diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketChannelFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketChannelFactory.java
index 12b07ba8c5..ee64834d71 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketChannelFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketChannelFactory.java
@@ -85,24 +85,44 @@ import org.jboss.netty.util.internal.ExecutorUtil;
  */
 public class NioClientSocketChannelFactory implements ClientSocketChannelFactory {
 
+    private static final int DEFAULT_BOSS_COUNT = 1;
+
     private final Executor bossExecutor;
     private final Executor workerExecutor;
     private final NioClientSocketPipelineSink sink;
 
     /**
      * Creates a new instance.  Calling this constructor is same with calling
-     * {@link #NioClientSocketChannelFactory(Executor, Executor, int)} with 2 *
-     * the number of available processors in the machine.  The number of
+     * {@link #NioClientSocketChannelFactory(Executor, Executor, int, int)} with
+     * 1 and (2 * the number of available processors in the machine) for
+     * <tt>bossCount</tt> and <tt>workerCount</tt> respectively.  The number of
      * available processors is obtained by {@link Runtime#availableProcessors()}.
      *
      * @param bossExecutor
      *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the boss thread
      * @param workerExecutor
-     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the I/O worker threads
+     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the worker threads
      */
     public NioClientSocketChannelFactory(
             Executor bossExecutor, Executor workerExecutor) {
-        this(bossExecutor, workerExecutor, SelectorUtil.DEFAULT_IO_THREADS);
+        this(bossExecutor, workerExecutor, DEFAULT_BOSS_COUNT, SelectorUtil.DEFAULT_IO_THREADS);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new instance.  Calling this constructor is same with calling
+     * {@link #NioClientSocketChannelFactory(Executor, Executor, int, int)} with
+     * 1 as <tt>bossCount</tt>.
+     *
+     * @param bossExecutor
+     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the boss thread
+     * @param workerExecutor
+     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the worker threads
+     * @param workerCount
+     *        the maximum number of I/O worker threads
+     */
+    public NioClientSocketChannelFactory(
+            Executor bossExecutor, Executor workerExecutor, int workerCount) {
+        this(bossExecutor, workerExecutor, DEFAULT_BOSS_COUNT, workerCount);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -111,19 +131,26 @@ public class NioClientSocketChannelFactory implements ClientSocketChannelFactory
      * @param bossExecutor
      *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the boss thread
      * @param workerExecutor
-     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the I/O worker threads
+     *        the {@link Executor} which will execute the worker threads
+     * @param bossCount
+     *        the maximum number of boss threads
      * @param workerCount
      *        the maximum number of I/O worker threads
      */
     public NioClientSocketChannelFactory(
             Executor bossExecutor, Executor workerExecutor,
-            int workerCount) {
+            int bossCount, int workerCount) {
         if (bossExecutor == null) {
             throw new NullPointerException("bossExecutor");
         }
         if (workerExecutor == null) {
             throw new NullPointerException("workerExecutor");
         }
+        if (bossCount <= 0) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "bossCount (" + bossCount + ") " +
+                    "must be a positive integer.");
+        }
         if (workerCount <= 0) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException(
                     "workerCount (" + workerCount + ") " +
@@ -132,7 +159,8 @@ public class NioClientSocketChannelFactory implements ClientSocketChannelFactory
 
         this.bossExecutor = bossExecutor;
         this.workerExecutor = workerExecutor;
-        sink = new NioClientSocketPipelineSink(bossExecutor, workerExecutor, workerCount);
+        sink = new NioClientSocketPipelineSink(
+                bossExecutor, workerExecutor, bossCount, workerCount);
     }
 
     public SocketChannel newChannel(ChannelPipeline pipeline) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketPipelineSink.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketPipelineSink.java
index 6286da56c7..9ff9d196a2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketPipelineSink.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/channel/socket/nio/NioClientSocketPipelineSink.java
@@ -62,13 +62,23 @@ class NioClientSocketPipelineSink extends AbstractChannelSink {
 
     final int id = nextId.incrementAndGet();
     final Executor bossExecutor;
-    private final Boss boss = new Boss();
+
+    private final Boss[] bosses;
     private final NioWorker[] workers;
+
+    private final AtomicInteger bossIndex = new AtomicInteger();
     private final AtomicInteger workerIndex = new AtomicInteger();
 
     NioClientSocketPipelineSink(
-            Executor bossExecutor, Executor workerExecutor, int workerCount) {
+            Executor bossExecutor, Executor workerExecutor,
+            int bossCount, int workerCount) {
         this.bossExecutor = bossExecutor;
+        
+        bosses = new Boss[bossCount];
+        for (int i = 0; i < bosses.length; i ++) {
+            bosses[i] = new Boss(i + 1);
+        }
+        
         workers = new NioWorker[workerCount];
         for (int i = 0; i < workers.length; i ++) {
             workers[i] = new NioWorker(id, i + 1, workerExecutor);
@@ -150,7 +160,7 @@ class NioClientSocketPipelineSink extends AbstractChannelSink {
                 });
                 cf.addListener(ChannelFutureListener.CLOSE_ON_FAILURE);
                 channel.connectFuture = cf;
-                boss.register(channel);
+                nextBoss().register(channel);
             }
 
         } catch (Throwable t) {
@@ -159,6 +169,11 @@ class NioClientSocketPipelineSink extends AbstractChannelSink {
             channel.worker.close(channel, succeededFuture(channel));
         }
     }
+    
+    Boss nextBoss() {
+        return bosses[Math.abs(
+                bossIndex.getAndIncrement() % bosses.length)];
+    }
 
     NioWorker nextWorker() {
         return workers[Math.abs(
@@ -169,12 +184,13 @@ class NioClientSocketPipelineSink extends AbstractChannelSink {
 
         volatile Selector selector;
         private boolean started;
+        private final int subId;
         private final AtomicBoolean wakenUp = new AtomicBoolean();
         private final Object startStopLock = new Object();
         private final Queue<Runnable> registerTaskQueue = new LinkedTransferQueue<Runnable>();
 
-        Boss() {
-            super();
+        Boss(int subId) {
+            this.subId = subId;
         }
 
         void register(NioClientSocketChannel channel) {
@@ -197,7 +213,7 @@ class NioClientSocketPipelineSink extends AbstractChannelSink {
                         DeadLockProofWorker.start(
                                 bossExecutor,
                                 new ThreadRenamingRunnable(
-                                        this, "New I/O client boss #" + id));
+                                        this, "New I/O client boss #" + id + '-' + subId));
                         success = true;
                     } finally {
                         if (!success) {