diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 17b44d6df..b6ad3dc88 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -27,11 +27,14 @@
 	</modules>
 
 	<properties>
+		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+		<project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
 		<project.type>multi</project.type>
 		<dist.id>spring-data-cassandra</dist.id>
 		<springdata.commons>1.6.2.RELEASE</springdata.commons>
 		<cassandra-unit.version>1.2.0.1</cassandra-unit.version>
 		<cassandra-driver-core.version>1.0.4-dse</cassandra-driver-core.version>
+		<failsafe.version>2.16</failsafe.version>
 	</properties>
 
 	<developers>
@@ -123,10 +126,19 @@
 				<version>${spring}</version>
 			</dependency>
 
+			<!--  Logging Dependencies -->
 			<dependency>
 				<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
-				<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
-				<version>1.7.4</version>
+				<artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
+				<version>${slf4j}</version>
+				<scope>test</scope>
+			</dependency>
+
+			<dependency>
+				<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+				<artifactId>jul-to-slf4j</artifactId>
+				<version>${slf4j}</version>
+				<scope>test</scope>
 			</dependency>
 
 			<!-- CDI -->
@@ -246,6 +258,7 @@
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 				<artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>${failsafe.version}</version>
 				<configuration>
 					<forkMode>always</forkMode>
 					<argLine>-Xmx2048m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m</argLine>
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/pom.xml b/spring-cassandra/pom.xml
index a5c552d78..b3afd4fd1 100644
--- a/spring-cassandra/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-cassandra/pom.xml
@@ -44,6 +44,12 @@
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>com.datastax.cassandra</groupId>
 			<artifactId>cassandra-driver-core</artifactId>
+			<exclusions>
+				<exclusion>
+					<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
+					<groupId>log4j</groupId>
+				</exclusion>
+			</exclusions>
 		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>javax.enterprise</groupId>
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest.java b/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest.java
index 22dd2544d..2d89db056 100644
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
 
 public abstract class AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 
-	protected final static String CASSANDRA_CONFIG = "cassandra.yaml";
+	protected final static String CASSANDRA_CONFIG = "spring-cassandra.yaml";
 	protected final static String CASSANDRA_HOST = "localhost";
 	protected final static int CASSANDRA_NATIVE_PORT = 9042;
 
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cassandra-keyspace.yaml b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cassandra-keyspace.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index a0e13da6e..000000000
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cassandra-keyspace.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-name: test
-replicationFactor: 1
-strategy: org.apache.cassandra.locator.SimpleStrategy
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cql-dataload.cql b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cql-dataload.cql
deleted file mode 100644
index e38d18d36..000000000
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cql-dataload.cql
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-create table book (isbn text, title text, author text, pages int, PRIMARY KEY (isbn));
-create table book_alt (isbn text, title text, author text, pages int, PRIMARY KEY (isbn));
-/*insert into book (isbn, title, author, pages) values ('999999999', 'Book of Nines', 'Nine Nine', 999);*/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/log4j.properties b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/log4j.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index 6e2ec3286..000000000
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/log4j.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-log4j.rootLogger=WARN, stdout
-log4j.appender.stdout=org.apache.log4j.ConsoleAppender
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
-log4j.appender.stdout.layout.ConversionPattern=%d [%t] %-5p %c - %m%n
-log4j.logger.org.springframework.data.cassandra=INFO
-
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logback.xml b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logback-test.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logback.xml
rename to spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logback-test.xml
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logging.properties b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logging.properties
deleted file mode 100644
index 2f5ec24dd..000000000
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/logging.properties
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-handlers = org.slf4j.bridge.SLF4JBridgeHandler
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cassandra.yaml b/spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/spring-cassandra.yaml
similarity index 100%
rename from spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/cassandra.yaml
rename to spring-cassandra/src/test/resources/spring-cassandra.yaml
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra-distribution/pom.xml b/spring-data-cassandra-distribution/pom.xml
index 84ca20dbc..72402004f 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra-distribution/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra-distribution/pom.xml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 	<properties>
 		<project.root>${basedir}/..</project.root>
 		<dist.key>SDCASS</dist.key>
+		<wagon.version>1.0.3</wagon.version>
 	</properties>
 
 	<build>
@@ -28,10 +29,12 @@
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
 				<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>2.3</version>
 			</plugin>
 			<plugin>
 				<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
 				<artifactId>wagon-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>${wagon.version}</version>
 			</plugin>
 		</plugins>
 	</build>
diff --git a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/convert/CassandraPropertyValueProvider.java b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/convert/CassandraPropertyValueProvider.java
index 109086254..1c0c11653 100644
--- a/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/convert/CassandraPropertyValueProvider.java
+++ b/spring-data-cassandra/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/cassandra/convert/CassandraPropertyValueProvider.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.data.cassandra.mapping.CassandraPersistentProperty;
-import org.springframework.data.cassandra.util.CqlUtils;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.model.DefaultSpELExpressionEvaluator;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.model.PropertyValueProvider;
 import org.springframework.data.mapping.model.SpELExpressionEvaluator;
@@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ public class CassandraPropertyValueProvider implements PropertyValueProvider<Cas
 		}
 		DataType columnType = source.getColumnDefinitions().getType(columnName);
 
-		log.info(columnType.getName().name());
+		log.debug(columnType.getName().name());
 
 		/*
 		 * Dave Webb - Added handler for text since getBytes was throwing