diff --git a/Lib/socket.py b/Lib/socket.py
index 0082e76..c03e884 100644
--- a/Lib/socket.py
+++ b/Lib/socket.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 ssl() -- secure socket layer support (only available if configured)
 socket.getdefaulttimeout() -- get the default timeout value
 socket.setdefaulttimeout() -- set the default timeout value
+create_connection() -- connects to an address, with an optional timeout 
 
  [*] not available on all platforms!
 
@@ -412,3 +413,31 @@
         if not line:
             raise StopIteration
         return line
+
+
+def create_connection(address, timeout=None):
+    """Connect to address (host, port) with an optional timeout.
+
+    Provides access to socketobject timeout for higher-level 
+    protocols.  Passing a timeout will set the timeout on the 
+    socket instance (if not present, or passed as None, the
+    default global timeout setting will be used).
+    """
+    
+    msg = "getaddrinfo returns an empty list"
+    host, port = address
+    for res in getaddrinfo(host, port, 0, SOCK_STREAM):
+        af, socktype, proto, canonname, sa = res
+        sock = None
+        try:
+            sock = socket(af, socktype, proto)
+            if timeout is not None:
+                sock.settimeout(timeout)
+            sock.connect(sa)
+            return sock
+        
+        except error, msg:
+            if sock is not None:
+                sock.close()
+
+    raise error, msg