diff --git a/eventlet/green/socket.py b/eventlet/green/socket.py
index b016149..2a066c9 100644
--- a/eventlet/green/socket.py
+++ b/eventlet/green/socket.py
@@ -24,6 +24,39 @@ def socketpair(family=None, type=SOCK_STREAM, proto=0):
     a, b = __socketpair(family, type, proto)
     return socket(a), socket(b)
 
+
+_GLOBAL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = object()
+
+def create_connection(address, timeout=_GLOBAL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT):
+    """Connect to *address* and return the socket object.
+
+    Convenience function.  Connect to *address* (a 2-tuple ``(host,
+    port)``) and return the socket object.  Passing the optional
+    *timeout* parameter will set the timeout on the socket instance
+    before attempting to connect.  If no *timeout* is supplied, the
+    global default timeout setting returned by :func:`getdefaulttimeout`
+    is 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 _GLOBAL_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT:
+                sock.settimeout(timeout)
+            sock.connect(sa)
+            return sock
+
+        except error, msg:
+            if sock is not None:
+                sock.close()
+
+    raise error, msg
+
+
 def ssl(sock, certificate=None, private_key=None):
     from OpenSSL import SSL
     context = SSL.Context(SSL.SSLv23_METHOD)