diff --git a/src/main/java/envoy/util/SerializationUtils.java b/src/main/java/envoy/util/SerializationUtils.java
index c070733..b26aa49 100644
--- a/src/main/java/envoy/util/SerializationUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/envoy/util/SerializationUtils.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package envoy.util;
 
+import java.io.ByteArrayInputStream;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -21,12 +22,14 @@ import java.io.Serializable;
  */
 public class SerializationUtils {
 
+	private SerializationUtils() {}
+
 	private static byte[] intToBytes(int n) { return new byte[] { (byte) (n >>> 24), (byte) (n >>> 16), (byte) (n >>> 8), (byte) n }; }
 
 	/**
 	 * Deserializes an arbitrary {@link Serializable} object from a file.
 	 *
-	 * @param <T>             the type of the object to deserialize
+	 * @param <T>             the type of the serialized object
 	 * @param file            the file to deserialize from
 	 * @param serializedClass the class of the object to deserialize
 	 * @return the deserialized object
@@ -42,7 +45,26 @@ public class SerializationUtils {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * @param <T>             the deserialized object
+	 * Deserializes an arbitrary {@link Serializable} object from a byte array.
+	 * 
+	 * @param <T>             the type of the serialized object
+	 * @param bytes           the array in which the serialized object is stored
+	 * @param serializedClass the class of the serialized object
+	 * @return the deserialized object
+	 * @throws IOException            if something failed while deserializing the
+	 *                                object
+	 * @throws ClassNotFoundException if the deserialized object can not be linked
+	 *                                to a class
+	 * @since Envoy Common v0.2-alpha
+	 */
+	public static <T extends Serializable> T read(byte[] bytes, Class<T> serializedClass) throws IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
+		return read(new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes), serializedClass);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Deserializes an arbitrary {@link Serializable} object from a stream.
+	 * 
+	 * @param <T>             the type of the serialized object
 	 * @param in              the {@link InputStream} of a serialized Object
 	 * @param serializedClass the object type to convert the deserialized object
 	 *                        into
@@ -79,6 +101,22 @@ public class SerializationUtils {
 		}
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Serializes an arbitrary object to a byte array.
+	 * 
+	 * @param obj the object to serialize
+	 * @return a byte array containing the serialized object
+	 * @throws IOException if the serialization failed
+	 * @since Envoy Common v0.2-alpha
+	 */
+	public static byte[] writeToByteArray(Object obj) throws IOException {
+		ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+		try (ObjectOutputStream oout = new ObjectOutputStream(baos)) {
+			oout.writeObject(obj);
+		}
+		return baos.toByteArray();
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Serializes an object and writes it into an output stream preceded by 4 bytes
 	 * containing the number of serialized bytes.
@@ -86,14 +124,11 @@ public class SerializationUtils {
 	 * @param obj the object to serialize
 	 * @param out the output stream to serialize to
 	 * @throws IOException if an error occurred during serialization
+	 * @since Envoy Common v0.2-alpha
 	 */
 	public static void writeBytesWithLength(Object obj, OutputStream out) throws IOException {
 		// Serialize object to byte array
-		ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-		try (ObjectOutputStream oout = new ObjectOutputStream(baos)) {
-			oout.writeObject(obj);
-		}
-		byte[] objBytes = baos.toByteArray();
+		byte[] objBytes = writeToByteArray(obj);
 
 		// Get length of byte array in bytes
 		byte[] objLen = intToBytes(objBytes.length);
@@ -102,6 +137,4 @@ public class SerializationUtils {
 		out.write(objLen);
 		out.write(objBytes);
 	}
-
-	private SerializationUtils() {}
 }
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