diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
index 42a95e61f1..826ad28c4f 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/spring-integration-core-1.0.xsd
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@
 			<xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID" use="required"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="service-interface" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="request-channel" type="xsd:string"/>
-			<xsd:attribute name="reply-channel" type="xsd:string"/>
+			<xsd:attribute name="reply-channel" type="xsd:string" use="optional"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="request-timeout" type="xsd:long"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="reply-timeout" type="xsd:long"/>
 			<xsd:attribute name="message-mapper" type="xsd:string"/>
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@
 					<xsd:attribute name="default-reply-channel" type="xsd:string" use="optional"/>
 					<xsd:attribute name="discard-channel" type="xsd:string" use="optional"/>
 					<xsd:attribute name="send-timeout" type="xsd:long" use="optional"/>
-					<xsd:attribute name="release-partial-sequences" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional"></xsd:attribute>
+					<xsd:attribute name="release-partial-sequences" type="xsd:boolean" use="optional"/>
 					<xsd:attribute name="send-partial-result-on-timeout"  type="xsd:boolean" use="optional"/>
 					<xsd:attribute name="tracked-correlation-id-capacity" type="xsd:int" use="optional"/>
 					<xsd:attribute name="reaper-interval" type="xsd:long" use="optional"/>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/gateway/GatewayProxyFactoryBean.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/gateway/GatewayProxyFactoryBean.java
index 31a696e12d..8926f27ae6 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/gateway/GatewayProxyFactoryBean.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/gateway/GatewayProxyFactoryBean.java
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 
 import org.aopalliance.intercept.MethodInterceptor;
 import org.aopalliance.intercept.MethodInvocation;
-
 import org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactory;
 import org.springframework.aop.support.AopUtils;
 import org.springframework.beans.SimpleTypeConverter;
@@ -121,22 +120,27 @@ public class GatewayProxyFactoryBean extends SimpleMessagingGateway
 		}
 		Method method = invocation.getMethod();
 		Class<?> returnType = method.getReturnType();
-		boolean shouldReturnMessage = Message.class.isAssignableFrom(returnType);
+		boolean isReturnTypeMessage = Message.class.isAssignableFrom(returnType);
+		boolean shouldReply = returnType != void.class;
 		int paramCount = method.getParameterTypes().length;
 		Object response = null;
 		if (paramCount == 0) {
-			if (shouldReturnMessage) {
-				return this.receive();
+			if (shouldReply) {
+				if (isReturnTypeMessage) {
+					return this.receive();
+				}
+				response = this.receive();
 			}
-			response = this.receive();
 		}
 		else {
 			Object payload = (paramCount == 1) ? invocation.getArguments()[0] : invocation.getArguments();
-			if (returnType.equals(void.class)) {
-				this.send(payload);
-				return null;
+			if (shouldReply) {
+				response = isReturnTypeMessage ? this.sendAndReceiveMessage(payload) : this.sendAndReceive(payload);
+			}
+			else {
+				this.send(payload);
+				response = null;
 			}
-			response = shouldReturnMessage ? this.sendAndReceiveMessage(payload) : this.sendAndReceive(payload);
 		}
 		return (response != null) ? this.typeConverter.convertIfNecessary(response, returnType) : null;
 	}