diff --git a/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_allocation_counts_for_http1.sh b/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_allocation_counts_for_http1.sh
index 9b015ef423..87f4182496 100644
--- a/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_allocation_counts_for_http1.sh
+++ b/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_allocation_counts_for_http1.sh
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ cd ..
 "$swift_bin" run -c release | tee "$tmp/output"
 )
 
-for test in 1000_reqs_1_conn 1_reqs_1000_conn; do
+for test in 1000_reqs_1_conn 1_reqs_1000_conn ping_pong_1000_reqs_1_conn; do
     cat "$tmp/output"  # helps debugging
     total_allocations=$(grep "^$test.total_allocations:" "$tmp/output" | cut -d: -f2 | sed 's/ //g')
     not_freed_allocations=$(grep "^$test.remaining_allocations:" "$tmp/output" | cut -d: -f2 | sed 's/ //g')
diff --git a/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_resources/template/Sources/SwiftBootstrap/SwiftMain.swift b/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_resources/template/Sources/SwiftBootstrap/SwiftMain.swift
index 4edd2f5fb9..5a5c6a94ac 100644
--- a/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_resources/template/Sources/SwiftBootstrap/SwiftMain.swift
+++ b/IntegrationTests/tests_04_performance/test_01_resources/template/Sources/SwiftBootstrap/SwiftMain.swift
@@ -50,6 +50,81 @@ private final class SimpleHTTPServer: ChannelInboundHandler {
     }
 }
 
+private struct PingPongFailure: Error, CustomStringConvertible {
+    public var description: String
+
+    init(problem: String) {
+        self.description = problem
+    }
+}
+
+private final class PingHandler: ChannelInboundHandler {
+    typealias InboundIn = ByteBuffer
+    typealias OutboundOut = ByteBuffer
+
+    private var pingBuffer: ByteBuffer!
+    private let numberOfRequests: Int
+    private var remainingNumberOfRequests: Int
+    private let allDone: EventLoopPromise<Void>
+    public static let pingCode: UInt8 = 0xbe
+
+    public init(numberOfRequests: Int, eventLoop: EventLoop) {
+        self.numberOfRequests = numberOfRequests
+        self.remainingNumberOfRequests = numberOfRequests
+        self.allDone = eventLoop.newPromise()
+    }
+
+    public func channelActive(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext) {
+        self.pingBuffer = ctx.channel.allocator.buffer(capacity: 1)
+        self.pingBuffer.write(integer: PingHandler.pingCode)
+
+        ctx.writeAndFlush(self.wrapOutboundOut(self.pingBuffer), promise: nil)
+    }
+
+    public func channelRead(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, data: NIOAny) {
+        var buf = self.unwrapInboundIn(data)
+        if buf.readableBytes == 1 &&
+            buf.readInteger(as: UInt8.self) == PongHandler.pongCode {
+            if self.remainingNumberOfRequests > 0 {
+                self.remainingNumberOfRequests -= 1
+                ctx.writeAndFlush(self.wrapOutboundOut(self.pingBuffer), promise: nil)
+            } else {
+                ctx.close(promise: self.allDone)
+            }
+        } else {
+            ctx.close(promise: nil)
+            self.allDone.fail(error: PingPongFailure(problem: "wrong buffer received: \(buf.debugDescription)"))
+        }
+    }
+
+    public func wait() throws {
+        try self.allDone.futureResult.wait()
+    }
+}
+
+private final class PongHandler: ChannelInboundHandler {
+    typealias InboundIn = ByteBuffer
+    typealias OutboundOut = ByteBuffer
+
+    private var pongBuffer: ByteBuffer!
+    public static let pongCode: UInt8 = 0xef
+
+    public func channelActive(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext) {
+        self.pongBuffer = ctx.channel.allocator.buffer(capacity: 1)
+        self.pongBuffer.write(integer: PongHandler.pongCode)
+    }
+
+    public func channelRead(ctx: ChannelHandlerContext, data: NIOAny) {
+        var buf = self.unwrapInboundIn(data)
+        if buf.readableBytes == 1 &&
+            buf.readInteger(as: UInt8.self) == PingHandler.pingCode {
+            ctx.writeAndFlush(self.wrapOutboundOut(self.pongBuffer), promise: nil)
+        } else {
+            ctx.close(promise: nil)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 @_cdecl("swift_main")
 public func swiftMain() -> Int {
     final class RepeatedRequests: ChannelInboundHandler {
@@ -109,6 +184,7 @@ public func swiftMain() -> Int {
         }
 
         _ = measureOne(fn) /* pre-heat and throw away */
+        usleep(100_000) // allocs/frees happen on multiple threads, allow some cool down time
         var measurements: [[String: Int]] = []
         for _ in 0..<10 {
             measurements.append(measureOne(fn))
@@ -128,6 +204,7 @@ public func swiftMain() -> Int {
     func doRequests(group: EventLoopGroup, number numberOfRequests: Int) throws -> Int {
         let serverChannel = try ServerBootstrap(group: group)
             .serverChannelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(SocketOptionLevel(SOL_SOCKET), SO_REUSEADDR), value: 1)
+            .childChannelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY), value: 1)
             .childChannelInitializer { channel in
                 channel.pipeline.configureHTTPServerPipeline(withPipeliningAssistance: true).then {
                     channel.pipeline.add(handler: SimpleHTTPServer())
@@ -147,6 +224,7 @@ public func swiftMain() -> Int {
                     channel.pipeline.add(handler: repeatedRequestsHandler)
                 }
             }
+            .channelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY), value: 1)
             .connect(to: serverChannel.localAddress!)
             .wait()
 
@@ -155,6 +233,33 @@ public func swiftMain() -> Int {
         return try repeatedRequestsHandler.wait()
     }
 
+    func doPingPongRequests(group: EventLoopGroup, number numberOfRequests: Int) throws -> Int {
+        let serverChannel = try ServerBootstrap(group: group)
+            .serverChannelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(SocketOptionLevel(SOL_SOCKET), SO_REUSEADDR), value: 1)
+            .childChannelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY), value: 1)
+            .childChannelOption(ChannelOptions.recvAllocator, value: FixedSizeRecvByteBufferAllocator(capacity: 4))
+            .childChannelInitializer { channel in
+                channel.pipeline.add(handler: PongHandler())
+            }.bind(host: "127.0.0.1", port: 0).wait()
+
+        defer {
+            try! serverChannel.close().wait()
+        }
+
+        let pingHandler = PingHandler(numberOfRequests: numberOfRequests, eventLoop: group.next())
+        _ = try ClientBootstrap(group: group)
+            .channelInitializer { channel in
+                channel.pipeline.add(handler: pingHandler)
+            }
+            .channelOption(ChannelOptions.socket(IPPROTO_TCP, TCP_NODELAY), value: 1)
+            .channelOption(ChannelOptions.recvAllocator, value: FixedSizeRecvByteBufferAllocator(capacity: 4))
+            .connect(to: serverChannel.localAddress!)
+            .wait()
+
+        try pingHandler.wait()
+        return numberOfRequests
+    }
+
     let group = MultiThreadedEventLoopGroup(numThreads: System.coreCount)
     defer {
         try! group.syncShutdownGracefully()
@@ -176,5 +281,11 @@ public func swiftMain() -> Int {
         return numberDone
     }
 
+    measureAndPrint(desc: "ping_pong_1000_reqs_1_conn") {
+        let numberDone = try! doPingPongRequests(group: group, number: 1000)
+        precondition(numberDone == 1000)
+        return numberDone
+    }
+
     return 0
 }
diff --git a/Sources/NIO/ByteBuffer-int.swift b/Sources/NIO/ByteBuffer-int.swift
index 99c4fa02c0..9f9e251746 100644
--- a/Sources/NIO/ByteBuffer-int.swift
+++ b/Sources/NIO/ByteBuffer-int.swift
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
 //===----------------------------------------------------------------------===//
 
 extension ByteBuffer {
-    private func toEndianness<T: FixedWidthInteger> (value: T, endianness: Endianness) -> T {
+    @_inlineable @_versioned
+    func _toEndianness<T: FixedWidthInteger> (value: T, endianness: Endianness) -> T {
         switch endianness {
         case .little:
             return value.littleEndian
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ extension ByteBuffer {
     ///     - endianness: The endianness of the integer in this `ByteBuffer` (defaults to big endian).
     ///     - as: the desired `FixedWidthInteger` type (optional parameter)
     /// - returns: An integer value deserialized from this `ByteBuffer` or `nil` if there aren't enough bytes readable.
+    @_inlineable
     public mutating func readInteger<T: FixedWidthInteger>(endianness: Endianness = .big, as: T.Type = T.self) -> T? {
         guard self.readableBytes >= MemoryLayout<T>.size else {
             return nil
@@ -45,6 +47,7 @@ extension ByteBuffer {
     ///     - endianness: The endianness of the integer in this `ByteBuffer` (defaults to big endian).
     ///     - as: the desired `FixedWidthInteger` type (optional parameter)
     /// - returns: An integer value deserialized from this `ByteBuffer` or `nil` if the bytes of interest aren't contained in the `ByteBuffer`.
+    @_inlineable
     public func getInteger<T: FixedWidthInteger>(at index: Int, endianness: Endianness = Endianness.big, as: T.Type = T.self) -> T? {
         precondition(index >= 0, "index must not be negative")
         return self.withVeryUnsafeBytes { ptr in
@@ -56,7 +59,7 @@ extension ByteBuffer {
                 valuePtr.copyMemory(from: UnsafeRawBufferPointer(start: ptr.baseAddress!.advanced(by: index),
                                                                  count: MemoryLayout<T>.size))
             }
-            return toEndianness(value: value, endianness: endianness)
+            return _toEndianness(value: value, endianness: endianness)
         }
     }
 
@@ -67,6 +70,7 @@ extension ByteBuffer {
     ///     - endianness: The endianness to use, defaults to big endian.
     /// - returns: The number of bytes written.
     @discardableResult
+    @_inlineable
     public mutating func write<T: FixedWidthInteger>(integer: T, endianness: Endianness = .big, as: T.Type = T.self) -> Int {
         let bytesWritten = self.set(integer: integer, at: self.writerIndex, endianness: endianness)
         self.moveWriterIndex(forwardBy: bytesWritten)
@@ -81,8 +85,9 @@ extension ByteBuffer {
     ///     - endianness: The endianness to use, defaults to big endian.
     /// - returns: The number of bytes written.
     @discardableResult
+    @_inlineable
     public mutating func set<T: FixedWidthInteger>(integer: T, at index: Int, endianness: Endianness = .big, as: T.Type = T.self) -> Int {
-        var value = toEndianness(value: integer, endianness: endianness)
+        var value = _toEndianness(value: integer, endianness: endianness)
         return Swift.withUnsafeBytes(of: &value) { ptr in
             self.set(bytes: ptr, at: index)
         }