diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2e3f7ae..731de99 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -125,6 +125,11 @@
   	<artifactId>netty-codec</artifactId>
   	<version>4.0.23.Final</version>
   </dependency>
+  <dependency>
+        <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
+        <artifactId>netty-transport-native-epoll</artifactId>
+        <version>4.0.23.Final</version>
+  </dependency>
   
   <dependency>
       <groupId>com.googlecode.jmockit</groupId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/Configuration.java b/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/Configuration.java
index 72c646b..6b8c33e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/Configuration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/Configuration.java
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ public class Configuration {
 
     private int bossThreads = 0; // 0 = current_processors_amount * 2
     private int workerThreads = 0; // 0 = current_processors_amount * 2
+    private boolean useLinuxNativeEpoll;
 
     private boolean allowCustomRequests = false;
 
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ public class Configuration {
     private boolean addVersionHeader = true;
 
     private String origin;
-    
+
     public Configuration() {
     }
 
@@ -86,6 +87,7 @@ public class Configuration {
     Configuration(Configuration conf) {
         setBossThreads(conf.getBossThreads());
         setWorkerThreads(conf.getWorkerThreads());
+        setUseLinuxNativeEpoll(conf.isUseLinuxNativeEpoll());
 
         setPingInterval(conf.getPingInterval());
         setPingTimeout(conf.getPingTimeout());
@@ -116,7 +118,7 @@ public class Configuration {
         setAckMode(conf.getAckMode());
         setMaxFramePayloadLength(conf.getMaxFramePayloadLength());
         setUpgradeTimeout(conf.getUpgradeTimeout());
-        
+
         setAddVersionHeader(conf.isAddVersionHeader());
         setOrigin(conf.getOrigin());
     }
@@ -433,7 +435,7 @@ public class Configuration {
 
     /**
      * Transport upgrade timeout in milliseconds
-     * 
+     *
      * @param upgradeTimeout
      */
     public void setUpgradeTimeout(int upgradeTimeout) {
@@ -446,7 +448,7 @@ public class Configuration {
     /**
      * Adds <b>Server</b> header with lib version to http response.
      * Default is <code>true</code>
-     * 
+     *
      * @param addVersionHeader
      */
     public void setAddVersionHeader(boolean addVersionHeader) {
@@ -458,7 +460,7 @@ public class Configuration {
 
     /**
      * Set <b>Access-Control-Allow-Origin</b> header value for http each
-     * response. 
+     * response.
      * Default is <code>null</code>
      *
      * If value is <code>null</code> then request <b>ORIGIN</b> header value used.
@@ -470,6 +472,13 @@ public class Configuration {
     }
     public String getOrigin() {
         return origin;
-    }    
-    
+    }
+
+    public boolean isUseLinuxNativeEpoll() {
+        return useLinuxNativeEpoll;
+    }
+    public void setUseLinuxNativeEpoll(boolean useLinuxNativeEpoll) {
+        this.useLinuxNativeEpoll = useLinuxNativeEpoll;
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/SocketIOServer.java b/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/SocketIOServer.java
index 5b6ad2f..c20e4ea 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/SocketIOServer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/corundumstudio/socketio/SocketIOServer.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ import io.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelOption;
 import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.FixedRecvByteBufAllocator;
+import io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollEventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.epoll.EpollServerSocketChannel;
 import io.netty.channel.nio.NioEventLoopGroup;
 import io.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioServerSocketChannel;
 import io.netty.util.concurrent.Future;
@@ -128,9 +130,15 @@ public class SocketIOServer implements ClientListeners {
         initGroups();
 
         pipelineFactory.start(configCopy, namespacesHub);
+
+        Class channelClass = NioServerSocketChannel.class;
+        if (configCopy.isUseLinuxNativeEpoll()) {
+            channelClass = EpollServerSocketChannel.class;
+        }
+
         ServerBootstrap b = new ServerBootstrap();
         b.group(bossGroup, workerGroup)
-        .channel(NioServerSocketChannel.class)
+        .channel(channelClass)
         .childHandler(pipelineFactory);
         applyConnectionOptions(b);
 
@@ -169,8 +177,13 @@ public class SocketIOServer implements ClientListeners {
     }
 
     protected void initGroups() {
-        bossGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getBossThreads());
-        workerGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getWorkerThreads());
+        if (configCopy.isUseLinuxNativeEpoll()) {
+            bossGroup = new EpollEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getBossThreads());
+            workerGroup = new EpollEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getWorkerThreads());
+        } else {
+            bossGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getBossThreads());
+            workerGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup(configCopy.getWorkerThreads());
+        }
     }
 
     /**