diff --git a/plugins/inventory/collins.ini b/plugins/inventory/collins.ini
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..748fcf854a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inventory/collins.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# Ansible Collins external inventory script settings
+#
+
+[collins]
+
+host = http://localhost:9000
+
+username = blake
+password = admin:first
+
+# Specifies a timeout for all HTTP requests to Collins.
+timeout_secs = 120
+
+# Specifies a maximum number of retries per Collins request.
+max_retries = 5
+
+# Specifies the number of results to return per paginated query as specified in
+# the Pagination section of the Collins API docs:
+# http://tumblr.github.io/collins/api.html
+results_per_query = 100
+
+# Specifies the Collins asset type which will be queried for; most typically
+# you'll want to leave this at the default of SERVER_NODE.
+asset_type = SERVER_NODE
+
+# Collins assets can optionally be assigned hostnames; this option will preference
+# the selection of an asset's hostname over an IP address as the primary identifier
+# in the Ansible inventory.  Typically, this value should be set to true if assets
+# are assigned hostnames.
+prefer_hostnames = true
+
+# Within Collins, assets can be granted multiple IP addresses; this configuration
+# value specifies the index within the 'ADDRESSES' array as returned by the
+# following API endpoint:
+# http://tumblr.github.io/collins/api.html#api-ipam-asset-addresses-section
+ip_address_index = 0
+
+# Sets whether Collins instances in multiple datacenters will be queried.
+query_remote_dcs = false
+
+# API calls to Collins can involve large, substantial queries. For this reason,
+# we cache the results of an API call. Set this to the path you want cache files
+# to be written to. Two files will be written to this directory:
+#   - ansible-collins.cache
+#   - ansible-collins.index
+cache_path = /tmp
+
+# If errors occur while querying inventory, logging messages will be written
+# to a logfile in the specified directory:
+#   - ansible-collins.log
+log_path = /tmp
+
+# The number of seconds that a cache file is considered valid. After this many
+# seconds, a new API call will be made, and the cache file will be updated.
+cache_max_age = 600
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/collins.py b/plugins/inventory/collins.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..1eb069ba6ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/inventory/collins.py
@@ -0,0 +1,431 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+"""
+Collins external inventory script
+=================================
+
+Ansible has a feature where instead of reading from /etc/ansible/hosts
+as a text file, it can query external programs to obtain the list
+of hosts, groups the hosts are in, and even variables to assign to each host.
+
+Collins is a hardware asset management system originally developed by
+Tumblr for tracking new hardware as it built out its own datacenters.  It
+exposes a rich API for manipulating and querying one's hardware inventory,
+which makes it an ideal 'single point of truth' for driving systems
+automation like Ansible.  Extensive documentation on Collins, including a quickstart,
+API docs, and a full reference manual, can be found here:
+
+http://tumblr.github.io/collins
+
+This script adds support to Ansible for obtaining a dynamic inventory of
+assets in your infrastructure, grouping them in Ansible by their useful attributes,
+and binding all facts provided by Collins to each host so that they can be used to
+drive automation.  Some parts of this script were cribbed shamelessly from mdehaan's
+Cobbler inventory script.
+
+To use it, copy it to your repo and pass -i <collins script> to the ansible or
+ansible-playbook command; if you'd like to use it by default, simply copy collins.ini
+to /etc/ansible and this script to /etc/ansible/hosts.
+
+Alongside the options set in collins.ini, there are several environment variables
+that will be used instead of the configured values if they are set:
+
+ - COLLINS_USERNAME - specifies a username to use for Collins authentication
+ - COLLINS_PASSWORD - specifies a password to use for Collins authentication
+ - COLLINS_ASSET_TYPE - specifies a Collins asset type to use during querying;
+   this can be used to run Ansible automation against different asset classes than
+   server nodes, such as network switches and PDUs
+ - COLLINS_CONFIG - specifies an alternative location for collins.ini, defaults to
+   <location of collins.py>/collins.ini
+
+If errors are encountered during operation, this script will return an exit code of
+255; otherwise, it will return an exit code of 0.
+
+Tested against Ansible 1.6.6 and Collins 1.2.4.
+"""
+
+# (c) 2014, Steve Salevan <steve.salevan@gmail.com>
+#
+# This file is part of Ansible.
+#
+# Ansible is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Ansible is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Ansible.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+######################################################################
+
+
+import argparse
+import base64
+import ConfigParser
+import logging
+import os
+import re
+import sys
+from time import time
+import traceback
+import urllib
+import urllib2
+
+try:
+    import json
+except ImportError:
+    import simplejson as json
+
+
+class CollinsDefaults(object):
+    ASSETS_API_ENDPOINT = '%s/api/assets'
+    SPECIAL_ATTRIBUTES = set([
+        'CREATED',
+        'DELETED',
+        'UPDATED',
+        'STATE',
+    ])
+    LOG_FORMAT = '%(asctime)-15s %(message)s'
+
+
+def to_safe(word):
+    """ Converts 'bad' characters in a string to underscores so they
+        can be used as Ansible groups """
+
+    return re.sub("[^A-Za-z0-9\-]", "_", word)
+
+
+class CollinsInventory(object):
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        """ Main execution path """
+
+        self.inventory = dict()  # A list of groups and the hosts in that group
+        self.cache = dict()  # Details about hosts in the inventory
+
+        # Read settings and parse CLI arguments
+        self.read_settings()
+        self.parse_cli_args()
+
+        logging.basicConfig(format=CollinsDefaults.LOG_FORMAT,
+            filename=self.log_location)
+        self.log = logging.getLogger('CollinsInventory')
+
+    def run(self):
+        # Updates cache if cache is not present or has expired.
+        successful = True
+        if self.args.refresh_cache:
+            successful = self.update_cache()
+        elif not self.is_cache_valid():
+            successful = self.update_cache()
+        else:
+            successful = self.load_inventory_from_cache()
+            successful &= self.load_cache_from_cache()
+
+        data_to_print = ""
+
+        # Data to print
+        if self.args.host:
+            data_to_print = self.get_host_info()
+
+        elif self.args.list:
+            # Display list of instances for inventory
+            data_to_print = self.json_format_dict(self.inventory, self.args.pretty)
+
+        else:  # default action with no options
+            data_to_print = self.json_format_dict(self.inventory, self.args.pretty)
+
+        print data_to_print
+        return successful
+
+    def find_assets(self, attributes = {}, operation = 'AND'):
+        """ Obtains Collins assets matching the provided attributes. """
+
+        # Formats asset search query to locate assets matching attributes, using
+        # the CQL search feature as described here:
+        # http://tumblr.github.io/collins/recipes.html
+        attributes_query = [ '='.join(attr_pair)
+            for attr_pair in attributes.iteritems() ]
+        query_parameters = {
+            'details': ['True'],
+            'operation': [operation],
+            'query': attributes_query,
+            'remoteLookup': [str(self.query_remote_dcs)],
+            'size': [self.results_per_query],
+            'type': [self.collins_asset_type],
+        }
+        assets = []
+        cur_page = 0
+        num_retries = 0
+        # Locates all assets matching the provided query, exhausting pagination.
+        while True:
+            if num_retries == self.collins_max_retries:
+                self.log.error("Maximum of %s retries reached; giving up",
+                    self.collins_max_retries)
+                break
+            query_parameters['page'] = cur_page
+            query_url = "%s?%s" % (
+                (CollinsDefaults.ASSETS_API_ENDPOINT % self.collins_host),
+                urllib.urlencode(query_parameters, doseq=True)
+            )
+            request = urllib2.Request(query_url)
+            request.add_header('Authorization', self.basic_auth_header)
+            try:
+                response = urllib2.urlopen(request, timeout=self.collins_timeout_secs)
+                json_response = json.loads(response.read())
+                # Adds any assets found to the array of assets.
+                assets += json_response['data']['Data']
+                # If we've retrieved all of our assets, breaks out of the loop.
+                if len(json_response['data']['Data']) == 0:
+                    break
+                cur_page += 1
+                num_retries = 0
+            except:
+                self.log.error("Error while communicating with Collins, retrying:\n%s",
+                    traceback.format_exc())
+                num_retries += 1
+        return assets
+
+    def is_cache_valid(self):
+        """ Determines if the cache files have expired, or if it is still valid """
+
+        if os.path.isfile(self.cache_path_cache):
+            mod_time = os.path.getmtime(self.cache_path_cache)
+            current_time = time()
+            if (mod_time + self.cache_max_age) > current_time:
+                if os.path.isfile(self.cache_path_inventory):
+                    return True
+
+        return False
+
+    def read_settings(self):
+        """ Reads the settings from the collins.ini file """
+
+        config_loc = os.getenv('COLLINS_CONFIG',
+            os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) + '/collins.ini')
+
+        config = ConfigParser.SafeConfigParser()
+        config.read(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)) + '/collins.ini')
+
+        self.collins_host = config.get('collins', 'host')
+        self.collins_username = os.getenv('COLLINS_USERNAME',
+            config.get('collins', 'username'))
+        self.collins_password = os.getenv('COLLINS_PASSWORD',
+            config.get('collins', 'password'))
+        self.collins_asset_type = os.getenv('COLLINS_ASSET_TYPE',
+            config.get('collins', 'asset_type'))
+        self.collins_timeout_secs = config.getint('collins', 'timeout_secs')
+        self.collins_max_retries = config.getint('collins', 'max_retries')
+
+        self.results_per_query = config.getint('collins', 'results_per_query')
+        self.ip_address_index = config.getint('collins', 'ip_address_index')
+        self.query_remote_dcs = config.getboolean('collins', 'query_remote_dcs')
+        self.prefer_hostnames = config.getboolean('collins', 'prefer_hostnames')
+
+        cache_path = config.get('collins', 'cache_path')
+        self.cache_path_cache = cache_path + \
+            '/ansible-collins-%s.cache' % self.collins_asset_type
+        self.cache_path_inventory = cache_path + \
+            '/ansible-collins-%s.index' % self.collins_asset_type
+        self.cache_max_age = config.getint('collins', 'cache_max_age')
+
+        log_path = config.get('collins', 'log_path')
+        self.log_location = log_path + '/ansible-collins.log'
+        self.basic_auth_header = "Basic %s" % base64.encodestring(
+            '%s:%s' % (self.collins_username, self.collins_password))[:-1]
+
+    def parse_cli_args(self):
+        """ Command line argument processing """
+
+        parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+            description='Produces an Ansible Inventory file based on Collins')
+        parser.add_argument('--list',
+            action='store_true', default=True, help='List instances (default: True)')
+        parser.add_argument('--host',
+            action='store', help='Get all the variables about a specific instance')
+        parser.add_argument('--refresh-cache',
+            action='store_true', default=False,
+            help='Force refresh of cache by making API requests to Collins ' \
+                 '(default: False - use cache files)')
+        parser.add_argument('--pretty',
+            action='store_true', default=False, help='Pretty print all JSON output')
+        self.args = parser.parse_args()
+
+    def _asset_has_attribute(self, asset, attrib):
+        if 'ATTRIBS' in asset:
+            for attrib_block in asset['ATTRIBS'].keys():
+                if attrib in asset['ATTRIBS'][attrib_block]:
+                    return True
+        return False
+
+    def _asset_get_attribute(self, asset, attrib):
+        if 'ATTRIBS' in asset:
+            for attrib_block in asset['ATTRIBS'].keys():
+                if attrib in asset['ATTRIBS'][attrib_block]:
+                    return asset['ATTRIBS'][attrib_block][attrib]
+        return None
+
+    def update_cache(self):
+        """ Make calls to Collins and saves the output in a cache """
+
+        self.cache = dict()
+        self.inventory = dict()
+
+        # Locates all server assets from Collins.
+        try:
+            server_assets = self.find_assets()
+        except:
+            self.log.error("Error while locating assets from Collins:\n%s",
+                traceback.format_exc())
+            return False
+
+        for asset in server_assets:
+            # Determines the index to retrieve the asset's IP address either by an
+            # attribute set on the Collins asset or the pre-configured value.
+            if self._asset_has_attribute(asset, 'ANSIBLE_IP_INDEX'):
+                ip_index = self._asset_get_attribute(asset, 'ANSIBLE_IP_INDEX')
+                try:
+                    ip_index = int(ip_index)
+                except:
+                    self.log.error(
+                        "ANSIBLE_IP_INDEX attribute on asset %s not an integer: %s", asset,
+                        ip_index)
+            else:
+                ip_index = self.ip_address_index
+
+            # Attempts to locate the asset's primary identifier (hostname or IP address),
+            # which will be used to index the asset throughout the Ansible inventory.
+            if self.prefer_hostnames and self._asset_has_attribute(asset, 'HOSTNAME'):
+                asset_identifier = self._asset_get_attribute(asset, 'HOSTNAME')
+            elif 'ADDRESSES' not in asset:
+                self.log.warning("No IP addresses found for asset '%s', skipping",
+                    asset)
+                continue
+            elif len(asset['ADDRESSES']) < ip_index + 1:
+                self.log.warning(
+                    "No IP address found at index %s for asset '%s', skipping",
+                    ip_index, asset)
+                continue
+            else:
+                asset_identifier = asset['ADDRESSES'][ip_index]['ADDRESS']
+
+            # Adds an asset index to the Ansible inventory based upon unpacking
+            # the name of the asset's current STATE from its dictionary.
+            if 'STATE' in asset['ASSET'] and asset['ASSET']['STATE']:
+                state_inventory_key = to_safe('STATE-%s' % asset['ASSET']['STATE']['NAME'])
+                self.push(self.inventory, state_inventory_key, asset_identifier)
+
+            # Indexes asset by all user-defined Collins attributes.
+            if 'ATTRIBS' in asset:
+                for attrib_block in asset['ATTRIBS'].keys():
+                    for attrib in asset['ATTRIBS'][attrib_block].keys():
+                        attrib_key = to_safe(
+                            '%s-%s' % (attrib, asset['ATTRIBS'][attrib_block][attrib]))
+                        self.push(self.inventory, attrib_key, asset_identifier)
+
+            # Indexes asset by all built-in Collins attributes.
+            for attribute in asset['ASSET'].keys():
+                if attribute not in CollinsDefaults.SPECIAL_ATTRIBUTES:
+                    attribute_val = asset['ASSET'][attribute]
+                    if attribute_val is not None:
+                        attrib_key = to_safe('%s-%s' % (attribute, attribute_val))
+                        self.push(self.inventory, attrib_key, asset_identifier)
+
+            # Indexes asset by hardware product information.
+            if 'HARDWARE' in asset:
+                if 'PRODUCT' in asset['HARDWARE']['BASE']:
+                    product = asset['HARDWARE']['BASE']['PRODUCT']
+                    if product:
+                        product_key = to_safe(
+                            'HARDWARE-PRODUCT-%s' % asset['HARDWARE']['BASE']['PRODUCT'])
+                        self.push(self.inventory, product_key, asset_identifier)
+
+            # Indexing now complete, adds the host details to the asset cache.
+            self.cache[asset_identifier] = asset
+
+        try:
+            self.write_to_cache(self.cache, self.cache_path_cache)
+            self.write_to_cache(self.inventory, self.cache_path_inventory)
+        except:
+            self.log.error("Error while writing to cache:\n%s", traceback.format_exc())
+            return False
+        return True
+
+    def push(self, dictionary, key, value):
+        if key not in dictionary:
+            dictionary[key] = []
+        dictionary[key].append(value)
+
+    def get_host_info(self):
+        """ Get variables about a specific host. """
+
+        if not self.cache or len(self.cache) == 0:
+            # Need to load index from cache
+            self.load_cache_from_cache()
+
+        if not self.args.host in self.cache:
+            # try updating the cache
+            self.update_cache()
+
+            if not self.args.host in self.cache:
+                # host might not exist anymore
+                return self.json_format_dict({}, self.args.pretty)
+
+        return self.json_format_dict(self.cache[self.args.host], self.args.pretty)
+
+    def load_inventory_from_cache(self):
+        """ Reads the index from the cache file sets self.index """
+
+        try:
+            cache = open(self.cache_path_inventory, 'r')
+            json_inventory = cache.read()
+            self.inventory = json.loads(json_inventory)
+            return True
+        except:
+            self.log.error("Error while loading inventory:\n%s",
+                traceback.format_exc())
+            self.inventory = {}
+            return False
+
+    def load_cache_from_cache(self):
+        """ Reads the cache from the cache file sets self.cache """
+
+        try:
+            cache = open(self.cache_path_cache, 'r')
+            json_cache = cache.read()
+            self.cache = json.loads(json_cache)
+            return True
+        except:
+            self.log.error("Error while loading host cache:\n%s",
+                traceback.format_exc())
+            self.cache = {}
+            return False
+
+    def write_to_cache(self, data, filename):
+        """ Writes data in JSON format to a specified file. """
+
+        json_data = self.json_format_dict(data, self.args.pretty)
+        cache = open(filename, 'w')
+        cache.write(json_data)
+        cache.close()
+
+    def json_format_dict(self, data, pretty=False):
+        """ Converts a dict to a JSON object and dumps it as a formatted string """
+
+        if pretty:
+            return json.dumps(data, sort_keys=True, indent=2)
+        else:
+            return json.dumps(data)
+
+
+if __name__ in '__main__':
+    inventory = CollinsInventory()
+    if inventory.run():
+        sys.exit(0)
+    else:
+        sys.exit(-1)