diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RemoteRosterEntry.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RemoteRosterEntry.java
similarity index 84%
rename from source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RemoteRosterEntry.java
rename to source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RemoteRosterEntry.java
index b6cc1a8a0..7c8829408 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RemoteRosterEntry.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RemoteRosterEntry.java
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
  * ====================================================================
  */
 
-package org.jivesoftware.smackx.packet;
+package org.jivesoftware.smackx;
 
 import java.util.*;
 
@@ -67,18 +67,22 @@ public class RemoteRosterEntry {
 
     private String user;
     private String name;
-    private List groupNames;
+    private List groupNames = new ArrayList();
 
     /**
      * Creates a new remote roster entry.
      *
      * @param user the user.
      * @param name the user's name.
+     * @param groups the list of group names the entry will belong to, or <tt>null</tt> if the
+     *      the roster entry won't belong to a group.
      */
-    public RemoteRosterEntry(String user, String name) {
+    public RemoteRosterEntry(String user, String name, String [] groups) {
         this.user = user;
         this.name = name;
-        groupNames = new ArrayList();
+		if (groups != null) {
+			groupNames = new ArrayList(Arrays.asList(groups));
+		}
     }
 
     /**
@@ -99,15 +103,6 @@ public class RemoteRosterEntry {
         return name;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Sets the user's name.
-     *
-     * @param name the user's name.
-     */
-    public void setName(String name) {
-        this.name = name;
-    }
-
     /**
      * Returns an Iterator for the group names (as Strings) that the roster entry
      * belongs to.
@@ -135,30 +130,6 @@ public class RemoteRosterEntry {
         }
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Adds a group name.
-     *
-     * @param groupName the group name.
-     */
-    public void addGroupName(String groupName) {
-        synchronized (groupNames) {
-            if (!groupNames.contains(groupName)) {
-                groupNames.add(groupName);
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Removes a group name.
-     *
-     * @param groupName the group name.
-     */
-    public void removeGroupName(String groupName) {
-        synchronized (groupNames) {
-            groupNames.remove(groupName);
-        }
-    }
-
     public String toXML() {
         StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
         buf.append("<item jid=\"").append(user).append("\"");
diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchange.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchange.java
index 302ff26f3..d10c36523 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchange.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchange.java
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ import java.util.*;
 
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.*;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.PacketExtension;
+import org.jivesoftware.smackx.*;
 
 /**
  * Represents XMPP Roster Item Exchange packets.<p>
@@ -106,14 +107,17 @@ public class RosterExchange implements PacketExtension {
      * @param rosterEntry a roster entry to add.
      */
     public void addRosterEntry(RosterEntry rosterEntry) {
-        RosterGroup rosterGroup = null;
+		// Obtain a String[] from the roster entry groups name 
+		ArrayList groupNamesList = new ArrayList();
+		String[] groupNames;
+		for (Iterator groups = rosterEntry.getGroups(); groups.hasNext();) {
+			groupNamesList.add(((RosterGroup) groups.next()).getName());
+		}
+		groupNames = (String[]) groupNamesList.toArray(new String[groupNamesList.size()]);
+
         // Create a new Entry based on the rosterEntry and add it to the packet
-        RemoteRosterEntry remoteRosterEntry = new RemoteRosterEntry(rosterEntry.getUser(), rosterEntry.getName());
-        // Add the entry groups to the Entry
-        for (Iterator groups = rosterEntry.getGroups(); groups.hasNext();) {
-            rosterGroup = (RosterGroup) groups.next();
-            remoteRosterEntry.addGroupName(rosterGroup.getName());
-        }
+        RemoteRosterEntry remoteRosterEntry = new RemoteRosterEntry(rosterEntry.getUser(), rosterEntry.getName(), groupNames);
+		
         addRosterEntry(remoteRosterEntry);
     }
 
diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/RosterExchangeProvider.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/RosterExchangeProvider.java
index 69ce09880..203961aea 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/RosterExchangeProvider.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/provider/RosterExchangeProvider.java
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@
 
 package org.jivesoftware.smackx.provider;
 
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.PacketExtension;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.provider.PacketExtensionProvider;
+import org.jivesoftware.smackx.*;
 import org.jivesoftware.smackx.packet.*;
 import org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParser;
 
@@ -84,21 +87,26 @@ public class RosterExchangeProvider implements PacketExtensionProvider {
         RosterExchange rosterExchange = new RosterExchange();
         boolean done = false;
         RemoteRosterEntry remoteRosterEntry = null;
+		String jid = "";
+		String name = "";
+		ArrayList groupsName = new ArrayList();
         while (!done) {
             int eventType = parser.next();
             if (eventType == XmlPullParser.START_TAG) {
                 if (parser.getName().equals("item")) {
-                    String jid = parser.getAttributeValue("", "jid");
-                    String name = parser.getAttributeValue("", "name");
-                    // Create packet.
-                    remoteRosterEntry = new RemoteRosterEntry(jid, name);
+                	// Reset this variable since they are optional for each item
+					groupsName = new ArrayList();
+					// Initialize the variables from the parsed XML
+                    jid = parser.getAttributeValue("", "jid");
+                    name = parser.getAttributeValue("", "name");
                 }
                 if (parser.getName().equals("group")) {
-                    String groupName = parser.nextText();
-                    remoteRosterEntry.addGroupName(groupName);
+					groupsName.add(parser.nextText());
                 }
             } else if (eventType == XmlPullParser.END_TAG) {
                 if (parser.getName().equals("item")) {
+					// Create packet.
+					remoteRosterEntry = new RemoteRosterEntry(jid, name, (String[]) groupsName.toArray(new String[groupsName.size()]));
                     rosterExchange.addRosterEntry(remoteRosterEntry);
                 }
                 if (parser.getName().equals("x")) {
diff --git a/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RosterExchangeManagerTest.java b/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RosterExchangeManagerTest.java
index 2c54de44f..52b1fdc3e 100644
--- a/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RosterExchangeManagerTest.java
+++ b/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/RosterExchangeManagerTest.java
@@ -57,7 +57,6 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.*;
-import org.jivesoftware.smackx.packet.RemoteRosterEntry;
 
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchangeTest.java b/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchangeTest.java
index 03b720fb2..abb590a6b 100644
--- a/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchangeTest.java
+++ b/test/org/jivesoftware/smackx/packet/RosterExchangeTest.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.*;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.filter.*;
 import org.jivesoftware.smack.packet.*;
+import org.jivesoftware.smackx.*;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;