diff --git a/gora-cassandra/pom.xml b/gora-cassandra/pom.xml
index 03d097d..31dcdb1 100644
--- a/gora-cassandra/pom.xml
+++ b/gora-cassandra/pom.xml
@@ -27,10 +27,15 @@
         <relativePath>../</relativePath>
     </parent>
     <artifactId>gora-cassandra</artifactId>
-    <packaging>jar</packaging>
+    <packaging>bundle</packaging>
 
     <name>Apache Gora :: Cassandra</name>
 
+    <properties>
+        <osgi.import>*</osgi.import>
+        <osgi.export>org.apache.gora.cassandra*;version="${project.version}";-noimport:=true</osgi.export>
+    </properties>
+
     <build>
         <directory>target</directory>
         <outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
diff --git a/gora-core/pom.xml b/gora-core/pom.xml
index 4d58ec2..be3414f 100644
--- a/gora-core/pom.xml
+++ b/gora-core/pom.xml
@@ -25,10 +25,15 @@
         <relativePath>../</relativePath>
     </parent>
     <artifactId>gora-core</artifactId>
-    <packaging>jar</packaging>
+    <packaging>bundle</packaging>
 
     <name>Apache Gora :: Core</name>
 
+    <properties>
+        <osgi.import>*</osgi.import>
+        <osgi.export>org.apache.gora*;version="${project.version}";-noimport:=true</osgi.export>
+    </properties>
+
     <build>
         <directory>target</directory>
         <outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
diff --git a/gora-core/src/examples/java/org/apache/gora/examples/mapreduce/QueryCounter.java b/gora-core/src/examples/java/org/apache/gora/examples/mapreduce/QueryCounter.java
index 03c0a8d..d82ddfd 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/examples/java/org/apache/gora/examples/mapreduce/QueryCounter.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/examples/java/org/apache/gora/examples/mapreduce/QueryCounter.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.output.NullOutputFormat;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.Tool;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.ToolRunner;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 
 /**
  * Example Hadoop job to count the row of a gora {@link Query}.
@@ -120,8 +121,8 @@ public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
       return 1;
     }
 
-    Class<K> keyClass = (Class<K>) Class.forName(args[0]);
-    Class<T> persistentClass = (Class<T>) Class.forName(args[1]);
+    Class<K> keyClass = (Class<K>) ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(args[0]);
+    Class<T> persistentClass = (Class<T>) ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(args[1]);
 
     DataStore<K,T> dataStore;
     Configuration conf = new Configuration();
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/query/impl/QueryBase.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/query/impl/QueryBase.java
index 3f1c98c..c04e089 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/query/impl/QueryBase.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/query/impl/QueryBase.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import org.apache.gora.query.Query;
 import org.apache.gora.query.Result;
 import org.apache.gora.store.DataStore;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 import org.apache.gora.util.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
@@ -217,8 +218,7 @@ public void setConf(Configuration conf) {
   public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
     String dataStoreClass = Text.readString(in);
     try {
-      dataStore = (DataStore<K, T>) ReflectionUtils.newInstance(
-          Class.forName(dataStoreClass), conf);
+      dataStore = (DataStore<K, T>) ReflectionUtils.newInstance(ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(dataStoreClass), conf);
       dataStore.readFields(in);
     } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
       throw new IOException(ex);
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/DataStoreFactory.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/DataStoreFactory.java
index 60c8e6c..6cddccd 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/DataStoreFactory.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/DataStoreFactory.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.apache.gora.persistency.Persistent;
 import org.apache.gora.store.impl.DataStoreBase;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 import org.apache.gora.util.GoraException;
 import org.apache.gora.util.ReflectionUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configurable;
@@ -159,8 +160,8 @@ public static synchronized DataStore getDataStore(
     throws GoraException {
 
     try {
-      Class k = Class.forName(keyClass);
-      Class p = Class.forName(persistentClass);
+      Class k = ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(keyClass);
+      Class p = ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(persistentClass);
       return getDataStore(dataStoreClass, k, p, conf);
     } catch(GoraException ex) {
       throw ex;
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/impl/DataStoreBase.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/impl/DataStoreBase.java
index d54f159..045c567 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/impl/DataStoreBase.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/store/impl/DataStoreBase.java
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.apache.gora.store.DataStore;
 import org.apache.gora.store.DataStoreFactory;
 import org.apache.gora.util.AvroUtils;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 import org.apache.gora.util.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
@@ -173,8 +174,8 @@ protected Configuration getOrCreateConf() {
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   public void readFields(DataInput in) throws IOException {
     try {
-      Class<K> keyClass = (Class<K>) Class.forName(Text.readString(in));
-      Class<T> persistentClass = (Class<T>)Class.forName(Text.readString(in));
+      Class<K> keyClass = (Class<K>) ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(Text.readString(in));
+      Class<T> persistentClass = (Class<T>)ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(Text.readString(in));
       initialize(keyClass, persistentClass, DataStoreFactory.properties);
 
     } catch (ClassNotFoundException ex) {
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ClassLoadingUtils.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ClassLoadingUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea77c1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ClassLoadingUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+package org.apache.gora.util;
+
+public class ClassLoadingUtils {
+
+    private ClassLoadingUtils() {
+        //Utility Class
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads a class using the class loader.
+     * 1. The class loader of the current class is being used.
+     * 2. The thread context class loader is being used.
+     * If both approaches fail, returns null.
+     *
+     * @param className    The name of the class to load.
+     * @return The class or null if no class loader could load the class.
+     */
+    public static Class<?> loadClass(String className) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+        return ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(ClassLoadingUtils.class,className);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads a class using the class loader.
+     * 1. The class loader of the context class is being used.
+     * 2. The thread context class loader is being used.
+     * If both approaches fail, returns null.
+     *
+     * @param contextClass The name of a context class to use.
+     * @param className    The name of the class to load
+     * @return The class or null if no class loader could load the class.
+     */
+    public static Class<?> loadClass(Class<?> contextClass, String className) throws ClassNotFoundException {
+        Class<?> clazz = null;
+        if (contextClass.getClassLoader() != null) {
+            clazz = loadClass(className, contextClass.getClassLoader());
+        }
+        if (clazz == null && Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() != null) {
+            clazz = loadClass(className, Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
+        }
+        if (clazz == null) {
+            throw new ClassNotFoundException("Failed to load class" + className);
+        }
+        return clazz;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Loads a {@link Class} from the specified {@link ClassLoader} without throwing {@ClassNotFoundException}.
+     *
+     * @param className
+     * @param classLoader
+     * @return
+     */
+    private static Class<?> loadClass(String className, ClassLoader classLoader) {
+        Class<?> clazz = null;
+        if (classLoader != null && className != null) {
+            try {
+                clazz = classLoader.loadClass(className);
+            } catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
+                //Ignore and return null
+            }
+        }
+        return clazz;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/IOUtils.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/IOUtils.java
index 508cbc5..62c93d0 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/IOUtils.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/IOUtils.java
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ public static<T extends Persistent> byte[] serialize(PersistentDatumWriter<T> da
   public static<T> T deserialize(Configuration conf, DataInput in
       , T obj , String objClass) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
 
-    Class<T> c = (Class<T>) Class.forName(objClass);
+    Class<T> c = (Class<T>) ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(objClass);
 
     return deserialize(conf, in, obj, c);
   }
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ public static<T> T deserialize(Configuration conf, DataInput in
   public static<T> T deserialize(Configuration conf, DataInput in
       , T obj) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
     String clazz = Text.readString(in);
-    Class<T> c = (Class<T>)Class.forName(clazz);
+    Class<T> c = (Class<T>)ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(clazz);
     return deserialize(conf, in, obj, c);
   }
 
@@ -477,7 +477,7 @@ public static<T> T loadFromConf(Configuration conf, String dataKey)
     String classKey = dataKey + "._class";
     String className = conf.get(classKey);
     try {
-      T obj = (T) DefaultStringifier.load(conf, dataKey, Class.forName(className));
+      T obj = (T) DefaultStringifier.load(conf, dataKey, ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(className));
       return obj;
     } catch (Exception ex) {
       throw new IOException(ex);
diff --git a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ReflectionUtils.java b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ReflectionUtils.java
index 7f52e58..fd8c498 100644
--- a/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ReflectionUtils.java
+++ b/gora-core/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/util/ReflectionUtils.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ public static Object newInstance(String classStr) throws InstantiationException
     if(classStr == null) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("class cannot be null");
     }
-    Class<?> clazz = Class.forName(classStr);
+    Class<?> clazz = ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(classStr);
     return newInstance(clazz);
   }
   
diff --git a/gora-sql/pom.xml b/gora-sql/pom.xml
index dcd9405..0ba6000 100644
--- a/gora-sql/pom.xml
+++ b/gora-sql/pom.xml
@@ -24,10 +24,15 @@
         <version>0.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </parent>
     <artifactId>gora-sql</artifactId>
-    <packaging>jar</packaging>
+    <packaging>bundle</packaging>
 
     <name>Apache Gora :: SQL</name>
 
+    <properties>
+        <osgi.import>*</osgi.import>
+        <osgi.export>org.apache.gora.sql*;version="${project.version}";-noimport:=true</osgi.export>
+    </properties>
+
     <build>
         <directory>target</directory>
         <outputDirectory>target/classes</outputDirectory>
@@ -116,10 +121,10 @@
             <artifactId>jdom</artifactId>
         </dependency>
 
-        <dependency>
+        <!--dependency>
             <groupId>com.healthmarketscience.sqlbuilder</groupId>
             <artifactId>sqlbuilder</artifactId>
-        </dependency>
+        </dependency-->
 
         <!-- Logging Dependencies -->
         <dependency>
diff --git a/gora-sql/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/sql/store/SqlStore.java b/gora-sql/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/sql/store/SqlStore.java
index 8c021f2..3366a91 100644
--- a/gora-sql/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/sql/store/SqlStore.java
+++ b/gora-sql/src/main/java/org/apache/gora/sql/store/SqlStore.java
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
 import org.apache.gora.store.DataStoreFactory;
 import org.apache.gora.store.impl.DataStoreBase;
 import org.apache.gora.util.AvroUtils;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 import org.apache.gora.util.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.gora.util.StringUtils;
 import org.jdom.Document;
@@ -732,7 +733,7 @@ protected Connection getConnection() throws IOException {
     try {
       Connection connection = null;
 
-      Class.forName(jdbcDriverClass);
+      ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(jdbcDriverClass);
       if(jdbcUsername == null || jdbcUsername.length() == 0) {
         connection = DriverManager.getConnection(jdbcUrl);
       } else {
diff --git a/gora-sql/src/test/java/org/apache/gora/sql/GoraSqlTestDriver.java b/gora-sql/src/test/java/org/apache/gora/sql/GoraSqlTestDriver.java
index 04261c2..f59253e 100644
--- a/gora-sql/src/test/java/org/apache/gora/sql/GoraSqlTestDriver.java
+++ b/gora-sql/src/test/java/org/apache/gora/sql/GoraSqlTestDriver.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 
 import org.apache.gora.GoraTestDriver;
 import org.apache.gora.sql.store.SqlStore;
+import org.apache.gora.util.ClassLoadingUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringUtils;
 import org.hsqldb.Server;
 
@@ -99,7 +100,7 @@ public void tearDown() throws Exception {
   private Connection createConnection(String driverClassName
       , String url) throws Exception {
 
-    Class.forName(driverClassName);
+    ClassLoadingUtils.loadClass(driverClassName);
     Connection connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url);
     connection.setAutoCommit(false);
     return connection;
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index a7699b4..6d0039b 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
        <groupId>org.apache</groupId>
        <artifactId>apache</artifactId>
        <version>9</version>
-       <relativePath />
      </parent>
 
     <groupId>org.apache.gora</groupId>
@@ -107,6 +106,40 @@
                     <tagBase>https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator/gora/tags/</tagBase>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
+            <plugin>
+                <groupId>org.apache.felix</groupId>
+                <artifactId>maven-bundle-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${maven-bundle-plugin.version}</version>
+                <extensions>true</extensions>
+                <inherited>true</inherited>
+                <configuration>
+                    <instructions>
+                        <Bundle-Name>${project.name}</Bundle-Name>
+                        <Bundle-SymbolicName>${project.artifactId}</Bundle-SymbolicName>
+                        <Export-Package>${osgi.export}</Export-Package>
+                        <Import-Package>${osgi.import}</Import-Package>
+                        <DynamicImport-Package>${osgi.dynamic.import}</DynamicImport-Package>
+                        <Private-Package>${osgi.private}</Private-Package>
+                        <Require-Bundle>${osgi.bundles}</Require-Bundle>
+                        <Bundle-Activator>${osgi.activator}</Bundle-Activator>
+                    </instructions>
+                    <supportedProjectTypes>
+                        <supportedProjectType>jar</supportedProjectType>
+                        <supportedProjectType>war</supportedProjectType>
+                        <supportedProjectType>bundle</supportedProjectType>
+                    </supportedProjectTypes>
+                    <unpackBundle>true</unpackBundle>
+                </configuration>
+                <executions>
+                    <execution>
+                        <id>bundle-manifest</id>
+                        <phase>process-classes</phase>
+                        <goals>
+                            <goal>manifest</goal>
+                        </goals>
+                    </execution>
+                </executions>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>
 
@@ -153,6 +186,7 @@
         <build-helper-maven-plugin.version>1.5</build-helper-maven-plugin.version>
         <maven-surfire-plugin.version>2.11</maven-surfire-plugin.version>
         <maven-release-plugin.version>2.1</maven-release-plugin.version>
+        <maven-bundle-plugin.version>2.3.6</maven-bundle-plugin.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencyManagement>