diff --git a/src/communicator/Makefile.am b/src/communicator/Makefile.am
index a10feb2a93..20a70b565c 100644
--- a/src/communicator/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/communicator/Makefile.am
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ libcommunicator_la_SOURCES = \
         $(headers) \
         comm_init.c \
 	comm.c \
-	comm_cid.c
+	comm_cid.c \
+	comm_publish.c 
 
 # Conditionally install the header files
 
diff --git a/src/communicator/comm_publish.c b/src/communicator/comm_publish.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b6cd47d874
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/communicator/comm_publish.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * $HEADER$
+ */
+
+#include "ompi_config.h"
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include "mpi.h"
+
+#include "communicator/communicator.h"
+#include "proc/proc.h"
+#include "include/constants.h"
+#include "mca/pcm/pcm.h"
+#include "mca/pml/pml.h"
+
+#ifndef HAVE_REGISTRY
+/* just to keep the linker happy */
+int ompi_comm_namepublish ( char *service_name, char *port_name ) 
+{
+    return OMPI_SUCCESS;
+}
+char* ompi_comm_namelookup ( char *service_name )
+{
+    return NULL;
+}
+int ompi_comm_nameunpublish ( char *service_name )
+{
+    return OMPI_SUCCESS;
+}
+#else
+#include "mca/gpr/gpr.h"
+
+/* 
+ * publish the port_name using the service_name as a token
+ * jobid and vpid are used later to make
+ * sure, that only this process can unpublish the information.
+ */
+int ompi_comm_namepublish ( char *service_name, char *port_name ) 
+{
+    return (ompi_registry_put((uint8_t *)port_name, strlen(service_name), 
+                              "universe", service_name, NULL));
+}
+
+char* ompi_comm_namelookup ( char *service_name )
+{
+    ompi_registry_value_t *tmp;
+    char *stmp=NULL;
+
+    tmp = ompi_registry_get("universe", service_name, NULL);
+    if ( NULL != tmp ) {
+        stmp = (char*)tmp->object;
+    }
+
+    return (stmp);
+}
+
+/* 
+ * delete the entry. Just the process who has published
+ * the service_name, has the right to remove this 
+ * service. Will be done later, by adding jobid and vpid
+ * as tokens
+ */
+int ompi_comm_nameunpublish ( char *service_name )
+{
+    return (ompi_registry_del("universe", service_name, NULL)); 
+}
+
+#endif
diff --git a/src/communicator/communicator.h b/src/communicator/communicator.h
index c23b953100..8af28f7657 100644
--- a/src/communicator/communicator.h
+++ b/src/communicator/communicator.h
@@ -287,6 +287,16 @@ extern "C" {
      */
     int ompi_comm_dump ( ompi_communicator_t *comm );
 
+
+
+    /** 
+     * routines handling name publishing, lookup and unpublishing
+     */
+    int ompi_comm_namepublish ( char *service_name, char *port_name );
+    char* ompi_comm_namelookup ( char *service_name );
+    int ompi_comm_nameunpublish ( char *service_name ); 
+
+
 #if defined(c_plusplus) || defined(__cplusplus)
 }
 #endif