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 4b5127af6..d7f62cffe 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
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ import org.apache.cassandra.exceptions.ConfigurationException;
 import org.apache.thrift.transport.TTransportException;
 import org.cassandraunit.utils.EmbeddedCassandraServerHelper;
 import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import com.datastax.driver.core.Cluster;
 import com.datastax.driver.core.KeyspaceMetadata;
@@ -14,22 +17,30 @@ import com.datastax.driver.core.Session;
 
 public abstract class AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 
+	private static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest.class);
+
 	protected final static String CASSANDRA_CONFIG = "spring-cassandra.yaml";
 	protected final static String CASSANDRA_HOST = "localhost";
 	protected final static int CASSANDRA_NATIVE_PORT = 9042;
 
+	@BeforeClass
 	public static void startCassandra() throws ConfigurationException, TTransportException, IOException,
 			InterruptedException {
+		log.info("Starting Cassandra Embedded Server");
 		EmbeddedCassandraServerHelper.startEmbeddedCassandra(CASSANDRA_CONFIG);
 	}
 
 	public AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest() {
-		try {
-			startCassandra();
-		} catch (Exception e) {
-			throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		if (session == null) {
+			connect();
+		}
+	}
+
+	public AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest(String keyspace) {
+		this.keyspace = keyspace;
+		if (session == null) {
+			connect();
 		}
-		connect();
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -48,10 +59,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 	 * If not <code>null</code>, get a {@link Session} for the from the {@link #cluster}.
 	 */
 	protected String keyspace = "ks" + UUID.randomUUID().toString().replace("-", "");
+
 	/**
 	 * The {@link Session} for the {@link #keyspace} from the {@link #cluster}.
 	 */
-	protected Session session;
+	protected static Session session;
 
 	protected String keyspace() {
 		return keyspace;
@@ -91,8 +103,11 @@ public abstract class AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 
 	@After
 	public void after() {
+		log.info("After: clear -> " + clear + ", connected -> " + connected());
 		if (clear && connected()) {
+			log.info("Cleaning Cassandra");
 			EmbeddedCassandraServerHelper.cleanEmbeddedCassandra();
 		}
 	}
+
 }
diff --git a/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/core/template/CassandraOperationsTest.java b/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/core/template/CassandraOperationsTest.java
index 82340180f..da5a4f636 100644
--- a/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/core/template/CassandraOperationsTest.java
+++ b/spring-cassandra/src/test/java/org/springframework/cassandra/test/integration/core/template/CassandraOperationsTest.java
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ import com.datastax.driver.core.exceptions.DriverException;
  */
 public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegrationTest {
 
-	private CassandraOperations cassandraTemplate;
+	private static CassandraOperations cassandraTemplate;
 
 	private static Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(CassandraOperationsTest.class);
 
@@ -88,9 +88,26 @@ public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegratio
 			"cassandraOperationsTest-cql-dataload.cql", this.keyspace), CASSANDRA_CONFIG, CASSANDRA_HOST,
 			CASSANDRA_NATIVE_PORT);
 
+	public CassandraOperationsTest() {
+		super("sdctest");
+		clear = true;
+	}
+
 	@Before
 	public void setupTemplate() {
-		cassandraTemplate = new CassandraTemplate(session);
+
+		log.info("Running setupTemplate()");
+
+		if (cassandraTemplate == null) {
+
+			log.info("null Template ... Initialzing DB test CQL");
+
+			// CassandraCQLUnit cassandraCQLUnit = new CassandraCQLUnit(new ClassPathCQLDataSet(
+			// "cassandraOperationsTest-cql-dataload.cql", keyspace), CASSANDRA_CONFIG, CASSANDRA_HOST,
+			// CASSANDRA_NATIVE_PORT);
+
+			cassandraTemplate = new CassandraTemplate(session);
+		}
 	}
 
 	@Test
@@ -140,9 +157,11 @@ public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegratio
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	@SuppressWarnings( "unchecked" )
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
 	public void ingestionTestListOfList() {
 
+		log.info("Keyspace => " + keyspace);
+
 		String cql = "insert into book (isbn, title, author, pages) values (?, ?, ?, ?)";
 
 		List<List<?>> values = new LinkedList<List<?>>();
@@ -166,6 +185,8 @@ public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegratio
 	@Test
 	public void ingestionTestObjectArray() {
 
+		log.info("Keyspace => " + keyspace);
+
 		String cql = "insert into book (isbn, title, author, pages) values (?, ?, ?, ?)";
 
 		Object[][] values = new Object[3][];
@@ -508,7 +529,7 @@ public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegratio
 		// Insert our 3 test books.
 		ingestionTestObjectArray();
 
-		@SuppressWarnings( "unused" )
+		@SuppressWarnings("unused")
 		Book book = cassandraTemplate.queryForObject("select * from book where isbn in ('1234','2345','3456')",
 				new RowMapper<Book>() {
 					@Override
@@ -563,7 +584,7 @@ public class CassandraOperationsTest extends AbstractEmbeddedCassandraIntegratio
 	@Test(expected = ClassCastException.class)
 	public void queryForObjectTestCqlStringRequiredTypeInvalid() {
 
-		@SuppressWarnings( "unused" )
+		@SuppressWarnings("unused")
 		Float title = cassandraTemplate.queryForObject("select title from book where isbn in ('" + ISBN_NINES + "')",
 				Float.class);