure-cookie (defined in the 'remote' section)?
       untrusted-mode = off         # Enable untrusted mode for full security of server managed actors, allows untrusted clients to connect.
       backlog = 4096               # Sets the size of the connection backlog
+      execution-pool-keepalive = 60# Length in akka.time-unit how long core threads will be kept alive if idling
+      execution-pool-size      = 16# Size of the core pool of the remote execution unit
+      max-channel-memory-size  = 0 # Maximum channel size, 0 for off
+      max-total-memory-size    = 0 # Maximum total size of all channels, 0 for off
     }
 
     client {