diff --git a/marconi/queues/storage/sqlalchemy/__init__.py b/marconi/queues/storage/sqlalchemy/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e69de29bb
diff --git a/marconi/queues/storage/sqlalchemy/tables.py b/marconi/queues/storage/sqlalchemy/tables.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..784ee7634
--- /dev/null
+++ b/marconi/queues/storage/sqlalchemy/tables.py
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+# implied.
+#
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+
+metadata = sa.MetaData()
+
+
+'''
+create table
+if not exists
+Messages (
+    id INTEGER,
+    qid INTEGER,
+    ttl INTEGER,
+    body DOCUMENT,
+    client TEXT,
+    created DATETIME,
+    PRIMARY KEY(id),
+    FOREIGN KEY(qid) references Queues(id) on delete cascade
+)
+'''
+Messages = sa.Table('Messages', metadata,
+                    sa.Column('id', sa.INTEGER, primary_key=True),
+                    sa.Column('qid', sa.INTEGER,
+                              sa.ForeignKey("Queues.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+                              nullable=False),
+                    sa.Column('ttl', sa.INTEGER),
+                    sa.Column('body', sa.LargeBinary),
+                    sa.Column('client', sa.TEXT),
+                    sa.Column('created', sa.DATETIME),
+                    )
+
+
+'''
+create table
+if not exists
+Claims (
+    id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
+    qid INTEGER,
+    ttl INTEGER,
+    created DATETIME,
+    FOREIGN KEY(qid) references Queues(id) on delete cascade
+)
+'''
+Claims = sa.Table('Claims', metadata,
+                  sa.Column('id', sa.INTEGER, primary_key=True,
+                            autoincrement=True),
+                  sa.Column('qid', sa.INTEGER,
+                            sa.ForeignKey("Queues.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+                            nullable=False),
+                  sa.Column('ttl', sa.INTEGER),
+                  sa.Column('created', sa.DATETIME),
+                  )
+
+
+'''
+create table
+if not exists
+Queues (
+    id INTEGER,
+    project TEXT,
+    name TEXT,
+    metadata DOCUMENT,
+    PRIMARY KEY(id),
+    UNIQUE(project, name)
+)
+'''
+Queues = sa.Table('Queues', metadata,
+                  sa.Column('id', sa.INTEGER, primary_key=True),
+                  sa.Column('project', sa.String),
+                  sa.Column('name', sa.String),
+                  sa.Column('metadata', sa.LargeBinary),
+                  sa.UniqueConstraint('project', 'name'),
+                  )
+
+
+'''
+create table
+if not exists
+Locked (
+    cid INTEGER,
+    msgid INTEGER,
+    FOREIGN KEY(cid) references Claims(id) on delete cascade,
+    FOREIGN KEY(msgid) references Messages(id) on delete cascade
+)
+'''
+Locked = sa.Table('Locked', metadata,
+                  sa.Column('cid', sa.INTEGER,
+                            sa.ForeignKey("Claims.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+                            nullable=False),
+                  sa.Column('msgid', sa.INTEGER,
+                            sa.ForeignKey("Messages.id", ondelete="CASCADE"),
+                            nullable=False),
+                  )
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 47111f6d3..2be458da9 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -13,3 +13,4 @@ WebOb>=1.2.3,<1.3
 stevedore>=0.10
 six>=1.4.1
 oslo.config>=1.2.0
+sqlalchemy>=0.7.8,<=0.7.99
diff --git a/tests/unit/queues/storage/test_impl_sqlalchemy.py b/tests/unit/queues/storage/test_impl_sqlalchemy.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b835b58b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/queues/storage/test_impl_sqlalchemy.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2013 Red Hat, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+# implied.
+#
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import datetime
+
+import sqlalchemy as sa
+
+from marconi.queues.storage.sqlalchemy import tables
+from marconi import tests as testing
+
+
+class SqlalchemyTableTests(testing.TestBase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(SqlalchemyTableTests, self).setUp()
+        self.engine = sa.create_engine('sqlite:///:memory:')
+        tables.metadata.create_all(self.engine, checkfirst=True)
+
+    def test_table_queries(self):
+        self.engine.execute(tables.Queues.insert(), id=1, project='test',
+                            name='marconi', metadata='aaaa')
+        self.engine.execute(tables.Messages.insert(), id=1, qid=1, ttl=10,
+                            body='bbbb', client='a',
+                            created=datetime.datetime.now())
+        self.engine.execute(tables.Claims.insert(), id=1, qid=1, ttl=10,
+                            created=datetime.datetime.now())
+
+        rs = self.engine.execute(tables.Claims.select())
+        row = rs.fetchone()
+
+        self.assertEqual(row.id, 1)
+        self.assertEqual(row.qid, 1)
+        self.assertEqual(row.ttl, 10)
+
+        self.engine.execute(tables.Claims.delete(tables.Claims.c.id == 1))
+        rs = self.engine.execute(tables.Claims.select())
+        row = rs.fetchone()
+
+        self.assertIsNone(row)