diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolParser.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eccf66a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolParser.java
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 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.BeanDefinitionStoreException;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanDefinition;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.ParserContext;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.client.PoolFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
+import org.w3c.dom.Element;
+
+/**
+ * Parser for <pool;gt; definitions.
+ *  
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+class PoolParser extends AbstractSingleBeanDefinitionParser {
+
+	protected Class<?> getBeanClass(Element element) {
+		return PoolFactoryBean.class;
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	protected String resolveId(Element element, AbstractBeanDefinition definition, ParserContext parserContext)
+			throws BeanDefinitionStoreException {
+		String name = super.resolveId(element, definition, parserContext);
+		if (!StringUtils.hasText(name)) {
+			name = "gemfire-pool";
+		}
+		return name;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolNamespaceTest.java b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolNamespaceTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6295e73e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/PoolNamespaceTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010 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 static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+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.TestUtils;
+import org.springframework.data.gemfire.client.PoolFactoryBean;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.client.PoolManager;
+
+/**
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+@ContextConfiguration("pool-ns.xml")
+public class PoolNamespaceTest {
+
+	@Autowired
+	private ApplicationContext context;
+
+	@Test
+	public void testBasicClient() throws Exception {
+		assertTrue(context.containsBean("gemfire-pool"));
+		assertEquals(context.getBean("gemfire-pool"), PoolManager.find("gemfire-pool"));
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testComplexPool() throws Exception {
+		assertTrue(context.containsBean("complex"));
+		PoolFactoryBean pfb = (PoolFactoryBean) context.getBean("&complex");
+		assertEquals(30, TestUtils.readField("retry-attempts", pfb));
+		assertEquals(6000, TestUtils.readField("free-connection-timeout", pfb));
+		assertEquals(5000, TestUtils.readField("ping-interval", pfb));
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/pool-ns.xml b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/pool-ns.xml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ee6d273a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/pool-ns.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+<?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"
+	default-lazy-init="true"
+	xmlns:util="http://www.springframework.org/schema/util"
+	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">
+
+	<!-- 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:cache />
+	
+	<gfe:pool/>
+	
+		<!--
+		<gfe:locator host="localhost" port="0"/>
+		 -->
+	
+	<gfe:pool id="complex" free-connection-timeout="6000" retry-attempts="30" ping-interval="5000"/>
+			<!--
+		<gfe:server host="localhost" port="0"/>
+		<gfe:locator host="localhost" port="0"/>
+		  -->
+	
+</beans>
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