diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/NullChannel.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/NullChannel.java
index 8492cdc702..71ca57ead3 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/NullChannel.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/channel/NullChannel.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanNameAware;
 import org.springframework.integration.core.Message;
 import org.springframework.integration.selector.MessageSelector;
 
@@ -32,16 +33,19 @@ import org.springframework.integration.selector.MessageSelector;
  * 
  * @author Mark Fisher
  */
-public class NullChannel implements PollableChannel {
+public class NullChannel implements PollableChannel, BeanNameAware {
 
-	private Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(this.getClass());
+	private final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(this.getClass());
+
+	private volatile String beanName;
 
 
-	/**
-	 * Always returns <code>null</code>.
-	 */
+	public void setBeanName(String beanName) {
+		this.beanName = beanName;
+	}
+
 	public String getName() {
-		return null;
+		return this.beanName;
 	}
 
 	public List<Message<?>> clear() {
@@ -54,7 +58,7 @@ public class NullChannel implements PollableChannel {
 
 	public Message<?> receive() {
 		if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-			logger.debug("receive called on null-channel");
+			logger.debug("receive called on null channel");
 		}		
 		return null;
 	}
@@ -65,7 +69,7 @@ public class NullChannel implements PollableChannel {
 
 	public boolean send(Message<?> message) {
 		if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-			logger.debug("message sent to null-channel: " + message);
+			logger.debug("message sent to null channel: " + message);
 		}
 		return true;
 	}
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor.java
index 2adf51f3af..ec4573c279 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
@@ -33,7 +33,8 @@ import org.springframework.integration.context.IntegrationContextUtils;
 /**
  * A {@link BeanFactoryPostProcessor} implementation that provides default
  * beans for the error handling and task scheduling if those beans have not
- * already been explicitly defined within the registry.
+ * already been explicitly defined within the registry. It also registers a
+ * single null channel with the bean name "nullChannel".
  * 
  * @author Mark Fisher
  */
@@ -45,6 +46,7 @@ class DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor implements BeanFactoryPostProce
 	public void postProcessBeanFactory(ConfigurableListableBeanFactory beanFactory) throws BeansException {
 		if (beanFactory instanceof BeanDefinitionRegistry) {
 			BeanDefinitionRegistry registry = (BeanDefinitionRegistry) beanFactory;
+			this.registerNullChannel(registry);
 			this.registerErrorChannelIfNecessary(registry);
 			this.registerTaskSchedulerIfNecessary(registry);
 		}
@@ -55,6 +57,22 @@ class DefaultConfiguringBeanFactoryPostProcessor implements BeanFactoryPostProce
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Register a null channel in the given BeanDefinitionRegistry. The bean name is
+	 * defined by the constant {@link IntegrationContextUtils#NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME}.
+	 */
+	private void registerNullChannel(BeanDefinitionRegistry registry) {
+		if (registry.isBeanNameInUse(IntegrationContextUtils.NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME)) {
+			throw new IllegalStateException("The bean name '" +
+					IntegrationContextUtils.NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME + "' is reserved.");
+		}
+		RootBeanDefinition nullChannelDef = new RootBeanDefinition();
+		nullChannelDef.setBeanClassName(IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".channel.NullChannel");
+		BeanDefinitionHolder nullChannelHolder = new BeanDefinitionHolder(
+				nullChannelDef, IntegrationContextUtils.NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME);
+		BeanDefinitionReaderUtils.registerBeanDefinition(nullChannelHolder, registry);
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Register an error channel in the given BeanDefinitionRegistry if not yet present.
 	 * The bean name for which this is checking is defined by the constant
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/context/IntegrationContextUtils.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/context/IntegrationContextUtils.java
index 15860ab5dd..96a9dc3971 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/context/IntegrationContextUtils.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/context/IntegrationContextUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 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.
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ public abstract class IntegrationContextUtils {
 
 	public static final String ERROR_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME = "errorChannel";
 
+	public static final String NULL_CHANNEL_BEAN_NAME = "nullChannel";
+
 	public static final String DEFAULT_POLLER_METADATA_BEAN_NAME = "org.springframework.integration.context.defaultPollerMetadata";