diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/ClientRegionFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/ClientRegionFactoryBean.java
index a59463e9..8201e6a2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/ClientRegionFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/ClientRegionFactoryBean.java
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@
 
 package org.springframework.data.gemfire.client;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.BeansException;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryAware;
 import org.springframework.data.gemfire.RegionFactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.ObjectUtils;
@@ -29,10 +32,11 @@ import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.client.Pool;
  * 
  * @author Costin Leau
  */
-public class ClientRegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionFactoryBean<K, V> {
+public class ClientRegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionFactoryBean<K, V> implements BeanFactoryAware {
 
 	private Interest<K>[] interests;
 	private String poolName;
+	private BeanFactory beanFactory;
 
 	@Override
 	protected void postProcess(Region<K, V> region) {
@@ -51,6 +55,14 @@ public class ClientRegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionFactoryBean<K, V> {
 
 	@Override
 	protected void postProcess(AttributesFactory<K, V> attrFactory) {
+		// try to eagerly initialize the pool name, if defined as a bean
+		if (beanFactory.isTypeMatch(poolName, Pool.class)) {
+			if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				log.debug("Found bean definition for pool '" + poolName + "'. Eagerly initializing it...");
+			}
+			beanFactory.getBean(poolName, Pool.class);
+		}
+
 		attrFactory.setPoolName(poolName);
 	}
 
@@ -77,7 +89,11 @@ public class ClientRegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionFactoryBean<K, V> {
 		super.destroy();
 	}
 
+	public void setBeanFactory(BeanFactory beanFactory) throws BeansException {
+		this.beanFactory = beanFactory;
+	}
 
+	
 	/**
 	 * Set the interests for this client region. Both key and regex interest are supported.
 	 * 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/PoolFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/PoolFactoryBean.java
index e7bcaac9..e59a148b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/PoolFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/client/PoolFactoryBean.java
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public class PoolFactoryBean implements FactoryBean<Pool>, InitializingBean, Dis
 	private boolean threadLocalConnections = PoolFactory.DEFAULT_THREAD_LOCAL_CONNECTIONS;
 
 	public Class<?> getObjectType() {
-		return Pool.class;
+		return (pool != null ? pool.getClass() : Pool.class);
 	}
 
 	public boolean isSingleton() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java
index 45fb0551..dc6d9062 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionParser.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ class ClientRegionParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
 
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "data-policy", "dataPolicy");
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "name", "name");
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "pool-name", "poolName");
 
 		String attr = element.getAttribute("cache-ref");
 		// add cache reference (fallback to default if nothing is specified)
diff --git a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.0.xsd b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.0.xsd
index b6ccfeef..babafeae 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.0.xsd
+++ b/src/main/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/spring-gemfire-1.0.xsd
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ cache to differ from other caches.
 							</xsd:restriction>
 						</xsd:simpleType>
 					</xsd:attribute>
-					<xsd:attribute name="pool-name" use="optional" type="xsd:string">
+					<xsd:attribute name="pool-name" use="required" type="xsd:string">
 						<xsd:annotation>
 							<xsd:documentation><![CDATA[
 The name of the pool used by this client. 
@@ -452,6 +452,8 @@ The port number of the connection (between 1 and 65535 inclusive).
 		<xsd:annotation>
 			<xsd:documentation source="org.springframework.data.gemfire.client.PoolFactoryBean"><![CDATA[
 Defines a pool for connections from a client to a set of GemFire Cache Servers.
+
+Note that in order to instantiate a pool, a GemFire cache needs to be already started.
 			]]></xsd:documentation>
 			<xsd:appinfo>
 				<tool:annotation>
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionNamespaceTest.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionNamespaceTest.java
index 9709ea36..e6a58c8c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionNamespaceTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/ClientRegionNamespaceTest.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ public class ClientRegionNamespaceTest {
 		assertEquals(Scope.LOCAL, TestUtils.readField("scope", fb));
 	}
 
-
+	//@Test
 	public void testComplexClient() throws Exception {
 		assertTrue(context.containsBean("complex"));
 		ClientRegionFactoryBean fb = context.getBean("&complex", ClientRegionFactoryBean.class);
diff --git a/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/client-ns.xml b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/client-ns.xml
index 00881fa5..7d403a78 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/client-ns.xml
+++ b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/client-ns.xml
@@ -4,29 +4,32 @@
 	xmlns:gfe="http://www.springframework.org/schema/gemfire"
 	xmlns:p="http://www.springframework.org/schema/p"
 	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	default-lazy-init="true"
 	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/util http://www.springframework.org/schema/util/spring-util.xsd">
 
 	<gfe:cache />
 	
-	<gfe:client-region id="simple" />
+	<gfe:client-region id="simple" pool-name="gemfire-pool"/>
 	
-	<gfe:client-region id="empty" name="publisher" data-policy="EMPTY"/>
+	<gfe:client-region id="empty" pool-name="gemfire-pool" name="publisher" data-policy="EMPTY"/>
 	
-	<gfe:client-region id="complex">
+	<gfe:client-region id="complex" pool-name="gemfire-pool">
 		<gfe:cache-listener>
 			<ref bean="c-listener"/>
 			<bean class="org.springframework.data.gemfire.SimpleCacheListener"/>
 		</gfe:cache-listener>
-		<!-- 
 		<gfe:key-interest durable="true" result-policy="KEYS">
-			<bean id="key" class="java.lang.Object"/>
+			<bean id="key" class="java.lang.String"/>
 		</gfe:key-interest>
 		<gfe:regex-interest pattern=".*"/>
-		 -->
 	</gfe:client-region>
 	
 	<bean id="c-listener" class="org.springframework.data.gemfire.SimpleCacheListener"/>
 	
+	<gfe:pool id="gemfire-pool" subscription-enabled="false">
+		<gfe:locator host="localhost" port="40403"/>
+	</gfe:pool>
+	
 </beans>
\ No newline at end of file