diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/IndexFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/IndexFactoryBean.java
index a46efdc1..5f657157 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/IndexFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/IndexFactoryBean.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public class IndexFactoryBean implements InitializingBean, BeanNameAware, Factor
 	private RegionService cache;
 	private String beanName;
 	private String name, expression, from, imports;
-	private IndexType type;
+	private IndexType type = IndexType.FUNCTIONAL;
 
 	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
 		if (queryService == null) {
@@ -60,8 +60,13 @@ public class IndexFactoryBean implements InitializingBean, BeanNameAware, Factor
 		}
 
 		Assert.notNull(queryService, "Query service required for index creation");
+		Assert.hasText(expression, "Index expression is required");
+		Assert.hasText(from, "Index from clause is required");
 
 		String indexName = StringUtils.hasText(name) ? name : beanName;
+
+		Assert.hasText(indexName, "Index bean id or name is required");
+
 		index = createIndex(queryService, indexName);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
index 62a93ae1..57eeafe6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GemfireNamespaceHandler.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class GemfireNamespaceHandler extends NamespaceHandlerSupport {
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("partitioned-region", new PartitionedRegionParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("client-region", new ClientRegionParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("pool", new PoolParser());
+		registerBeanDefinitionParser("index", new IndexParser());
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("cache-server", new CacheServerParser());
 
 		registerBeanDefinitionParser("transaction-manager", new TransactionManagerParser());
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b97f428c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2011 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.gemfire.config;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.BeanDefinitionBuilder;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.AbstractSimpleBeanDefinitionParser;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.IndexFactoryBean;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+
+/**
+ * Parser for <index;gt; definitions.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+class IndexParser extends AbstractSimpleBeanDefinitionParser {
+
+	protected Class<?> getBeanClass(Element element) {
+		return IndexFactoryBean.class;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected void doParse(Element element, ParserContext parserContext, BeanDefinitionBuilder builder) {
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyReference(element, builder, "cache-ref", "cache");
+		super.doParse(element, parserContext, builder);
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected boolean isEligibleAttribute(String attributeName) {
+		if ("cache-ref".equals(attributeName)) {
+			return false;
+		}
+		return super.isEligibleAttribute(attributeName);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.1.xsd b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.1.xsd
index 97bf572d..286bbc39 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.1.xsd
+++ b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.1.xsd
@@ -1174,6 +1174,21 @@ The name of the index.]]></xsd:documentation>
 			<xsd:attribute name="expression" use="required" type="xsd:string"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="from" use="required" type="xsd:string"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="imports" use="optional" type="xsd:string"/>
+			
+			<xsd:attribute name="cache-ref" type="xsd:string" default="gemfire-cache" use="optional">
+				<xsd:annotation>
+					<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+The name of the bean defining the GemFire cache (by default 'gemfire-cache').
+					]]></xsd:documentation>
+				</xsd:annotation>
+			</xsd:attribute>
+			<xsd:attribute name="pool-name" use="optional" type="xsd:string">
+				<xsd:annotation>
+					<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
+The name of the pool used by the index. Used usually in client scenarios.
+					]]></xsd:documentation>
+				</xsd:annotation>
+			</xsd:attribute>
 		</xsd:complexType>
 	</xsd:element>
 	
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexNamespaceTest.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexNamespaceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ad823b3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/IndexNamespaceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2011 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.data.gemfire.config;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.IndexFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+/**
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+@ContextConfiguration("index-ns.xml")
+public class IndexNamespaceTest {
+
+	@Autowired
+	private ApplicationContext context;
+
+	@Test
+	public void testBasicIndex() throws Exception {
+		IndexFactoryBean ifb = null;
+
+		ifb = (IndexFactoryBean) context.getBean("&simple");
+		System.out.println("Ifb is " + ifb);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testComplexIndex() throws Exception {
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/index-ns.xml b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/index-ns.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed92e517
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/index-ns.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:gfe="http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire"
+	xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
+	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire/spring-gemfire.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util.xsd"
+		default-lazy-init="true">
+
+	<!-- all beans are lazy to allow the same config to be used between multiple tests -->
+	<!-- as there can be only one cache per VM -->
+	
+	
+	<gfe:index id="simple" expression="status" from="/portfolios"/>
+	
+	<gfe:cache />
+	
+</beans>
\ No newline at end of file