diff --git a/communicator/ssh/communicator.go b/communicator/ssh/communicator.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37158b4f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/communicator/ssh/communicator.go
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+package ssh
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"code.google.com/p/go.crypto/ssh"
+	"github.com/mitchellh/packer/packer"
+	"log"
+	"net"
+)
+
+type comm struct {
+	client *ssh.ClientConn
+}
+
+// Creates a new packer.Communicator implementation over SSH. This takes
+// an already existing TCP connection and SSH configuration.
+func New(c net.Conn, config *ssh.ClientConfig) (result *comm, err error) {
+	client, err := ssh.Client(c, config)
+	result = &comm{client}
+	return
+}
+
+func (c *comm) Start(cmd string) (remote *packer.RemoteCommand, err error) {
+	session, err := c.client.NewSession()
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Create the buffers to store our stdin/stdout/stderr
+	stdin := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	stdout := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	stderr := new(bytes.Buffer)
+
+	// Setup our session
+	session.Stdin = stdin
+	session.Stdout = stdout
+	session.Stderr = stderr
+
+	// Setup the remote command
+	remote = &packer.RemoteCommand{
+		stdin,
+		stdout,
+		stderr,
+		false,
+		-1,
+	}
+
+	log.Printf("starting remote command: %s", cmd)
+	err = session.Start(cmd + "\n")
+	if err != nil {
+		return
+	}
+
+	// Start a goroutine to wait for the session to end and set the
+	// exit boolean and status.
+	go func() {
+		defer session.Close()
+
+		err := session.Wait()
+		remote.ExitStatus = 0
+		if err != nil {
+			exitErr, ok := err.(*ssh.ExitError)
+			if ok {
+				remote.ExitStatus = exitErr.ExitStatus()
+			}
+		}
+
+		remote.Exited = true
+	}()
+
+	return
+}
diff --git a/communicator/ssh/communicator_test.go b/communicator/ssh/communicator_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d483ade6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/communicator/ssh/communicator_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+package ssh
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"code.google.com/p/go.crypto/ssh"
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+// private key for mock server
+const testServerPrivateKey = `-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----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+-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----`
+
+// password implements the ClientPassword interface
+type password string
+
+func (p password) Password(user string) (string, error) {
+	return string(p), nil
+}
+
+var serverConfig = &ssh.ServerConfig{
+	PasswordCallback: func(c *ssh.ServerConn, user, pass string) bool {
+		return user == "user" && pass == "pass"
+	},
+}
+
+func init() {
+	// Set the private key of the server, required to accept connections
+	if err := serverConfig.SetRSAPrivateKey([]byte(testServerPrivateKey)); err != nil {
+		panic("unable to set private key: " + err.Error())
+	}
+}
+
+func newMockAuthServer(t *testing.T) string {
+	l, err := ssh.Listen("tcp", "127.0.0.1:0", serverConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to newMockAuthServer: %s", err)
+	}
+	go func() {
+		defer l.Close()
+		c, err := l.Accept()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Unable to accept incoming connection: %v", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if err := c.Handshake(); err != nil {
+			// not Errorf because this is expected to
+			// fail for some tests.
+			t.Logf("Handshaking error: %v", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		defer c.Close()
+	}()
+	return l.Addr().String()
+}
+
+func newMockLineServer(t *testing.T) string {
+	l, err := ssh.Listen("tcp", "127.0.0.1:0", serverConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to newMockAuthServer: %s", err)
+	}
+	go func() {
+		defer l.Close()
+		c, err := l.Accept()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Unable to accept incoming connection: %v", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if err := c.Handshake(); err != nil {
+			// not Errorf because this is expected to
+			// fail for some tests.
+			t.Logf("Handshaking error: %v", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		t.Log("Accepted SSH connection")
+		defer c.Close()
+
+		channel, err := c.Accept()
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("Unable to accept a channel: %s", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		// Just go in a loop now accepting things... we need to
+		// do this to handle packets for SSH.
+		go func() {
+			c.Accept()
+		}()
+
+		channel.Accept()
+		t.Log("Accepted channel")
+		defer channel.Close()
+
+		data := make([]byte, 0)
+		_, err = channel.Read(data)
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Error("should've gotten a request (exec)")
+			return
+		}
+
+		req, ok := err.(ssh.ChannelRequest)
+		if !ok {
+			t.Errorf("couldn't convert err to channel request: %s", err)
+			return
+		}
+
+		if req.Request != "exec" {
+			t.Errorf("unexpected request type: %s", req.Request)
+			return
+		}
+
+		// Ack it
+		channel.AckRequest(true)
+
+		// Just respond back with the payload. We trim the first 4 bytes
+		// off of here because it is "\x00\x00\x00\t" and I don't really know
+		// why.
+		payload := strings.TrimSpace(string(req.Payload[4:]))
+		response := fmt.Sprintf("ack: %s", payload)
+		_, err = channel.Write([]byte(response))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("error writing response: %s", err)
+			return
+		}
+	}()
+	return l.Addr().String()
+}
+
+func TestNew_Invalid(t *testing.T) {
+	clientConfig := &ssh.ClientConfig{
+		User: "user",
+		Auth: []ssh.ClientAuth{
+			ssh.ClientAuthPassword(password("i-am-invalid")),
+		},
+	}
+
+	conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", newMockAuthServer(t))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to dial to remote side: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	_, err = New(conn, clientConfig)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("should have had an error connecting")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestStart(t *testing.T) {
+	clientConfig := &ssh.ClientConfig{
+		User: "user",
+		Auth: []ssh.ClientAuth{
+			ssh.ClientAuthPassword(password("pass")),
+		},
+	}
+
+	conn, err := net.Dial("tcp", newMockLineServer(t))
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unable to dial to remote side: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	client, err := New(conn, clientConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error connecting to SSH: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	remote, err := client.Start("echo foo")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("error executing command: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	// Wait for it to complete
+	t.Log("Waiting for command to complete")
+	remote.Wait()
+
+	// Should have the correct output
+	output := remote.Stdout.(*bytes.Buffer).String()
+
+	if output != "ack: echo foo" {
+		t.Fatalf("unknown output: %#v", output)
+	}
+}