diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/UncategorizedRedisException.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/UncategorizedRedisException.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8908b067b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/UncategorizedRedisException.java
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis;
+
+import org.springframework.datastore.keyvalue.UncategorizedKeyvalueStoreException;
+
+/**
+ * Exception thrown when we can't classify a Redis exception into one of Spring generic data access exceptions.
+ *  
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public class UncategorizedRedisException extends UncategorizedKeyvalueStoreException {
+
+	public UncategorizedRedisException(String msg, Throwable cause) {
+		super(msg, cause);
+	}
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/DataTypes.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/DataTypes.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e8f14fb6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/DataTypes.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * Enumeration of the Redis data types.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public enum DataTypes {
+
+	NONE, STRING, LIST, SET, ZSET, HASH;
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eb12526cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+import java.util.Collection;
+
+/**
+ * Commands supported by Redis .
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisCommands {
+
+	boolean exists(String key);
+
+	int del(String... keys);
+
+	DataTypes type(String key);
+
+	Collection<String> keys(String pattern);
+
+	String randomKey();
+
+	//TODO see whether the status code can be properly intercepted
+	boolean rename(String oldName, String newName);
+
+	boolean renameNx(String oldName, String newName);
+
+	int dbSize();
+
+	boolean expire(String key, long seconds);
+
+	boolean persist(String key);
+
+	int ttl(String key);
+
+	void select(int dbIndex);
+
+	void watch(String... keys);
+
+	void unwatch();
+
+	void multi();
+
+	void exec();
+
+	void discard();
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisConnection.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisConnection.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..34a53d729
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisConnection.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+import org.springframework.datastore.redis.UncategorizedRedisException;
+
+/**
+ * A connection (session) to a Redis server.
+ * The methods namings follows as much as possible the Redis conventions.  
+ *  
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisConnection extends RedisCommands {
+
+	/**
+	 * Close (or quit) the connection.
+	 * 
+	 * @throws UncategorizedRedisException
+	 */
+	void close() throws UncategorizedRedisException;
+
+	boolean isClosed();
+
+	<T> T getNativeConnection();
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisHashCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisHashCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bc2281de5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisHashCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * Hash-specific commands supported by Redis.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisHashCommands {
+
+	int hSet(String key, String field, String value);
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisListCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisListCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..58394c462
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisListCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * List-specific commands supported by Redis.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisListCommands {
+
+	int rPush(String key, String value);
+	
+	int lPush(String key, String value);
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisSetCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisSetCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ef1ea839f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisSetCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * Set-specific commands supported by Redis.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisSetCommands {
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisStringCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisStringCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9b9464e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisStringCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * String specific commands supported by Redis .
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+// TODO should the strings be byte[] instead
+// at least for values ?
+public interface RedisStringCommands {
+
+	void set(String key, String value);
+
+	String get(String key);
+
+
+}
diff --git a/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisZSetCommands.java b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisZSetCommands.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..74751221c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-datastore-redis/src/main/java/org/springframework/datastore/redis/core/connection/RedisZSetCommands.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+/*
+ * 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.datastore.redis.core.connection;
+
+/**
+ * ZSet(SortedSet)-specific commands supported by Redis.
+ * 
+ * @author Costin Leau
+ */
+public interface RedisZSetCommands {
+
+}