diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/io/FrameOutputStream.java b/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/io/FrameOutputStream.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..95833b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/io/FrameOutputStream.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
+ * 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 from
+ * 
+ *     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.
+ */
+package edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import java.util.logging.Logger;
+
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.data.std.util.ByteArrayAccessibleOutputStream;
+import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.FrameTupleAppender;
+
+public class FrameOutputStream extends ByteArrayAccessibleOutputStream {
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(FrameOutputStream.class.getName());
+
+    private final FrameTupleAppender frameTupleAppender;
+
+    public FrameOutputStream(int frameSize) {
+        this.frameTupleAppender = new FrameTupleAppender(frameSize);
+    }
+
+    public void reset(ByteBuffer buffer, boolean clear) {
+        frameTupleAppender.reset(buffer, clear);
+    }
+
+    public int getTupleCount() {
+        int tupleCount = frameTupleAppender.getTupleCount();
+        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
+            LOGGER.finest("appendTuple(): tuple count: " + tupleCount);
+        }
+        return tupleCount;
+    }
+
+    public boolean appendTuple() {
+        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
+            LOGGER.finest("appendTuple(): tuple size: " + count);
+        }
+        boolean appended = frameTupleAppender.append(buf, 0, count);
+        count = 0;
+        return appended;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/util/FrameOutputStream.java b/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/util/FrameOutputStream.java
deleted file mode 100644
index 73e5b74..0000000
--- a/hyracks/hyracks-dataflow-common/src/main/java/edu/uci/ics/hyracks/dataflow/common/comm/util/FrameOutputStream.java
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,63 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2009-2010 by The Regents of the University of California
- * 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 from
- * 
- *     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.
- */
-package edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.util;
-
-import java.io.OutputStream;
-import java.nio.BufferOverflowException;
-import java.util.logging.Level;
-import java.util.logging.Logger;
-
-import edu.uci.ics.hyracks.dataflow.common.comm.io.FrameTupleAppender;
-
-public class FrameOutputStream extends OutputStream {
-    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(FrameOutputStream.class.getName());
-
-    private final FrameTupleAppender frameTupleAppender;
-
-    public FrameOutputStream(FrameTupleAppender frameTupleAppender) {
-        this.frameTupleAppender = frameTupleAppender;
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void write(int intByte) {
-        byte[] b = { (byte) intByte };
-        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
-            LOGGER.finest("write(int): byte: " + b);
-        }
-        if (!frameTupleAppender.append(b, 0, 1)) {
-            throw new BufferOverflowException();
-        }
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void write(byte[] bytes) {
-        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
-            LOGGER.finest("write(bytes[]): bytes: " + bytes);
-        }
-        if (!frameTupleAppender.append(bytes, 0, bytes.length)) {
-            throw new BufferOverflowException();
-        }
-    }
-
-    @Override
-    public void write(byte[] bytes, int offset, int length) {
-        if (LOGGER.isLoggable(Level.FINEST)) {
-            LOGGER.finest("write(bytes[]): bytes: " + bytes);
-        }
-        if (!frameTupleAppender.append(bytes, offset, length)) {
-            throw new BufferOverflowException();
-        }
-    }
-}