diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 00bb7fd..9f52288 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -12,3 +12,8 @@ exports.SQLConnector = exports.SqlConnector = require('./lib/sql');
 exports.ParameterizedSQL = exports.SQLConnector.ParameterizedSQL;
 exports.Transaction = require('./lib/transaction');
 
+exports.createPromiseCallback = require('./lib/utils').createPromiseCallback;
+
+// KeyValue helpers
+exports.ModelKeyComposer = require('./lib/model-key-composer');
+exports.BinaryPacker = require('./lib/binary-packer');
diff --git a/lib/binary-packer.js b/lib/binary-packer.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..71d175e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/binary-packer.js
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2014,2016. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: loopback-connector
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+'use strict';
+
+var createPromiseCallback = require('./utils').createPromiseCallback;
+var msgpack = require('msgpack5');
+
+module.exports = BinaryPacker;
+
+/**
+ * Create a new Packer instance that can be used to convert between JavaScript
+ * objects and a binary representation in a Buffer.
+ *
+ * Compared to JSON, this encoding preserves the following JavaScript types:
+ *  - Date
+ */
+function BinaryPacker() {
+  this._packer = msgpack({ forceFloat64: true });
+  this._packer.register(1, Date, encodeDate, decodeDate);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Encode the provided value to a `Buffer`.
+ *
+ * @param {*} value Any value (string, number, object)
+ * @callback {Function} cb The callback to receive the parsed result.
+ * @param {Error} err
+ * @param {Buffer} data The encoded value
+ * @promise
+ */
+BinaryPacker.prototype.encode = function(value, cb) {
+  cb = cb || createPromiseCallback();
+  try {
+    // msgpack5 returns https://www.npmjs.com/package/bl instead of Buffer
+    // use .slice() to convert to a Buffer
+    var data = this._packer.encode(value).slice();
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(null, data);
+    });
+  } catch (err) {
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(err);
+    });
+  }
+  return cb.promise;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Decode the binary value back to a JavaScript value.
+ * @param {Buffer} binary The binary input.
+ * @callback {Function} cb The callback to receive the composed value.
+ * @param {Error} err
+ * @param {*} value Decoded value.
+ * @promise
+ */
+BinaryPacker.prototype.decode = function(binary, cb) {
+  cb = cb || createPromiseCallback();
+  try {
+    var value = this._packer.decode(binary);
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(null, value);
+    });
+  } catch (err) {
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(err);
+    });
+  }
+  return cb.promise;
+};
+
+function encodeDate(obj) {
+  return new Buffer(obj.toISOString(), 'utf8');
+}
+
+function decodeDate(buf) {
+  return new Date(buf.toString('utf8'));
+}
diff --git a/lib/model-key-composer.js b/lib/model-key-composer.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abc073f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/model-key-composer.js
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2016. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: loopback-connector
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+'use strict';
+
+var createPromiseCallback = require('./utils').createPromiseCallback;
+var debug = require('debug')('loopback:connector:model-key-composer');
+var g = require('strong-globalize')();
+
+/**
+ * Build a single key string from a tuple (modelName, key).
+ *
+ * This method is typically used by KeyValue connectors to build a single
+ * key string for a given modelName+key tuple.
+ *
+ * @param {String} modelName
+ * @param {String} key
+ * @callback {Function} cb The callback to receive the composed value.
+ * @param {Error} err
+ * @param {String} composedKey
+ * @promise
+ */
+exports.compose = function composeKeyFromModelNameAndKey(modelName, key, cb) {
+  cb = cb || createPromiseCallback();
+
+  // Escape model name to prevent collision
+  //   'model' + 'foo:bar' --vs-- 'model:foo' + 'bar'
+  var value = encodeURIComponent(modelName) + ':' + key;
+
+  setImmediate(function() {
+    cb(null, value);
+  });
+  return cb.promise;
+};
+
+var PARSE_KEY_REGEX = /^([^:]*):(.*)/;
+
+/**
+ * Parse a composed key string into a tuple (modelName, key).
+ *
+ * This method is typically used by KeyValue connectors to parse a composed
+ * key string returned by SCAN/ITERATE method back to the expected
+ * modelName+tuple key.
+ *
+ * @param {String} composed The composed key as returned by `composeKey`
+ * @callback {Function} cb The callback to receive the parsed result.
+ * @param {Error} err
+ * @param {Object} result The result with properties `modelName` and `key`.
+ * @promise
+ */
+exports.parse = function(composed, cb) {
+  cb = cb || createPromiseCallback();
+
+  var matchResult = composed.match(PARSE_KEY_REGEX);
+  if (matchResult) {
+    var result = {
+      modelName: matchResult[1],
+      key: matchResult[2],
+    };
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(null, result);
+    });
+  } else {
+    debug('Invalid key - missing model-name prefix: %s', composed);
+    var err = new Error(g.f(
+      'Invalid key %j - missing model-name prefix',
+      composed));
+    err.code = 'NO_MODEL_PREFIX';
+    setImmediate(function() {
+      cb(err);
+    });
+  }
+  return cb.promise;
+};
diff --git a/lib/utils.js b/lib/utils.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5850905
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/utils.js
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2012,2016. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: loopback-datasource-juggler
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+var Promise = require('bluebird');
+
+exports.createPromiseCallback = createPromiseCallback;
+
+function createPromiseCallback() {
+  var cb;
+  var promise = new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
+    cb = function(err, data) {
+      if (err) return reject(err);
+      return resolve(data);
+    };
+  });
+  cb.promise = promise;
+  return cb;
+}
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index cbdce02..b156c7c 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
     "async": "^1.0.0",
+    "bluebird": "^3.4.6",
     "debug": "^2.2.0",
+    "msgpack5": "^3.4.1",
     "strong-globalize": "^2.5.8"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/test/binary-packer.test.js b/test/binary-packer.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2e6c32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/binary-packer.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2016. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: loopback-connector
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+'use strict';
+
+var BinaryPacker = require('../lib/binary-packer');
+var expect = require('chai').expect;
+
+describe('BinaryPacker', function() {
+  var packer;
+
+  beforeEach(function createPacker() {
+    packer = new BinaryPacker();
+  });
+
+  describe('encode()', function() {
+    it('supports invocation with a callback', function(done) {
+      packer.encode('a-value', done);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('decode()', function() {
+    it('supports invocation with a callback', function(done) {
+      packer.encode('a-value', function(err, binary) {
+        if (err) return done(err);
+        packer.decode(binary, function(err, result) {
+          if (err) return done(err);
+          expect(result).to.eql('a-value');
+          done();
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('roundtrip', function() {
+    var TEST_CASES = {
+      String: 'a-value',
+      Object: { a: 1, b: 2 },
+      Buffer: new Buffer([1, 2, 3]),
+      Date: new Date('2016-08-03T11:53:03.470Z'),
+      Integer: 12345,
+      Float: 12.345,
+      Boolean: false,
+    };
+
+    Object.keys(TEST_CASES).forEach(function(tc) {
+      it('works for ' + tc + ' values', function() {
+        var value = TEST_CASES[tc];
+        return encodeAndDecode(value)
+          .then(function(result) {
+            expect(result).to.eql(value);
+          });
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('works for nested properties', function() {
+      return encodeAndDecode(TEST_CASES)
+        .then(function(result) {
+          expect(result).to.eql(TEST_CASES);
+        });
+    });
+
+    function encodeAndDecode(value) {
+      return packer.encode(value)
+        .then(function(binary) {
+          return packer.decode(binary);
+        });
+    }
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/model-key-composer.test.js b/test/model-key-composer.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e42649
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/model-key-composer.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+// Copyright IBM Corp. 2016. All Rights Reserved.
+// Node module: loopback-connector
+// This file is licensed under the MIT License.
+// License text available at https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
+
+'use strict';
+
+var composer = require('../lib/model-key-composer');
+var expect = require('chai').expect;
+var Promise = require('bluebird');
+
+describe('ModelKeyComposer', function() {
+  describe('compose()', function() {
+    it('honours the key', function() {
+      return Promise.all([
+        composer.compose('Car', 'vin'),
+        composer.compose('Car', 'name'),
+      ]).spread(function(key1, key2) {
+        expect(key1).to.not.equal(key2);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('honours the model name', function() {
+      return Promise.all([
+        composer.compose('Product', 'name'),
+        composer.compose('Category', 'name'),
+      ]).spread(function(key1, key2) {
+        expect(key1).to.not.equal(key2);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('encodes values', function() {
+      // This test is based on the knowledge that we are using ':' separator
+      // when building the composed string
+      return Promise.all([
+        composer.compose('a', 'b:c'),
+        composer.compose('a:b', 'c'),
+      ]).spread(function(key1, key2) {
+        expect(key1).to.not.equal(key2);
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('supports invocation with a callback', function(done) {
+      composer.compose('Car', 'vin', done);
+    });
+  });
+
+  describe('parse()', function() {
+    it('decodes valid value', function() {
+      return composer.compose('Car', 'vin')
+        .then(function(data) {
+          return composer.parse(data);
+        })
+        .then(function(parsed) {
+          expect(parsed).to.eql({
+            modelName: 'Car',
+            key: 'vin',
+          });
+        });
+    });
+
+    it('handles invalid values', function() {
+      return composer.parse('invalid').then(
+        function onSuccess() {
+          throw new Error('composer.parse() should have failed');
+        },
+        function onError(err) {
+          expect(err).to.have.property('code', 'NO_MODEL_PREFIX');
+        });
+    });
+
+    it('supports invocation with a callback', function(done) {
+      composer.compose('Car', 'vin', function(err, key) {
+        if (err) return done(err);
+        composer.parse(key, function(err, parsed) {
+          if (err) return done(err);
+          expect(parsed).to.eql({
+            modelName: 'Car',
+            key: 'vin',
+          });
+          done();
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/test/transaction.test.js b/test/transaction.test.js
index 0f5a4ae..42bb666 100644
--- a/test/transaction.test.js
+++ b/test/transaction.test.js
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ describe('transactions', function() {
             expect(posts.length).to.be.eql(1);
             done();
           });
-      }, 100);
+      }, 300);
       done();
     });