diff --git a/buildSrc b/buildSrc
index d005eb83bf..55c3e5065f 160000
--- a/buildSrc
+++ b/buildSrc
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit d005eb83bfbfb7b12c3cd5262ae331433b538b03
+Subproject commit 55c3e5065f378eaaeae5739ecf078c1f5815845d
diff --git a/docs/src/reference/docbook/endpoint.xml b/docs/src/reference/docbook/endpoint.xml
index 72cf8b9c96..fb4bf29dcc 100644
--- a/docs/src/reference/docbook/endpoint.xml
+++ b/docs/src/reference/docbook/endpoint.xml
@@ -197,7 +197,11 @@ consumer.setTransactionManager(txManager);</programlisting>
               output-channel="output">
     <poller ref="weekdayPoller"/>
  </transformer>]]></programlisting>
-      In fact, to simplify the configuration, you can define a global default poller. A single top-level poller within
+ 	<note>
+ 	The "ref" attribute is only allowed on the inner-poller definitions. Defining his attribute on the top-level 
+ 	poller will result in configuration exception thrown during initialization of Application Context
+ 	</note>
+      In fact, to simplify the configuration even further, you can define a global default poller. A single top-level poller within
       an ApplicationContext may have the <code>default</code> attribute with a value of "true". In that case, any
       endpoint with a PollableChannel for its input-channel that is defined within the same ApplicationContext and has
       no explicitly configured 'poller' sub-element will use that default.
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
index ed36fdcebb..615d8962e6 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParser.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public class PollerParser extends AbstractBeanDefinitionParser {
 				IntegrationNamespaceUtils.BASE_PACKAGE + ".scheduling.PollerMetadata");
 		if (element.hasAttribute("ref")) {
 			parserContext.getReaderContext().error(
-					"the 'ref' attribute must not be present on a 'poller' element submitted to the parser", element);
+					"the 'ref' attribute must not be present on the top-level 'poller' element", element);
 		}
 		configureTrigger(element, metadataBuilder, parserContext);
 		IntegrationNamespaceUtils.setValueIfAttributeDefined(metadataBuilder, element, "max-messages-per-poll");
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd b/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
index 5d14e6fc90..5a53fa076e 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/spring-integration-2.0.xsd
@@ -673,12 +673,12 @@
 			<xsd:sequence>
 				<xsd:choice>
 					<xsd:sequence>
-						<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+						<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 						<xsd:element ref="beans:bean" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					</xsd:sequence>
 					<xsd:sequence>
 						<xsd:element ref="beans:bean" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
-						<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+						<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					</xsd:sequence>
 				</xsd:choice>
 				<xsd:element name="header" type="headerSubElementType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
@@ -833,7 +833,7 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 
 	<xsd:complexType name="channelAdapterType">
 		<xsd:all>
-			<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+			<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 			<xsd:element ref="beans:bean" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 		</xsd:all>
 		<xsd:attributeGroup ref="channelAdapterAttributes" />
@@ -964,7 +964,7 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 
 	<xsd:complexType name="delayer-type">
 		<xsd:sequence>
-			<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+			<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 		</xsd:sequence>
 		<xsd:attribute name="default-delay" type="xsd:string" use="required">
 			<xsd:annotation>
@@ -1084,7 +1084,7 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 			<xsd:element name="header-value-router" type="header-value-router-type" />
 			<xsd:element name="delayer" type="delayer-type" />
 			<xsd:element name="gateway" type="innerGatewayType" />
-			<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" />
+			<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" />
 			<xsd:element name="payload-serializing-transformer" type="payload-serializing-transformer-type" />
 			<xsd:element name="payload-deserializing-transformer" type="payload-deserializing-transformer-type" />
 			<xsd:element name="object-to-string-transformer" type="specialized-transformer-type" />
@@ -1114,14 +1114,6 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 		</xsd:complexType>
 	</xsd:element>
 
-	<xsd:complexType name="innerPollerType">
-		<xsd:complexContent>
-			<xsd:extension base="basePollerType">
-				<xsd:attribute name="ref" type="xsd:string" />
-			</xsd:extension>
-		</xsd:complexContent>
-	</xsd:complexType>
-
 	<xsd:complexType name="basePollerType">
 		<xsd:annotation>
 			<xsd:documentation>
@@ -1181,6 +1173,16 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 				<xsd:documentation>Fixed delay trigger (in milliseconds).</xsd:documentation>
 			</xsd:annotation>
 		</xsd:attribute>
+		<xsd:attribute name="ref" type="xsd:string" use="optional">
+			<xsd:annotation>
+				<xsd:documentation>
+					Allows this poller to reference another instance of top-level poller. 
+					[IMPORTANT] - This attribute is only allowed on inner poller definitions. 
+					Defining this attribute on the top-level poller definition will result in the configuration 
+					exception. 
+				</xsd:documentation>
+			</xsd:annotation>
+		</xsd:attribute>
 		<xsd:attribute name="fixed-rate" type="xsd:string">
 			<xsd:annotation>
 				<xsd:documentation>Fixed rate trigger (in milliseconds).</xsd:documentation>
@@ -1417,7 +1419,7 @@ endpoint itself is a Polling Consumer for a channel with a queue.
 						</xsd:documentation>
 				</xsd:annotation>
 			</xsd:element>
-			<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" >
+			<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" >
 				<xsd:annotation>
 					<xsd:documentation>
 						Allows you to configure Message Poller if this endpoint is a Polling Consumer
@@ -2082,7 +2084,7 @@ Name of the header whose value will be used to route messages
 		<xsd:complexContent>
 			<xsd:extension base="channelNameResolvingRouterType">
 				<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="2">
-					<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+					<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					<xsd:element name="expression" type="innerExpressionType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					<xsd:any namespace="##other" processContents="strict" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 				</xsd:choice>
@@ -2603,7 +2605,7 @@ Name of the header whose value will be used to route messages
 		<xsd:complexContent>
 			<xsd:extension base="handlerEndpointType">
 				<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="2">
-					<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+					<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					<xsd:element name="expression" type="innerExpressionType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					<xsd:any namespace="##other" processContents="strict" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 				</xsd:choice>
@@ -2644,7 +2646,7 @@ Name of the header whose value will be used to route messages
 		<xsd:complexContent>
 			<xsd:extension base="handlerEndpointType">
 				<xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="2">
-					<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+					<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 					<xsd:any namespace="##other" processContents="strict" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 				</xsd:choice>
 			</xsd:extension>
@@ -2814,7 +2816,7 @@ The list of component name patterns you want to track (e.g.,  tracked-components
 		</xsd:annotation>
 		<xsd:complexType>
 			<xsd:all minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
-				<xsd:element name="poller" type="innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+				<xsd:element name="poller" type="basePollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 			</xsd:all>
 			<xsd:attributeGroup ref="inputOutputChannelGroup" />
 		</xsd:complexType>
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
index 66343ade6d..8f3babc228 100644
--- a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/PollerParserTests.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ import org.springframework.scheduling.support.PeriodicTrigger;
 
 /**
  * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @author Oleg Zhurakousky
  */
 public class PollerParserTests {
 
@@ -111,4 +112,10 @@ public class PollerParserTests {
 		new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
 				"cronTriggerWithTimeUnit-fail.xml", PollerParserTests.class);
 	}
+    
+    @Test(expected=BeanDefinitionParsingException.class)
+	public void topLevelPollerWithRef() {
+		new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
+				"defaultPollerWithRef.xml", PollerParserTests.class);
+	}
 }
diff --git a/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/defaultPollerWithRef.xml b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/defaultPollerWithRef.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b19492d2a8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-integration-core/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/defaultPollerWithRef.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-2.0.xsd">
+
+	<poller id="defaultPollerWithId" default="true" fixed-rate="5000"/>
+		
+	<poller id="defaultPollerWithRef" ref="defaultPollerWithId"/>
+	
+</beans:beans>
diff --git a/spring-integration-groovy/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/groovy/config/spring-integration-groovy-2.0.xsd b/spring-integration-groovy/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/groovy/config/spring-integration-groovy-2.0.xsd
index 0f6103ecb8..33365f30fa 100644
--- a/spring-integration-groovy/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/groovy/config/spring-integration-groovy-2.0.xsd
+++ b/spring-integration-groovy/src/main/resources/org/springframework/integration/groovy/config/spring-integration-groovy-2.0.xsd
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@
 		</xsd:annotation>
 		<xsd:complexType>
 			<xsd:all minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1">
-				<xsd:element name="poller" type="integration:innerPollerType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
+				<xsd:element ref="integration:poller" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" />
 			</xsd:all>
 			<xsd:attributeGroup ref="integration:inputOutputChannelGroup" />
 		</xsd:complexType>